Movies from Jay-Z

Knocked Up

For fun loving party animal Ben Stone, the last thing he ever expected was for his one night stand to show up on his doorstep eight weeks later to tell him she's pregnant.
Jay-Z
Musician, Entrepreneur
Apatow stated that Jay-Z revealed: “Oh my God, Knocked Up! That scene where your wife goes “Doorman, doorman, doorman!” That’s my favorite scene of all time!”
Movies from Jay-Z

True Romance

Clarence marries hooker Alabama, steals cocaine from her pimp, and tries to sell it in Hollywood, while the owners of the coke try to reclaim it.
Jay-Z
Musician, Entrepreneur
What's your favorite movie? [Cliche, but, really great. Godfather2. True Romance is high on my list]
Movies from Jay-Z

The Godfather: Part II

In the continuing saga of the Corleone crime family, a young Vito Corleone grows up in Sicily and in 1910s New York. In the 1950s, Michael Corleone attempts to expand the family business into Las Vegas, Hollywood and Cuba.
Jay-Z
Musician, Entrepreneur
The most impactful movies were Godfather II and Scarface. I loved the hu­man complexity, and those movies are so well shot. Cinematic greatness. I really stopped going in my early twenties.
Movies from Jay-Z

Scarface

After getting a green card in exchange for assassinating a Cuban government official, Tony Montana stakes a claim on the drug trade in Miami. Viciously murdering anyone who stands in his way, Tony eventually becomes the biggest drug lord in the state, controlling nearly all the cocaine that comes through Miami. But increased pressure from the police, wars with Colombian drug cartels and his own drug-fueled paranoia serve to fuel the flames of his eventual downfall.
Jay-Z
Musician, Entrepreneur
The most impactful movies were Godfather II and Scarface. I loved the hu­man complexity, and those movies are so well shot. Cinematic greatness. I really stopped going in my early twenties.
Movies from Jay-Z

Once Upon a Time in America

A former Prohibition-era Jewish gangster returns to the Lower East Side of Manhattan over thirty years later, where he once again must confront the ghosts and regrets of his old life.
Jay-Z
Musician, Entrepreneur
I recently watched Once Upon a Time in America (1984) on a plane. Back in the day, Noodles”—played by Robert De Niro— “was my man.
Movies from Jay-Z

Pulp Fiction

A burger-loving hit man, his philosophical partner, a drug-addled gangster's moll and a washed-up boxer converge in this sprawling, comedic crime caper. Their adventures unfurl in three stories that ingeniously trip back and forth in time.
Jay-Z
Musician, Entrepreneur
“Man, the way Tarantino went back and forth in time, that’s it. I love Pulp Fiction (1994). I name-checked it before, but it was a big influence on my writing. If you listen to ‘Meet the Parents,’ the way he uses time as an element is big in that song.”
Movies from Jay-Z

American Gangster

Following the death of his employer and mentor, Bumpy Johnson, Frank Lucas establishes himself as the number one importer of heroin in the Harlem district of Manhattan. He does so by buying heroin directly from the source in South East Asia and he comes up with a unique way of importing the drugs into the United States. Partly based on a true story.
Jay-Z
Musician, Entrepreneur
“It immediately clicked with me,” said Jay-Z, who has made passing references to gangster movies in previous recordings but has never delved so deeply into the genre.
Movies from Jay-Z

Annie

An orphan in a facility run by the mean Miss Hannigan, Annie believes that her parents left her there by mistake. When a rich man named Oliver "Daddy" Warbucks decides to let an orphan live at his home to promote his image, Annie is selected. While Annie gets accustomed to living in Warbucks' mansion, she still longs to meet her parents. So Warbucks announces a search for them and a reward, which brings out many frauds.
Jay-Z
Musician, Entrepreneur
"When the TV version [of Annie] came on, I was drawn to it," he says. "It was the struggle of this poor kid in this environment and how her life changed. ... It immediately resonated."