KINGDOM COME - TANNENBAUM: 'JAY-Z IS A MAN OF HIS WORD'

Playboy editor ROB TANNENBAUM has praised hip-hop mogul SHAWN 'JAY-Z' CARTER for being a man of his word, after the rapper recently paid up for a losing a $1,000 (GBP512) bet he placed in 2003. Tannenbaum had put a $20 (GBP10) wager on the SHOW ME WHAT YOU GOT hitmaker coming out of retirement four years ago at odds of 50-1, after Carter proclaimed he would never return to the rap game. But after launching a comeback to hip-hop with the release of his album KINGDOM COME last year (06), Carter was forced to pay up. Tannenbaum was shocked to receive 10 crisp $20 bills delivered to his office last week (ends18MAR07), because he thought the rapper had forgotten all about it. He tells the New York Post, "Jay-Z is a man of his word. I just bought a plasma TV with the money, and the first thing I'm going to watch on it is a Jay-Z video."