Jay-Z, 55, was named in a civil lawsuit on Sunday in which he was accused of raping a teenager in 2000 alongside fellow rapper Sean Diddy Combs, 55, while an unnamed female celebrity watched.
The producer has vehemently denied the allegations, sharing a statement on social media after he was named which read in part: "These allegations are so heinous in nature that I implore you to file a criminal complaint, not a civil one!! Whomever would commit such a crime against a minor should be locked away, would you not agree? These alleged victims would deserve real justice if that were the case.”
In the years leading up to the alleged assault - just before Jay-Z went public with his now-wife, Beyonce, 43 - the musician was rumoured to be linked to another young songstress, teenage rapper Foxy Brown, now 46. Foxy hit the music scene in 1994 aged just 15, after winning a talent contest in New York.
Image:
Getty Images)Image:
Redferns via Getty Images)Soon after, in early 1996, Foxy’s vocals were featured on the song ‘Ain’t No N***a’ by Jay-Z, with Foxy singing lyrics including: Ain't no n***a like the one I got. Sleeps around but he gives me a lot. Friends'll tell me I should leave you alone.”
Foxy spoke of her early days in the industry at the age of 15, sharing how Jay-Z was vital to her music career. “Jay can tell you... he'll have to pick me up from school and take me to the studio,” she said in 2005, according to the Daily Mail. She added that she was “a monster at 15” for balancing taking school by correspondence while “knocking out” tracks.
Jay-Z’s rival rapper Nas fuelled rumours that he and Foxy were more than musical collaborators with his 2001 diss track, Ether, in which he rapped: “Foxy got you hot 'cause you kept your face in her p***. What you think, you getting girls now 'cause of your looks?” Nas' track came after Jay-Z got involved with his girlfriend Carmen Bryan from 1995-2000, culminating with her falling pregnant at the age of 26, but sadly suffering a miscarriage.
Meanwhile, a biography about Jay-Z claimed that Foxy had: “A sneer to her flow, a ballsiness to her stance and her lyrics oozing sex, money and designer name tags. Jay was so entranced he had to have her,” according to the Daily Mail.
Foxy Brown’s representative has been reached out to for comment.
Soon after Jay-Z was linked to Foxy, he was linked to Beyoncé during her Destiny’s Child days. The couple has represented a united front in the days since the allegations, and attended the Mufasa premiere in Los Angeles together on Tuesday, along with their daughter Blue Ivy, 12, and Beyoncé’s mum Tina Knowles.
Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s relationship has also caused questions from some fans about their age difference, with the pop star having said that she was 18 when she met her now-husband, who is 12 years her senior.
In an interview in 2009, she said: "I was 18 when we first met, 19 when we first started dating. I really don't believe that you will love the same thing when you're 20 as you do at 30. So that was my rule – before the age of 25, I would never get married."
Beyoncé added: "We were friends first. Before we went on any dates, we were on the phone for a year and a half. That foundation is so important in a relationship." Seventeen reports that they indeed met when she was 18 in around 1999, however in a 2007 interview with Charlie Ross, Jay-Z reportedly said he met her "10 years ago" in around 1997.
He said they "met a long time ago" to which Charlie laughed and probed: "Don't you remember how long it was?" He suggested he started noticing her at the time she was recording Destiny's Child's debut album when she was around 16. And during a 2002 MTV interview, now widely being shared on X, the couple both hesitated when they were asked how they met.
* Follow Mirror Celebs on Snapchat , Instagram , Twitter , Facebook , YouTube and Threads .
English (US) ·