Before he was known as a hip hop billionaire, Jay Z was just a guy from the Marcy Houses projects. He and his friends engaged in illegal activities in order to keep the cash flow coming in, and back in the day, there weren't many people as close to the rapper than his friend DeHaven Irby. They may have been friends way back when, but for decades they've taken verbal shots at each other. Jay even spit a few bars about De-Haven on his song "No Hook."
"So f*ck DeHaven for caving, that's why we don't speak / Made men ain't supposed to make statements / End of the story, I followed the code, cracked the safe / Other n*ggas ain't in the game so they practice hate," Jay rhymed on the American Gangster track. At one time DeHaven—along with a number of his associates, some of which also know Jay—was facing a federal drug conspiracy case in the late 1990s. He claims that when it began to look like he would be serving life behind bars, his good friend suddenly disappeared.
This isn't a story that DeHaven hasn't shared in the past, but he recently sat down with Vlad TV to tell his side of the story once again. "They didn't come to check on me, they didn't follow up with my family," he said of Jay and another friend, Emory. "I got word from [Jay] that, 'Yo, don't worry about it. I got you." DeHaven said that when he was finally able to reach Jay, the rapper said he would help with him with a legal team, but he didn't hear back from him. Other people began copping to pleas and leaving, but DeHaven decided to keep his mouth shut, but his head down, and take his case to trial. He said he had to use a court-appointed attorney, but in the end, it may have been what saved his life. Watch his clip with Vlad TV below.