“Took it to my stash spot, 560 State Street,” Jay-Z raps in a memorable line from “Empire State of Mind.” Now the current resident of the Brooklyn home recounts how he met Jay-Z…and gave him a menorah.
Brooklyn writer Amit Wehle shared the unbelievable story with Fuse. Jay-Z’s production team asked Wehle’s brother-in-law (a devout Jew) for a menorah (a nine-branched candelabra lit each night during Hanukkah) to commemorate Jay’s eight-day Barclays Center concert series.
Hov and his crew wanted to light one candle for each night of the eight-concert run. A simple enough request, Wehle helped his brother-in-law out and received VIP concert tickets as a thank you.
That in and of itself would be amazing, but just days later, Wehle received another request from Hov’s camp. This time a film crew wanted to shoot footage for an upcoming Jay-Z documentary at Wehle’s apartment building, which just so happened to be Hov’s old spot at 560 State Street.
Wehle recalls Jay visiting the building and touring the property. “Jay-Z knocked on the door and took the crew on a brief tour of his old place,” he said. “He pointed out where he slept, how he had the place set up with music equipment and where he worked on some of his hip-hop masterpieces in the late ’90s.”
According to the building manager, the rap mogul was a good tenant. “There were never any noise issues,” he said. “He was respectful of his neighbors.”