Memphis Bleek has recalled a “crazy” fight story involving JAY-Z, saying that his longtime friend and collaborator can more than handle himself in a scrap.
While speaking to DJ Superstar Jay, the former Roc-A-Fella rapper detailed a time in the late 1990s when JAY-Z was asked to pay $50,000 to leave a club after he and his crew became too rowdy — sparking a brawl.
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“We turned this club in Miami upside down, my n-gga. They made us pay 50 grand to leave. Hov, he had to pay 50 racks. They extorted the fuck out of us,” he said.
“But we cracked heads, foreheads, faces — we were going crazy. They locked the doors. We had to pay to get out! They shook us up. This was Streets Is Watching Hov.”
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Bleek went on to vouch for Hov’s ability to throw hands while urging people not to let his current “laidback” demeanor fool them.
“See, they see billionaire dread Hov, they think my man ain’t got them hands. Hov will put knuckles on you! He’ll put them hard bottoms on your ass too,” he added.
“He used to start trouble too. All that Cristal, n-gga, he was on some shit. Just know that. Hov was on some shit. All this laidback, cool Beyoncé Hov? I love it, but back then he was on some shit.”
This is not the first time that JAY-Z’s toughness has been noted by a fellow MC. Back in 2021, Jeezy praised the Roc Nation mogul for backing him up in a fight in Las Vegas some years ago.
“A lot of people don’t know, we’ve been in some fist fights and everything!” he said. “Some things popped off in Vegas — God bless the dead, Shakir Stewart, my brother — and I gotta say, Hov got hands. ‘Cause me and him was getting down! Back-to-back, you know what I mean?!
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“I heard his assistant say, ‘Jay, get in the car!’ He was like, ‘I ain’t leaving Jeezy!’ I was like, ‘Yo, I rock with him.’”
Perhaps the most infamous fight of JAY-Z’s life was when he was punched by his sister-in-law Solange Knowles in May 2014.
Security footage of the incident was leaked and appeared to show Solange physically assaulting Hov in an elevator as Beyoncé stood silently next to them.
A statement was later released which said: “As a result of the public release of the elevator security footage from Monday, May 5th, there has been a great deal of speculation about what triggered the unfortunate incident. But the most important thing is that our family has worked through it.
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“Jay and Solange each assume their share of responsibility for what has occurred. They both acknowledge their role in this private matter that has played out in the public. They both have apologized to each other and we have moved forward as a united family.”
JAY-Z later said they had “one disagreement” and that he considers Solange his “sister.”