Jay-Z Shows Off “Where I’m From” On 43rd B-Day [Video]

Written By S. Samuel

Brooklyn Nets minority owner Jay-Z has pushed the attention from his 43rd birthday today (December 4) to celebrate the creation of his team's Barclays Center in a new documentary.

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Promptly titled Where I’m From: Jay-Z Barclays Center Documentary, Young Hov takes fans into the construction days of the arena to its inaugural opening night concert series a year later.

While his name isn’t on the lease, Jay-Z has spent much of his recent time flaunting Brooklyn’s Barclays Center like he owns the only set of keys. He gave the venue’s opening performances after braving the subway, and he’ll ring in the New Year with Coldplay there. Now, HOV is celebrating its prominence in his gold-plated heart with a 25-minute behind-the-scenes documentary. Where I’m From: JAY Z Barclays Center Documentary focuses on HOV’s eight back-to-back shows at the Center, detailing the massive preparation that went into the stage show, that infamous subway ride, and snippets of performance footage from each night. Along the way, Mr. Carter and his collaborators share their thoughts on the Center and what it represents for BK. (Consequence of Sound)

Recently, one of the Barclays Center construction workers/rapper D. Chamberz talked about showcasing the arena before the doors officially opened.

“Those photos [of the Barclays Center] were me. That was me. That was me. Listen. SOHH, you’re actually getting the first live situation. I’m telling you, right now, before Barclays stepped in the building and handed it over to the city, ’cause you know we were union workers, before we stepped over to the stadium, I had took at least a million pictures and I got photos from when it was like nothing in there, when it was the hockey floor that was under there. People didn’t even see the different things that are under that basketball court. You understand? I took those pictures of the building because I knew it was going to be a part of history and then the other thing that I actually did was sent them to [radio personality] Angela Yee. She was actually the first one to tweet it and then I seen Channel 12 and I seen the Daily News and then I seen it just go crazy.” (SOHH Guest Star)

In October, Jay celebrated the arena’s opening by releasing a Live In Brooklyn EP of his Barclays Center concert series.

If you thought Jay-Z’s celebration of Brooklyn ended with his eight-show Barclays run then you don’t know Hov. On Thursday, H-O dropped Live in Brooklyn, a specially released digital EP featuring eight live songs and eight video clips from his October 6 show at the newly minted Barclays Center. “Is Brooklyn in the house?” Jay asks on the EP-opening “Empire State of Mind.” It’s impossible for any live recording to completely duplicate the concert-going experience, but the audio mix on Live In Brooklyn perfectly blends Jay’s unassisted vocals with his Roc Boys backing band, his DJ Young Guru and of course the 19,000 fans in attendance. So, when Jay-Z spits his “[If] Jeezy’s payin’ LeBron” lyric on “Empire,” the crowd’s “I’m payin’ Dwayne Wade” response comes through crisp and clear. (MTV)

Along with attending Nets games on a regular basis, Hov will also return to Barclays for a New Year’s Eve celebration.

Jay-Z rang in the Barclays Center in September — and now he’ll ring out 2012 in the same new venue. The arena announced Sunday that the rap superstar and Coldplay will co-headline a New Year’s Eve show at the arena at the corner of Flatbush and Atlantic Aves. Coldplay will perform solo the night before. The band’s appearance are the first public shows in the city since 2005. Jay-Z opened the Barclays Center with a sold-out eight-concert stand beginning Sept. 28. (NY Daily News)

Check out Jay-Z’s Where I’m From documentary:

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Written by S. Samuel

Steven Samuel is the co-founder of SOHH.com.

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