Foxy Brown & Jay Z

A mini dive into 2 NYC rappers that topped the charts & became fodder for gossip. By Brian Salkowski

They were on top of the hip hop world. They were the second Duo to follow the first famous Duo- Biggie & Lil Kim. Of course, I am talking about Jay Z and Foxy Brown. In the mid 1990s New York City saw an explosion of new rappers and new sounds. Part of this explosion included "the rap crew". Unlike Wu-Tang clan, the difference was a female being included in these crews. Kim in Junior Mafia and Foxy Brown in The Firm. Foxy's union with Jay seemed more bankable than the affiliation with Nas (mainly because the firm album flopped in the charts). "Ain't No N***a" is cited as playing a significant role in securing Jay-Z's record deal with Def Jam. According to Sony BMG A&R Nick Raphael, "Will Socolof of Freeze Records sent me a CD and a video and said to me, "This guy is incredible, but he needs a bigger label to take over. Are you interested?" There was radio silence. Then a huge bidding war was started to snatch up Foxy Brown. Bad Boy or Def Jam. She ultimately went with the latter. Jay that appeared on her debut album. Foxy then appeared on his 2nd album. Rumors were circulating that a "Bonnie and Clyde" was in the works just like "Thelma and Louise" with Foxy Brown and Lil Kim was supposed to happen. Details are foggy, allegations and speculation went from the bizarre to sometimes plausible. Either way by 1999 you can see Jay and Foxy slowly distancing themselves from each other.

Enter Amil.

"Can I Get A F**k You" with Ja Rule & Amil skyrocketed up the charts. People were a little confused, me especially, because I was expecting that if there was going to be a female on a track with him it was going to be foxy. Instead Amil took her place. Lines in the sand were obviously drawn. Whatever it was that made Jay and Foxy split, it made room for Amil to make her own attempt at a debut album that failed miserably. Foxy Brown watched all of this with resentment and bitterness.

She found herself back at Def Jam, all of a sudden, in the mid '00s, when Jay-Z was named president. Supposedly, he signed her to a deal there, but I'm wondering if he didn't just give her a sweaty wad of bills from his pocket, for old time's sake, like Paul Sorvino in Goodfellas. No Def Jam album has resulted from this deal, and Def Jam will release an album by anyone, especially in that week in between Christmas and New Year's. This may have been a show of appreciation by Jay-Z for not elaborating on Nas' claims back during their beef. She later went on to release an album in 2003 titled Broken Silence. It was her only album where she wrote every single song.

You hear rumors about Jay-Z every now and again. In 2002 there was once a cover story on him in the Pitch, Kansas City's local equivalent of the Village Voice. Years ago, way back in the dark ages, Larry Johnson, a player for the Kansas City Chiefs, was on the DL. It was more or less common knowledge in KC. A few years later in XXL, it was reported Jay-Z and Larry Johnson were going half on an apartment in Donald Trump's "Trump Tower". Two and two were ultimately put together. Insinuations of Jay being either bisexual or gay ran rampant. Larry Johnson was signed to Jay-Z's clothing line Rocawear as a male model. Straight guys probably shouldn't live with male models, as a basic matter of decorum. Also it is not good as far as publicity goes.

Fast forward a few years, and sudden rumors were starting to circulate that Foxy Brown was at a birthday party and started going on about how Jay-Z sleeps with trannies, he gave her an STD, and Larry Johnson is his boyfriend. It spread like wildfire and/or the clap throughout the bored hoodrat Internets to the point where the almighty TMZ followed up on it. To this day, Jay or anyone from his camp never confirmed or denied the allegation.

We all saw what rumors and gossip did to two great rappers. Of course, I am talking about the murder of 2pac & BIG. Suddenly things became very serious. As far as Jay's possible predilection to have sex with gay models on his clothing line, nothing shocks me. As I said prior, there never was a statement provided by his camp on this. So, the speculation continues.

All this obviously made the relationship between the two more contentious than ever. Regardless, Foxy Brown went on to do her thing and Jigga went on to do his. It is a known fact there will always be gossip and perpetuated rumors in any entertainment industry. One fact remains, despite their union together, they made an undeniable mark on rap music that legions of fans will never forget.