Article from: WWE.Com
John Cena vs. Jay Z & Fabolous — Battle Rap: WrestleMania XIX
“On television, I issued an open invite to anyone to add celebrity status to WrestleMania XIX. Knowing my experience, I certainly was setting myself up for failure, but also setting up a nice little entertaining WrestleMania segment. Jay Z and Beyonce were rumored to come to WrestleMania. They had to cancel, but with long enough lead time for us to still find a replacement. Fabolous was slated to be there and cancelled the day of. And it wasn’t out of emergency reasons. He had just chosen to go to another function. So that upset the WWE higher-ups. I think he chose to go to Spring Break instead, so they kind of let me tee off on [a cardboard cutout of] him.
“I regret that it didn’t happen, because I’m a big hip-hop fan and I’m very rarely star struck. I not only admire Jay Z’s music, but I look up to him as an entrepreneur. I was asked by a major journalist a question that you often get asked: 'If you could sit down at dinner with three people, who would it be?' I said, 'John D. Rockerfeller, FDR and Jay Z.' I really admire what he’s done, what he continues to do and how he continues evolving. Hip-hop is a young man’s game yet he always is on top of the mountain. I would truly love to meet him. He is one of those people I wouldn’t know what to say to.
“I don’t miss being The Doctor of Thuganomics. Like I said, it’s a young man’s game. I sometimes feel awkward in denim shorts at 37. I would definitely feel awkward trying to spit street slang. That’s something you do with the guys and you just try to hold your own. That’s the extent of my hip-hop these days.” — JOHN CENA