Calvin Klein Bacote, author of Neighborhoods Under Seige, opens up about his relationship with Jay Z, explaining that the rapper idolized in his younger years. He then explains Jay's line, "I never felt more alive, riding shotgun in Klein's green five," from The Black Album. Klein says that the lyric is about a case they both caught in 1989 after a big fight broke out in Maryland.
Calvin says he and Jay went back and forth about who was going to take the charges after Bacote worked things out with the guy who was pressing charges, paying him $50,000. The victim said he would drop charges for one person, and Calvin saw potential in Jay's career and decided to do the time.
After Jay testified on his behalf, Calvin got four years on an assault charge, but didn't hear from the Brooklyn rapper for several years until making a phone call to their mutual friend Ty Ty Smith. When Jay anxiously wanted to talk to Bacote on the other line, the now-author hung up and said he never called again. Calvin said that he made the decision, because he didn't want to get Jay tangled in drama over the recorded phone call.
