Report: Jay-Z’s subway companion thought some sort of 9/11-style attack had taken place

Report: Jay-Z’s subway companion thought some sort of 9/11-style attack had taken place

Jay-Z has a conversation with an older woman on the subway.

Rapper Jay-Z’s subway conversation with an older woman has gone viral, according to The Guardian. On his way to his eighth and final concert at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, the rapper decided to ride the subway instead of taking some form of rich-person transportation to the concert.

While on the subway, Jay-Z had a conversation with Ellen Grossman, age 67. While you would be hard pressed to find a young person in the United States that would not be able to instantly recognize part owner of the Brooklyn Nets, the rapper’s notoriety appears to still be in its infancy among older generations.

“Are you famous?” Ms. Grossman asked Jay-Z as he sat down next to her on the R train. “Yes,” the rapper said. “Not very famous, you don’t know me.”

“My name is Jay, what’s your name?” the rapper said, shaking her hand.

“Ellen,” she said. “What do you do?”

“I make music,” he responded.

Later, during an telephone interview with The Washington Post, Ms. Grossman talked about her encounter with the famous hip-hop artist.

“In general I have poor face recognition unless I know someone really well. I was aware Jay-Z was famous and existed, but I didn’t know how famous,” she said. “I’ve become much more aware of what he’s done and who he is. And as I checked him out, I realized, how embarrassing that I didn’t know who he was. There were all these photographers and a crowd of happy people around him, and security people. So it sort of dawned on me as I was looking around that he was someone famous.”

At first, Jay-Z’s conversation partner thought that some sort of 9/11-style attack had taken place because the subway had been “sparsely populated” before Jay-Z’s entourage and fans started streaming filling up the platform and train. According to the newspaper, she quickly realized that the crowd was more excited than worried.

According to The New York Daily News, Ms. Grossman has come to respect Jay-Z as a fellow artist after doing some research on his work as a rapper. She also has reportedly received a CD of his music from an assistant in the studio where she creates her art.

You can view a video of the entire encounter here.

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