Hovi’s home. Jay-Z will make a triumphant return to his hometown of Brooklyn to christen the new Barclays Center. The sports and entertainment arena will house the former New Jersey Nets, who will make their debut as the Brooklyn Nets this fall. The Roc Nation mogul is a minority owner of the NBA team and director of Brooklyn Arena LLC, which owns Barclays.

The $1 billion complex features 19,000 seats, a Calvin Klein Courtside Club for VIPs like Mr. Carter and his wife, and a three-story HD scoreboard, one of the biggest in the NBA.

“I stand here and represent hope for Brooklyn, New York City,” said Jay-Z at a press conference last year. “I’m a son of Brooklyn. I think about growing up in Brooklyn in Marcy Projects and shooting jumpshots and thinking I could make it to the NBA, and now I’m standing here as an owner of a team that’s coming back to Brooklyn and the pride in bringing that dream so much closer to people from Marcy, from Tompkins, from Fort Greene, from Lafayette Gardens…”

The venue will kick off with eight shows from Jay-Z starting Friday and play host to Rihanna, Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, Bob Dylan, Barbra Streisand, and more in the future.

MTV’s “RapFix Live” got a sneak peek of the Barclays Center before it opens its doors on Friday. Take a tour of what’s soon to be Jay-Z’s home away from home.

Source