Never without my headphone

In hip-hop, the music leads first. So usually, you have a hit record and then [the record executives] throw this person on stage who has never been on stage before. So they don’t have any experience on how to perform in front of people, hold the mic — all these different things you need to know as a performer. So you get up there, you feel naked. So when you feel naked, what’s the first thing you do? You cover yourself. So that bravado is an act of, ‘I am so nervous right now. I am scared to death. I’m going to act so tough that I am going to hide it, and I have to grab my crotch.’ That’s just what happens.

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Jay-Z explains crotch-grabbing in rap music to Fresh Air’s Terry Gross (via nprmusic)

So most of them are really scared all the time. It’s a brave thing to grab oneself’s crotch.

(via pegobry)