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“Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)” is one of JAY-Z’s biggest and most important hits, but like many other hit records that get passed around the industry, the song wasn’t even Hov’s to begin with.

In a recent appearance on the Rap Radar Podcast, Kid Capri—legendary New York DJ and skit man on Kung Fu Kenny’s chart-topping DAMN. album—explains how The 45 King (who produced “Hard Knock Life,” as well as Eminem’s “Stan”) originally gave him the Annie-sampling beat, which he intended to use for his 1998 album Soundtrack to the Streets.

It was only because Kid Capri played the beat while DJing on Diddy’s No Way Out tour in 1997 that Hov (who was an opener—yes, opener—on the tour, although that didn’t last long) heard it, and immediately saw the song’s potential.

“We was on the Puff tour. It was me, Usher, Diddy, Busta Rhymes, Foxy Brown, Jay Z…I was in the middle of the arena and I would do my own crazy set that would have the arena right. When I came out the second time, I would start with the ‘Hard Knock Life’ record. The 45 King gave it me on a plate with just the beat. Different people would walk up, ‘Kid, how you get Annie behind the drums?’ That’s when Jay ran up, ‘yo, what the hell?!’ I say, ‘you want that?’ He said, ‘yeah!’ I put him on the phone with 45; two weeks later it was out.” —Kid Capri, Rap Radar Podcast

Released in October 1998, “Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)” became the highest-charting hit of JAY-Z’s career at the time and helped Hard Knock Life, the album, achieve both 5x Platinum certification and a GRAMMY win. It was also Hov's first international hit, cracking the top 10 in Canada, Germany and the UK. "Hard Knock Life" was arguably the moment Hov graduated from an opener on Diddy’s tour to a headlining star.

Which only makes the story behind “Hard Knock Life” all the more interesting. Had the song been released on Kid Capri’s album, it probably wouldn’t have made the same impact—something Capri himself admitted: “had I used it, it might not have became that big," he says on the podcast. In which case, JAY-Z’s career-making year could have turned out very differently (retrospective reviews on Ma$e’s GRAMMY-winning Harlem World would’ve been fun).

That’s not to say Hov wouldn’t have become the icon is today; “Big Pimpin’” arrived just over a year later, let’s not forget. But without “Hard Knock Life” as the bedrock for his breakout success—not just in America, but around the world—Jay’s rise to the top may have been a little rockier (or, at the very least, taken longer).

“Hard Knock Life”'s alternate path could have affected another rap legend’s career, too. In Grantland’s "The Oral History of Jay Z’s ‘Annie’ Anthem, ‘Hard Knock Life,’" The 45 King admitted that, “if I didn’t do ‘Hard Knock Life,’ there would have been no ‘Stan,’” which I’d argue is also true if “Hard Knock Life” simply wasn’t as big as it was (in other words, had it been released by Kid Capri).

No “Stan” means no Eminem and Elton John GRAMMYs performance, at least three million fewer sales for Marshall Mathers, and certainly no use of the term “stan” to describe an obsessive fan (like Nas did Hov on “Ether”). At this point, there’s a whole Butterfly Effect sequel waiting to be written about “Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)” being a Kid Capri album cut instead of arguably Jay's most crucial single.

Kid Capri didn't totally lose out by giving JAY-Z "Hard Knock Life," though. His generosity earned him an appearance on "It's Like That" and, subsequently, a GRAMMY when Vol. 2...Hard Knock Life won Best Rap Album in 1999.

"I won twice," Capri said.