When Black Men Break Up

You find hip hop in the oddest places. Perusing NY MAG I came across
interview with one of Jay's old school homies, De-Haven Irby.

Jay has a his share of public falling outs recently.

First Jaz.

Then Dame.

Then Lance.

Yeye.

Now De-Haven.

Now, you and I know that we fall out with our friends.
Thats natural, it happens, you move on, you get older,
life changes.

But what makes this story interesting is the same thing that made
YeYe's Big Brother interesting. Jay is personal in his albums to the extent that
he wants to be. But, for the most part, he keeps his personal life,
hood relations etc, out the media.

So, when people beef with him publicly it gives us and eye into
the intricacies of his relationship, and into Jay on gp.

And the fact that these are BLACK men that we are talking
about adds another layer as well.

I read the following paragraph and totally felt De-Haven. I remember
f*cking with TL and it being all good, just uber chemistry. We had an
exchange that at the time seemed benign BUT from then out out
everything flat lined. There was a part of me that wanted to know
WHAT HAPPENED at least for a good three weeks after. I mean,
ya'll read the blog, I spoke on it in March. So here is De-Haven's words,

When did the two of you have a falling-out?
We never really had a falling-out, that’s the problem. This is why I’m so confused. There was no argument, there was none of that. I don’t want an apology [from him], I want a reason. What happened? When my case [a federal drug-conspiracy charge] came in 1998, I never seen him again too much anymore. The case had nothing to do with him, his name never came up, so I’d like to ask him, “What happened?” Where did his departure come from?

De-Haven has actually polly'd with Jaz on J, saying,

One of Jay’s former collaborators Jaz-O also has beef with Jay, and former drug dealer Calvin Klein also accuses Jay of appropriating his story.
Me and Jaz sat down and had a long talk not too long ago. Jaz has a right to have a beef. Jaz was there in the beginning. Jaz took him away from the projects and put him in the studio first. Big Daddy Kane had a lot to do with his career too, and he’s not showing no kinda love to him neither. With Klein, if Jay told him he “got him,” then Klein got a right to be mad.

I was surprised when J actually MENTIONED him on American Gangster.

“Fuck De-Haven for cavin’, that's why we don't speak,” he raps. “Made men ain't supposed to make statements. End of the story, I followed the code, cracked the safe. Other niggas ain't in the game so they practice hate. Leave that boy Hov alone, why don't ya.”

Does Jay really owe this dude cake, EVEN IF JAY lifted his stories?

Does Jay exaggerate his drug-dealing in his songs?
I’m telling you he overexaggerates. He was there to see things, but doing some big-time Frank Lucas–type thing? No. He nickled and dimed, but nothing on a major scale. He definitely didn’t sell nothin’ in Marcy. Spanish Jose, who he mentions a lot [in his songs], was a friend of mine. Jay didn’t have no affiliation to Spanish Jose.

You’re saying Jay appropriated your story?
He says it himself. He’s been talking about me since day one, on a lot of his albums. He mentioned me on The Black Album, and I hadn’t seen him in years.

I mean, it was ultimately his creation. Jay put in the work and made it happen.

And even if De-Haven gave J "source material" how do you go about
compensating someone for that?

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As an emcee, how many of the people, from you old block deserve to
eat with you?

What is the criteria for cutting someone off?

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