JAY-Z doesn’t slow down for interviews often, but when he does, he does it with the best. The GRAMMY winner is the subject of Gayle King‘s latest revelatory interview, and the CBS Mornings host fought hard to secure the time with the music icon.
“I’m still floating. I can’t even act like, ‘Oh that wasn’t cool,’ because he so rarely sits down to do interviews! So I was really thrilled and honored that he agreed to do it,” King tells ET. King previously admitted that their interview, which took place inside of the Brooklyn Public Library’s Book of Hov Exhibit, came after “several very annoying asks” as JAY doesn’t do many interviews.
“I begged and graveled,” she admits.
The two-part interview airs Thursday and Friday on CBS Mornings, during which the Roc Nation founder breaks down his journey to superstardom, opening up about growing up in Brooklyn, making a name for himself, and his life now, as a father of three, husband to Beyoncé, and a businessman.
King shares that she got two hours with the rapper as he showed her around the Book of Hov Exhibit, which nearly encompasses the entirety of the Brooklyn Public Library. She reveals that JAY’s team arranged the exhibit as a tribute to him, leaving the rapper completely surprised when he learned about the exhibit.
“Brooklyn is in his DNA, Brooklyn means everything to this man and that’s why it touches him that Brooklyn was paying tribute the way it is,” King says. “He comes from the Marcy House projects, he talks about that and I talk to his mother and she was saying that in the middle of the night, he’d be beating on the table where she’d say, ‘You have got to go to bed.’ So at a very early age, she knew that he had something that other kids didn’t and now we’re all benefiting from that. Brooklyn is in his bones for sure.”
While King wouldn’t spoil exactly what JAY reveals in the two-part interview, she vows that fans won’t be disappointed in what they learn in either segment.
“This isn’t gonna be one of those things when people have a Part 2, you go, ‘Well, we already saw that in Part 1.’ I guarantee you, anything you saw in Part 1, you are not gonna see in Part 2, we got that much stuff,” she declares to ET. “We had an embarrassment of riches where I thought we gotta put this in, we gotta put this in, and that’s why it’s two parts.”
Speaking of another cultural phenomenon sweeping the nation at the moment, King also gave her two cents on Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift‘s whirlwind romance, which has been making headlines for two months.
“I’m here for it! People say, ‘Oh, it’s a publicity stunt!’ I don’t think that, I think they’re two young people who are attracted to each other and I think they’re trying to figure it out, whether it goes somewhere [or] doesn’t go somewhere,” King said of the pop star and Kansas City Chiefs tight end.
She adds, “I don’t think it really matters, I think it’s just really great [that] they can do this and have fun. I say have fun and enjoy it for as long as it lasts, and if it turns into something big, I think that would be terrific. I love the two of them together, I think it’s a lot of fun to watch.”
But the journalist isn’t putting any pressure on the young couple, although she notes it would be sweet to have a “front row seat” to them falling in love. “I love a good love story, and this has all the makings of one. I hope it is but if it isn’t, that’s OK too. Whatever they decide is OK with me.”
King noted that neither Kelce nor Swift have called on her for advice, but her line is open if they’re in need!
Part 2 of JAY-Z’s interview with Gayle King will air Friday on CBS Mornings.
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