Persians were abuzz when it was recently revealed that one of Jay-Z and Beyoncé’s (Knowles-Carters ) newborn twins was named ‘Rumi.‘ The immediate thought and assumption among the Iranian diaspora was that it was an homage to the Persian poet Rumi. Gossip swirled but all uncertainty can now be put to rest.
Notoriously private about their home life, Jay-Z decided to drop a little nugget on this topic during a wide-ranging interview on the Rap Radar podcast.
“Rumi is our favorite poet, so it was for our daughter,” Jay-Z explained. Most Iranian fans had already guessed that their new daughter’s name had something to do with the famed Persian poet, but Sir was a bit of a mystery. According to Jay-Z, it was all about his attitude: “Sir was like, man, come out the gate,” the rapper said. “He carries himself like that. He just came out, like, Sir.”
It’s also worth mentioning that Washington Post writer Elahe Izadi recently pointed out that Jay-Z hinted at learning more about Persian tradition, rapping on his newest album ‘4:44′ that he’s come so far he could “probably speak Farsi [Persian]/ That’s poetry…”
Given the constant Iranophobia coming out of Western media and the White House, it’s a welcomed change for Iranian-Americans to have their history and culture associated with the great Persian poet, Sufi philosopher, and Muslim scholar Rumi.
