Jay-Z has revealed he learnt how to swim when he was in his 40s, after wife Beyonce gave birth to their first child, Blue Ivy Carter, 9. The rapper, 51, who also shares twins Rumi and Sir, 3, with the “Crazy In Love” hitmaker, opened up on a new episode of LeBron James‘ show, The Shop: Uninterrupted, about being a father to young girls. “It’s amazing. It’s a very grounding thing… I didn’t learn how to swim until Blue was born,” he revealed.
“There goes everything you need to know. This is a metaphor for our relationship. If she ever fell in the water and I couldn’t get her, I couldn’t even fathom that thought. I gotta learn how to swim. That’s it. That was the beginning of our relationship.” The “Empire State of Mind” rapper also discussed his Rock & Roll Hall of Fame nomination in early 2021, hilariously sharing that Blue Ivy didn’t have much of a reaction.
“I got the announcement [about the Hall of Fame], I was taking Blue to school, I was like, ‘This ain’t no celebration,’ ” he joked. “She walked away, I was like, ‘Yo, give me a kiss I’m in the Hall of Fame!’ She’s like ‘Bye, dad.'” The new interview comes just weeks after he opened up about fatherhood in a rare interview with The Sunday Times.
“Feeling loved is the most important thing a child needs, you know?” he told the outlet. “Not ‘Here’s this business that I’m going to hand over to you, that I’m creating for you.’ What if my child doesn’t want to be in music or sports? I have no idea, right? But as long as your child feels supported, and feels loved, I think anything is possible.”
He also explained that his priority is to “just make sure we provide a loving environment, be very attentive to who they want to be,” adding, “It’s easy for us, as human beings, to want our children to do certain things, but we have no idea. We’re just guides.”