As a family man and entertainment mogul, JAY-Z has been making money moves and spending quality time with his family, so interviews aren’t as common as they once were in the earlier days of his career. However, he recently sat down with The Sunday Times to discuss his new title as Puma’s Creative Director of Basketball Operations as well as a slew of other topics many may be interested to hear him discuss.
One of those many subjects was family, whom he experienced the lockdown with last year. During the interview, Hov said that he spent his free time connecting and building a stronger relationship with his loved ones.
The experience and the entire pandemic, he explained, helped him to come to the realization that “we’re all connected” in some way, shape or form.
In other discussions about family, Hov shared gems about encouraging children and raising them with love and support.
“Feeling loved is the most important thing a child needs, you know?” he told the Times. “Not ‘Here’s this business that I’m going to hand over to you, that I’m creating for you.’ What if my child doesn’t want to be in music or sports? I have no idea, right? But as long as your child feels supported, and feels loved I think anything is possible.”
“Just make sure we provide a loving environment, be very attentive to who they want to be,” he continued. “It’s easy for us, as human beings, to want our children to do certain things, but we have no idea. We’re just guides.”
In regards to social media, which he refrains from most of the time, JAY expressed his concerns with the platforms and specifically noted their effects on the younger generation. He also discussed the current racial climate, which he believes has made some progress despite the overwhelming amount of work that still needs to be done.
“As a human race we’re still on basic things. We’re still on Stop Asian Hate,” JAY said. “We can’t sit and cry over spilt milk, but we do have to acknowledge that there’s milk, right? Are we here today? No. Are we further than 50 years ago? Yes.”
Over the years, JAY has consistently made entrepreneurial moves that inspire generations of people. He claims he’s most proud of overcoming obstacles and “providing opportunity for people who look like me and who came from the same situation that I’ve come from.”
Still, however, despite creating his own pathway to success, JAY aspires to be just as legendary as all the greats that preceded him. When asked how he wants to be remembered, he replied, “I have no idea. I’m not beyond ego, right? Hopefully they speak of me [with] the names of Bob Marley and all the greats. But that’s not for me to say.”