How Jay-Z’s ‘89 Trip to London Saved His Life On Pusha T’s 2016 ‘Drug Dealers Anonymous’, #JayZ raps ‘Bitch I been brackin’ since the ‘80s / ‘89 in London pull the Benz up / Type it in, Google's your friend bruh’. The image he’s referring to reveals an oft overlooked chapter of Jay-Z’s history. Long before he was founding his own record label to publish the classic ‘Reasonable Doubt’, or smashing records with albums like The Blueprint, Shawn Carter was a crack dealer struggling to break into the rap industry. He learned his craft on the corner - scrawling lyrics on paper scraps and free-styling whenever he got a chance. Eventually, that talent was spotted by fellow Marcy projects rapper Jaz-O. He had grown up with Jay, and when he got an EMI deal, he took his “young apprentice” Jay-Z with him. EMI had never signed a rap artist before. To give the music credibility, they sent the two to London to record ‘Word to the Jaz’ with acclaimed producers - Jay remembered they “didn’t know jazz from anything”, and were "fake recording" until they could get back to hip-hop producers. This was when the photograph was taken, showing Jay in a Mercedes-Benz W201 190E in Willesden, London in 1989. Entirely accidentally, Jay had dodged a 10+ year sentence by taking the trip. As he explained to David Letterman, “during that time, there was a secret indictment, and they swept up and grabbed 30 of my friends.. one of my closest friends went to jail for 11 years, the guy I was with every day.” Although the two would later fall out after Jaz-O refused to sign to #rocafella, Jay still credits his mentor frequently, having received his first big feature on the album - he was even the inspiration for Jay’s name, originally coined ‘Jazzy’. They eventually ended the feud, with Jaz-O signing to Roc Nation.