On this day in 2000, Shawn “Jay Z” Carter sent a video to the New York State Supreme Court that he hoped would exonerate him from first-degree assault charges for allegedly stabbing Untertainment Records founder Lance “Un” Rivera five months earlier, at a party for hip hop legend Q-Tip at Times Square’s Kit Kat Club in December 1999.
Reportedly incensed that Rivera was bootlegging his upcoming album Vol.3…The Life And Times Of S. Carter (Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam,1999), Jay-Z stabbed the label head in the stomach with a five-inch blade.
The video, which was intended to show that Jay-Z wasn’t in the vicinity when the stabbing took place, didn’t do the trick. On October 17, 2001, Jigga pled guilty to the assault, receiving three years’ probation. The entire incident was seen by the music industry as largely out of character for Jay-Z, who had made it a point to showcase a more positive business-minded image.
“It was the dumbest thing I ever did,” he told Time in 2003. "That was the turning point for me. It was like, O.K., this can all go away fast. You work hard for years, and it can all go away in a night. Slow down, big boy. Think.”
Since then the respected Brooklyn rapper and executive has seemingly made a point of doing just that, expanding his empire to include fashion, cologne, hotels and restaurants (as well as music), marrying pop R&B powerhouse Beyoncé Knowles, and separating himself as much as possible from the 1999 incident.
Courtesy of Vibe.com
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