Everyone who went to Jay-Z’s first series of concerts at the Barclays Center probably left the arena with a cool story to tell. But no one, and we mean no one, has a tale that’s more epic than Amit Wehle’s story.
PHOTOS: 560 State Street: Jay-Z Reflects On BK Nets Stadium From His Old Stash Spot
Brooklynite Amit Wehle currently lives on 560 State Street, Jay-Z’s old stash spot, which he famously shouted out in his number one hit “Empire State of Mind.” On September 28th, opening night of the Barclays Center, Amit got a phone call from his brother-in-law Nate Fish, asking for a favor:
“Me: ‘Hey Nate.’
Nate: ‘Yo, do you have a menorah?’
Me: ‘What? Yeah, of course. Why?’
Nate: ‘Cool. JAY-Z needs it backstage.'”
As it turns out, Nate is good friends with a person who was producing the Barclays Center shows and they wanted to use the menorah backstage. After each night — the concert series was eight days — they would light one candle. Amit loaned Jay his menorah and in return, he got backstage tickets for opening night.
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Sounds freakin sweeeet, doesn’t it?
Well, it only got better.
A couple of days later, Amit got an email from Radical Media Production Company. Radical is producing the upcoming Ron Howard-directed documentary on the rapper, Made in America. They wanted to have Jay look at his old stomping grounds and his old apartment. (Jay used to live in 10C, while Amit lives in 10B). Jay stopped by and this is what happened:
“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. (Also, FYI, the building manager once told me that Jay-Z was a good tenant: “There were never any noise issues,” he said. “He was respectful of his neighbors.”)
From there, the crew went back down to the courtyard, where Hova opened up on camera and reminisced about his life and times at 560 State. He spoke about his music as a “gift”; he spoke about his genius-level talent, which he feels all people have, explaining that it’s up to the individual to discover what their unique talent is and nurture it at all costs.”
Amit got a cool pic with Jay (the one you see above), who then took his own epic pic and chatted with some of the building’s residents.
How crazy is this story?
Check out the entire story at FuseTV. Amit does a great job telling it.
Source: FuseTV | PhotoSource: Amit Wehle
