Most know New York native Jay-Z as Beyoncé’s husband and one of the world’s most successful rappers. But to his three children, he’s also just Dad! Jay first became a father in 2012 when Beyoncé gave birth to the couple’s first daughter Blue Ivy Carter. Fast-forward to June 2017, and the Carters welcomed twins Sir and Rumi, cementing their family of five.

Sources report that Beyoncé and Jay-Z have a team of nannies to help them balance raising their three kids, whom they reportedly pay around $100,000 per year. But fatherhood has still had a profound effect on Jay-Z’s life, and in particular, on his career.

Reflecting back on how his children have changed him since they came into the world, Jay-Z opened up about the lessons his kids have indirectly taught him, and what kind of father he is to Blue, Sir, and Rumi.

What Kind Of Father Is Jay-Z?

The Carters mostly keep their kids out of the spotlight, but fans have been able to gather what kind of father Jay is from comments he’s made in interviews.

In a 2021 interview with The Sunday Times (via USA Today), the rapper revealed that his priority is always making sure his kids feel “supported” and “loved”. The Carters used the pandemic as an opportunity to “sit down and really connect, and really focus on family and being together, and take this time to learn more about each other.”

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"Feeling loved is the most important thing a child needs," he went on.

When asked what the key to raising a child successfully is, Jay said, “Be very attentive to who they want to be. It’s easy for us, as human beings, to want our children to do certain things, but we have no idea. We’re just guides.”

How Has Jay-Z Changed Since Becoming A Father?

Becoming a father has fundamentally changed Jay-Z as a person. On the podcast Hart to Heart, Jay revealed that fatherhood has transformed the course of his career.

“Time is all you have. That’s the only thing we control, is how you spend your time,” he revealed to podcast host Kevin Hart (via Us Weekly). “You’re reckless with your time before [having kids].”

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He explained that he would mindlessly accept career commitments that he didn’t need to before he became a father. But after Blue Ivy, Sir, and Rumi came into the picture, he has been more careful about what he commits himself to so he can have as much time with his kids as possible:

“You’re just all over the place and then you have to [ask yourself], ‘What are you leaving your house for?’ Every second that you spend, you’re spending away from the development of these people that you brought here, that you love more than anything in the world.”

He added, “That changed a lot. That changed practically everything.

Us Weekly also cites another interview Jay-Z gave LeBron James on his talk show The Shop: Uninterrupted where the rapper admitted that the arrival of Blue grounded him and motivated him to learn new skills, like swimming.

“I didn’t learn how to swim until Blue was born,” he said. “There goes everything you need to know. 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.”

Are Jay-Z’s Kids Following In His Footsteps?

One of the most common questions that Jay-Z and Beyoncé are asked is whether their kids are going to follow in their footsteps and take on the music industry.

With Blue already having won a Grammy for her collaboration on Beyoncé’s song ‘Brown Skin Girls’ from the 2020 album Black Is King, it seems likely that a future in singing or rap may be in the cards. Blue contributes vocals to the song and also appeared in the music video, plus she wrote a verse on her own.

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However, Jay has maintained that he won’t force his kids to follow in his footsteps if they don’t want to, which ties in with his beliefs about loving his kids and supporting them rather than trying to mold them into something they’re not.

“Feeling loved is the most important thing a child needs, you know?” he said in his interview with The Sunday Times (via Style Caster). “Not ‘Here’s this business that I’m going to hand over to you, that I’m creating for you.'”

As for whether the kids have plans on pursuing music careers? Beyoncé’s mom Tina Knowles Lawson admitted in a 2019 interview that Blue still doesn’t know what she wants to do when she grows up.

“But whatever she wants to do, she will definitely be able to do it because she’s good at a lot of things,” Lawson said (via Style Caster).