Jay-Z with Robert “Bobalob” Burke, photographed together at a party in 1997. Bobalob is the older brother of the Roc-A-Fella Records co-founder Kareem “Biggs” Burke. 

In the emotional third verse on the Kanye West-produced “Lucifer” from Jay-Z’s retirement album The Black Album, the rap mogul makes reference to his friend Bobalob, who just a few weeks earlier had been taken from the world far too early. We hear Jay questioning his faith as he pleads for answers from God, wanting to know why he had to take this kind and generous soul away from his family and friends. There is also a dark side to “Lucifer” verse, as the want for revenge is encompassing his thoughts and making him think of pulling out his handgun and ending the lives of those who killed Bob. As Jay explained to MTV News in 2010, “a song like ‘Lucifer’ is really about the struggle of dealing with death and having that feeling. The evil is really inside of you, not just this mythical character with pitchforks and things like that. Dealing with a feeling of wanting revenge.”

Robert Edward Burke III’s sunrise was on January 2, 1970 in New York City. He would study business administration at the now-closed Elizabeth Seton College in Yonkers, operating as a key member of the basketball team during his time there. He would go on to play professional basketball in Puerto Rico. On his “Bobalob” nickname, Jay-Z explained in his 2010 memoir Decoded that “we called him that because of his ball skills. He could jump really high, so they threw him an alley-oop or lob passes a lot.”

Bob was a childhood friend of Dame Dash, and was a founding member of Harlem’s famed “The Best Out” party crew. In coordinating outfits, they would host huge parties each month at the Cotton Club in Harlem, hiring DJ Kid Capri and attracting thousands of people—including rappers and pro athletes. Growing up Harlem’s own Jim Jones looked at Bobalob in awe, once telling Shawn Setaro that Bob “used to be in Harlem with all the cars … Bob had pretty girls and stuff like that. Every drug dealer’s dream.”

It was Bob who introduced Dash to his younger brother Kareem, leading to a friendship and business relationship crucial to the formation of Roc-A-Fella Records. It was after seeing Hov battle DMX on a pool table in Harlem in circa-‘94 that both Bob and Biggs came to believe in the supreme talents of the young Brooklyn MC and decided to put their financial weight behind his career.

Jump Shot Bob was an integral part of the Roc-A-Fella Records crew, working hard to make sure the label was moving forward. He used the skills he learned from launching his own clothing label Zion Boggs to help Rocawear achieve quick success. He was there the day Hov brought out Michael Jackson at Summer Jam in June 2001. He can be seen sitting on the couch next to Jay in the “Song Cry” music video; and in the 2002 Roc Films production Paid in Full, riding shotgun with Dame Dash as he tries to convince Mitch (played by Mekhi Phifer) that his crew is making more money than them.

On September 6, 2003 Bobalob was shot eight times while driving through the Bronx, which caused him to crash his vehicle and resulted in his untimely death. More than anything the Roc family wanted to “reverse the crash” and bring Bob home to his wife Arianne and three children, Robert IV, Ahrman and his beloved daughter Aspyn. As well as Biggs, Roc-A-Fella A&R Kyambo “Hip-Hop” Joshua and Joe Budden Podcast favorite Mal, Bob was survived by a further eight siblings, his father Robert Sr. and his grandmother Maria. Bob’s funeral service was held at the Mother African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church in Harlem on September 11. He was laid to rest next to his mother Lorraine in St. Thomas, the gateway isle of the U.S. Virgin Islands in the Caribbean.

In footage of the day Dame Dash broke the news to the Roc-A-Fella staff at the office he solemnly explained “it is a tragic situation. He’s the first immediate friend I’ve ever lost in that way. I feel fucked up because I’m 32 years old and now I’m starting to lose friends in that way. When these things happen it not only affects the person that got hurt, but it affects their family and their friends. So we are all in a degree of pain and we are here to support Biggs in every way because he did lose his brother.”

Recalling a time two years earlier when he tragically lost his fiancée Aaliyah in a plane crash, Dame offered that “everybody handles death different. I’ve personally been through it in a big way, so I know what he’s going through. We should never forget about the memory of anybody, and don’t try to ease the pain—just try to live through it.”

In a 2017 interview with Ray Polanco Jr. for Nice Kicks, a somber Biggs spoke openly for the first times on the heartbreaking accident events: “Every word said [on ‘Lucifer’] was true. My brother got shot eight times, got in the car and tried to drive away. He did drive away, but the car ended up slowing down because he was losing blood and just crashed into another car. Reverse the day, reverse the car, reverse the crash, and there you are Bobalob. It was like a movie the way Jay put it together. I work out to that song almost every single day because it means so much. It took me a long time to get over that situation, but now I’m always inspired by it. My brother was always someone who pushed all of us. He was real motivational and a leader in the way that Dame was too. He was someone I looked up to.”

Excusing himself from the majority of the album’s recording sessions to mourn his loss, Biggs wasn’t in the session at Baseline Studios when Hov recorded “Lucifer” with Kanye. When he came around towards the end of the recording process the Roc team played him the song last, to avoid strong feelings tainting the rest of his listening process. “At that time, it actually angered me coming in the studio and hearing that verse,” Biggs told TIDAL in an article surrounding the album’s 15th anniversary. “It was definitely a sensitive subject. I remember they played that song last for me. They wasn’t sure whether I wanted to hear it or not. I was like, ‘Just play it.’ I remember walking out the studio not in the best feeling. But it’s been quite a long time that I definitely appreciated Jay did what he did for my brother.  And now that the album has aged, I am able to appreciate it and I love the fact that he kept my brother’s memory alive.”

Reflecting on the implications of the track today, Biggs told TIDAL “at this point, now I am able to listen to something that will bring me back to every good memory I had of my brother. Although there are some sour ones too, like when Jay says, ‘I got dreams of holding a nine milla to Bob’s killer.’ I could see myself in that role too. But I’m at a place of forgiveness right now, so it also reminds me that I gave my life to the Lord. So there’s a bittersweet ending to that song but I think it is more sweet than bitter.”