People: Oct. 19, 1998

NEXT UP: BIG DADDY WARBUCKS

Some people watch the musical Annie and see a moppet belting out show tunes. Brooklyn-born rapper JAY-Z, whose latest release debuted last week at No. 1 on the Billboard album chart, saw something altogether grittier. "I watched the movie and was mesmerized," he says, referring to the scene in which the orphans sing Hard Knock Life. "They're too strong to let life bring them down. That's the ghetto right there." Inspired, Jay-Z sampled the song on his new album's title track, Hard Knock Life. Needless to say, the tune's original author was somewhat surprised by its...

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