“I listen to the song ‘Victory’ on Puff’s No Way Out album,” Jay-Z tells LIFE of his preshow routine. “When Notorious B.I.G. comes in on the first verse, it feels like Rocky to me.”

“When I’m onstage, I’m thinking, Is this going to be the town where they don’t know the music? But even in Poland, they knew my lyrics,” Jay-Z tells LIFE.

“I don’t feel like I’m living in a bubble. I still feel like a man of the people,” says Jay-Z, in a Mercedes in Paris, where his show sold out. “Give me great food and wine, and I’m good,” he says. “I’m a cheap date.”

Pic Cred: YBF

Labels: Jay Z