The man himself said “30 is the new 20″ on Kingdom Come and now he’s officially going to have to rewrite those lyrics. Old enough to retire a second time, Jay-Z is celebrating his 40th birthday today — feel free to relive the moment via his mom’s intro on The Black Album’s “December 4.” Although he’s barely old enough to run for president, Jay-Z is a veteran among hip-hop veterans, recording since rap’s golden age in the late ’80s. To help congratulate the youngest old-schooler alive, we’re going to take a look back at some of his earliest material. Watch a young Jigga Man fall hilariously from the sky around 36 seconds into this 1989 video by his mentor the Jaz. Much later into his career, our man Jay founded the ever-fashionable Rocawear clothing line, so we assume he won’t be rocking the Hawaiian shirt and low-top fade anytime soon.
As previously reported by Rock Daily, Jay-Z has been everywhere in the last month of his 30s: sampled by Lupe Fiasco, covered by Snoop, raised the eyebrows of 50 Cent — he even garnered a Grammy nomination or four.
Bonus Flashback: Watch one of Jay-Z’s very first solo singles circa 1994, “I Can’t Get With That.” Before he solidified the effortless cool of Reasonable Doubt, Jay had the hyperkinetic stiggidy-wiggidy flow of early ’90s crews like Fu-Schnickens and Das EFX. Dope!