Jay-z Would Have Robbed Martin As A Teenager

The 99 Problems hitmaker is close friends with the British rocker, but insists he would have threatened Martin if he had walked through the Marcy Projects, a tough public housing complex in Brooklyn, New York where the rapper grew up.

He tells Britain's Daily Mirror, "That's a different scenario. He couldn't walk through Marcy. I was a different person then. I wasn't open to the world and to the cultures. I would have been, 'Yo! Who are you? Give me your money.' You couldn't have a guy like Chris walking through Marcy. He'd have to get robbed. At best."

But now Jay-Z, real name Shawn Carter, is pleased he's struck up a friendship with the Yellow hitmaker and his wife Gwyneth Paltrow: "They are a really cool family with beautiful kids, who happen to be good at the jobs they do."