In the newest issue of New York Magazine which features a young Jay on the cover, hip-hop producer, Rick Rubin, who supplied the beat for the hip hop mega hit, “99 Problems,” says a fun fact worthy of hip hop trivia “Chris Rock had the idea for the chorus,” he said. “It’s based on an Ice-T song called ’99 Problems,’ and [Rock] said, ‘Ice-T has this song and maybe there’s a way to flip it around and do a new version of that.’ I told Jay Z the idea and he liked it.” Rubin then went on to tell the magazine about how the entire hook was actually lifted from an Ice T track saying “The Ice-T song is about ‘got 99 problems and a bitch ain’t one,’ and then it’s a list of him talking about his girls and what a great pimp he is.” Rubin then goes on to say Jay Z flipped the Ice T verses instead of a boasting song but to actually be a venting tool of actual problems Jay Z faces and the rest is hip hop history!
by Michele Amira @nicejewishswag
