Yep, Jay-Z Will Be An Excellent Father
GQ’s 2011 “Men of the Year” issue is out now, and it boasts an atypically personal Jay-Z cover story by Alex Pappademas (alternate covers feature Michael Fassbender, Justin Timberlake, Jimmy Fallon, and Mila Kunis. Heresy: one of these people is not a man!). For the first time, Jay speaks out about his and Beyoncé’s unborn child. Thanks to helpfully informative blabbermouth Kelly Rowland, we already knew the couple is having a girl. Now, we get some details as to how exactly this girl is going to be raised.
Turns out, “New Day” — the Watch the Throne track in which Jay and Kanye rap to their future offspring — was written before Hov knew he was going to be a father. But Jay tells GQ he’s influenced by the same desire he articulates on the song — to make sure he can be there for the family specifically because his father left.
- [Jay-Z] was rich enough to provide, years ago. But he wanted to be rich enough to be present — to leave rap alone for a while, if necessary, and not in a trumped-up pseudoretirement kind of way. “Providing — that’s not love,” he says. “Being there — that’s more important. I mean, we see that. We see that with all these rich socialites. They’re crying out for attention; they’re hurting for love. I’m not being judgmental — I’m just making an observation. They’re crying out for the love that maybe they didn’t get at home, and they got everything. All the material things that they need and want. So we know that’s not the key.”
Also crucial: Jay will personally change diapers, will set up a baby seat in the Maybach, and will play his kid all the classic rap stuff (starting with: Illmatic, Ready to Die, and, of course, Reasonable Doubt). Also, if all of “New Day” is to be believed, then Jay’s kid gets to have her first drink with her pops at thirteen, during her black bat mitzvah. So baller. Plus — and this isn’t actually said anywhere but it can safely be assumed from Kanye’s face at the VMAs — Uncle ‘Ye will be around all the time, probably with awesome presents. Is it wrong to be jealous of a baby?
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