In the middle of his emotional homecoming shows at the arena he helped build, Jay-Z took some time to visit his former “stash spot”, 560 State Street (as referenced in “Empire State of Mind”) in Brooklyn.
The current resident of Jay’s old place, Amit Wehle (pictured above with the rapper), got an odd request from his brother-in-law Nate Fish on the night of the first show. Nate needed a menorah because Jigga wanted to light a candle for every show he played at the new Barclay’s Center. Nate was a friend of the producer of the show, in return Amit was given tickets to the show. Not a bad deal?
It only gets better, a few days later Amit was contacted by Radical Media Productions informing him that they would be filming in his building for the new Ron Howard directed documentary on Jay-Z’s life, called Made in America. It turns out that Amit lives in Jay-Z’s former apartment, 10C 560 State Street. Here’s out it went down:
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.
Check out the story in Amit’s own words here.