Columbia University hosted a session with Jay Z on Tuesday (February 4) that birthed many revelations during the Roc Nation leader’s discussion, including the rapper’s last interaction with Kobe Bryant. Roc Nation Sports released a clip of Jay’s conversation with the intimate crowd and someone in the audience wanted to know his thoughts on the recent passing of the NBA icon.

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Gathering his thoughts and emotions, Jay took his time with his answer. “So, Kobe was a guy that looked up to me and we’ve hung out multiple times and he was last at my house on New Year’s. He was just in the greatest space that I’ve seen him in,” Jay Z said. “One of the last things he said to me was, ‘You’ve gotta see Gianna play basketball.'” Tragically, Kobe’s 13-year-old daughter would also lose her life in a helicopter crash alongside her father.

“And that was one of the most hurtful things because he was so proud,” Jay continued. “And the look on his face was like—I looked at him and said, ‘Oh, she’s going to be the best female basketball player in the world.’ He was just so proud. So that’s really a tough one. My wife and I took that and taking that really tough. That’s all I’ll say on that. Just a great human being and was just in a great space in life.” Check out the clip below.