The death of Kobe Bryant was tough for people all across the world, which included Hip-Hop icon JAY-Z who revealed the last conversation he had with the late hoops legend.
Hov was on hand at Columbia University and spoke on the death of Bryant, revealing a level of admiration shared between the two.
“So, Kobe was a guy that looked up to me and we’ve hung out multiple times and he was last at my house on New Year’s. He was just in the greatest space that I’ve seen him in,” Jay Z said. “One of the last things he said to me was, ‘You’ve gotta see Gianna play basketball.'”
As the world knows, Gianna was sadly in the helicopter that crashed with Bryant on board.
“And that was one of the most hurtful things because he was so proud,” Jay added. “And the look on his face was like—I looked at him and said, ‘Oh, she’s going to be the best female basketball player in the world.’ He was just so proud. So that’s really a tough one. My wife and I took that and taking that really tough. That’s all I’ll say on that. Just a great human being and was just in a great space in life.”
The two have a long relationship of supporting each other. Kobe Bryant was seen holding his Oscar award at JAY-Z’s post-Oscar party and Hov was courtside when The Black Mamba blasted the Utah Jazz with 60 points in his last NBA game.
Another fascinating story about Bryant, specifically his mind, came from former teammate Brian Shaw. He detailed to The Player’s Tribune that Kobe would remember every lyric of a Hov album within 24 hours of its release.
“We would always freestyle on the back of the bus. Whenever a new Jay-Z album came out, it was a big deal,” Shaw remembers. “Guys would get it day one and be rapping their favorite songs. Maybe they knew the first few bars or the hook. Well, Kobe would be on the back of the bus rapping every single line of every single song the day after the album came out. I’m talking every lyric. It was genuinely amazing. Nobody could figure out how it was possible.”
You can see Hov recall his last memory below.
