GRAMMY-winning rapper, business mogul and cultural icon Jay-Z revealed on a recent episode of The Shop: Uninterrupted that he learned how to swim in adulthood.
On the television show co-hosted by NBA star LeBron James and businessman Maverick Carter, Jay-Z admitted he didn’t learn how to swim until after Blue Ivy, he and Beyoncé‘s first child, was born in 2012.
“It’s amazing. It’s a very grounding thing,” said Jay-Z. “I didn’t learn how to swim until Blue was born.”
“There goes everything you need to know,” he continued. “This is a metaphor for our relationship. If she ever fell in the water and I couldn’t get her, I couldn’t even fathom that thought. I gotta learn how to swim. That’s it. That was the beginning of our relationship.”
Learning how to swim, despite efforts from water safety organizations across the country, happens later in life for many adults. In 2014, the Red Cross survey found that 80% of participants said they could swim, but only 56% of them had mastered the five basic life-saving water skills.
Some studies also show that children are more likely to be good swimmers if their parents have a good grasp of water safety; a 2019 USA Swimming Foundation survey found that kids of parents with solid water abilities were 4.3 times as likely to have them, too.
I’ll give him swimming lessons if Beyonce is there too.
Holla
Hova
Who cares
ANYONE w children needs to know basic swimming & water safety skills, cuz, you know, it’s only a matter of life & death. Rates of drowning of BIPOC children & adults is several multiples higher than for white people (no other way to say that one gracefully, sorry), primary reason has been, historically, lack of access to pools & lessons (which is a discussion/article for another time). So bet your sweet bippie this old white lady care A LOT that Jay Z has learned to swim. Good for you, sir!!
Idk if everyone with children needs to know how.
But everyone who has a swimming pool and maybe a hot tub at home needs to know how to swim, especially with children. In addition have high gates locks so younger kids and pets can’t get in.
In my opinion the backyard pool is the most dangerous part of the house and also very hard to child proof. Also a lot of drowning at public pool (not deaths) are water where an adult can stand, so not having a deep end doesn’t help.
The risk of drowning was the reason we didn’t have a pool in our backyard growing up according to my dad. Too worried one of the kids of our friends or pets would have an accident. Finally got one when we were teenagers/young adults.
I’m going to make a strong guess that Jay Z and Beyonce have pools at their homes. Just a hunch…
Many drownings happen in someone else’s backyard pool during parties. Kids running around, no one paying attention, and no one notices the one who falls in the pool. They drown even though there are many people right there. Swimming is an important life skill for absolutely everyone.
Hes got 99 problems but drowning ain’t one
Well, it was a problem for Jeff Buckley. Can be a problem for anyone actually
Hahaha!!!
When is the podcast dropping?