The rapper says Winehouse was writing 'Rehab' during their first encounter.
How's this for spooky?
During an interview on Tidal's Rap Radar podcast, JAY-Z told the story of his first meeting with Amy Winehouse, where he told her to "stay with us" years before her death.
The rapper, who worked with Winehouse when he remixed a version of "Rehab" in 2007, recalled meeting her at the Spotted Pig after her performance at Joe's Pub in New York City, where he says she was stuttering.
"I was like, ‘You don’t even stutter. Why are you doing that?'” JAY-Z said. “I looked at her, and I was like, ‘Stay with us.’ The first time we hung out, I told her, ‘Stay with us.’”
“She was telling us, she was writing the songs to our face,” he revealed. “‘They’re trying to make me go to rehab, I’m not going,’ like, what? You have to go!”
Winehouse was found dead of alcohol poisoning in her London apartment on July 23, 2011. She was 27.
During the podcast, JAY-Z also opened up about the importance of discussing mental health after Chester Bennington's death on July 20. He collaborated with the Linkin Park frontman on the 2004 mashup album Collision Course.
“We’re not dealing with that because it’s not the cool thing to do,” the 4:44 rapper said of society’s stigma against mental illness. “These things unfortunately have to happen on a large stage so everyone can see.”
See more on Bennington's death in the video below.