JAY-Z and Beyoncé had good reasons for the names they chose for their newborn twins, who were born in June.
The “Empire State of Mind” rapper, 47, opened up on Friday to Rap Radar hosts Elliot Wilson and Brian Miller about how he and the “Formation” singer, 35, came to choose the names Rumi and Sir .
“Rumi is our favorite poet, so it was for our daughter,” he shared. “Sir was like, man, come out the gate. He carries himself like that. He just came out, like, Sir.”
The father of three also revealed how the couple’s firstborn, 5-year-old daughter Blue Ivy, ended up rapping a freestyle on his new album, 4:44 while they were in the recording studio together.
“She got the headphones and she climbed on the little stool, and then she just started rapping,” JAY-Z said. “I was like, ‘Oh, s—.’ I haver [her full freestyle] on my phone. Five minutes! Five minutes of her doing that.”
He also touched on the hook that went viral after the song was released in early July.
“She kept doing that ‘boom shakalaka, boom shakalaka.’ I was like, ‘Oh, she understands the concept of a hook,’” he said. “She’s 5, and she understands the concept of a hook. I was like, ‘What the f— is going on here?’ One of the great memories.”
Besides talking about his oldest daughter’s music skills, the Grammy Award winner said his family will be joining him on tour.
“I booked the tour for October so I could have at least four months to just really bond and see their fingers and s— like that,” he said.
“They’ll be with me [on tour] anyway, but I’m just saying, like, [I needed] a space where I’m not doing anything,” he continued. “I’m just focused on them. I’m not thinking about a show at night or anything like that. That’s why the tour is so far away from the release of the album.”
