Jay-Z’s 5 Favorite Things About the Nets, Birthday Wishes

It's no secret that Jay-Z loves the Nets. After helping facilitate the opening of the Barclays Center which now serves as a home stadium and effectively relocated the beloved New Jersey team to Brooklyn, Hov is sounding off on why they're the greatest.

He spoke with GQ recently about his top five favorite things about his team, and in honor of his 43rd birthday today, The BoomBox is highlighting the MC and his boys.

"All-black everything! And the lettering-the typography reminds you of the old subway. It's classic," the "Empire State of Mind" rapper reveals. It's no surprise that Jay cited fashion first, his Rocawear clothing line has been a smash success since its inception.

Next up Mr. Carter focuses on the new facilities -- the court itself. "It's herringbone, which is crazy. In fact, the NBA fought me on it," he explains. "They said if it gets shot on TV, the lines will mess up the screen. I'm like, This ain't 1988 - we've got HD.' We ended up taking it to the old arena in New Jersey to test it."

The rapper has been vocal about his dream of owning a team, and making sure their court was made of the finest material can only be a part of that.

The floor isn't the only good thing about Barclays in Jay's mind -- the entire arena itself is a thing of beauty. "It's beautiful, amazing, really well-done," he continues. "It's just classy. It's still an arena, so there's only so much you can do. But for an arena, it's actually really beautiful."

Of course, the beautiful arena would mean nothing to The Blueprint creator if it wasn't located in his favorite borough.

"Well, Brooklyn is cool; that's like the definition. There's nothing on earth cooler than Brooklyn," says Jay. Then again, anyone who has listened to more than a few songs knows exactly how he feels about his home turf. He even loves it enough to chill there for some pizza instead of attending the Grammys this year.

Finally, what does Jay-Z think is the final best thing about his beloved Nets? Their association with him of course!

"Me? Ha, I am Brooklyn," boasts the MC. Well, we already knew HOV had a big head, here's hoping he has a happy birthday. Maybe he'll be spending it in the studio working on new tracks with his beautiful wife Beyonce? Nah, he's probably going to be sitting court side watching the Nets take on the Thunder tonight.