Last night Jay-z held a one of a kind carnival
to benefit his charity The Shawn Carter Foundation – dedicated to providing higher education scholarships to urban youth. Roc Nation spared no expense on the $1000 a ticket event pegged ‘An Evening of Making The Ordinary Extraordinary’, held on the Hudson River waterfront at Pier 54.
Honestly, I had NO idea what to expect. It was unreal with Bottles of Ace Of Spades that lined the front of the carnival. Jay’s guests included wife Beyonce, Estelle, Questlove, Alex Rodriguez, Angela Yee, Charlamagne tha God, Kevin Liles, Steve Stoute, Mike Kyser, Shawn Pecas, Andre Harrell, Sylvia Rhone, Elliot Wilson, Danyel Smith and more. Jay’s family was also on hand including his mother Gloria (Co-Founder of The SC Foundation) and sisters Michelle and Annie.
I spoke to an obviously proud Jay-Z about why this night was so important to do for himself personally and he responded:
“I got an email this morning and it said ‘some people climb the ladder to success and then pull the ladder up behind them and then some people climb that ladder and then once they get to the top, start pulling people up behind them.’ And then it said ‘and you’re one of those people’ and that was the first email I got this morning, and that felt…kinda nice. This all wasn’t necessarily my plan. And it’s not that there was one particular moment. Its just that I know where I’ve come from and as I’ve built piece by piece I know I have a responsibility to help those who come behind me. There’s going to be more executives than artists, and they are going to need an education, so if I can help…
He left that sentence unfinished as he shrugged and went off to play some carnival games.
Food was provided by the likes of The Spotted Pig and Milk Bar. Grey Goose made sure Jana Fleishman (Jay’s Super Hero publicist) and the adorably infectious Sharada Maddox finally got a moment to taste the custom cocktails. Between ticket sales, raffles, and sponsor donations, last night they raised $1,033,000.00 in scholarship money. How cool is that?
For more information about the Shawn Carter Foundation, visit www.shawncartersf.com
Jay had some series concentration during a game of darts
Jay-Z and his mom with some of the night’s winners
Lucky winner of a Chrysler 300
Jay-z’s sisters Michelle and Annie Carter
Charlamagne and Angela Yee came through
And so did Estelle
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