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On Monday night, at the main branch of the Brooklyn Public Library, adults in tieless suits and flowing dresses populated the Youth Wing, sitting near stacks of children\u2019s books, some on children\u2019s chairs, with drinks in hand for the library\u2019s 24th annual gala.<\/p>\n
The benefit, which raised $1.5 million, honored Jay-Z and his mother, Gloria Carter, the co-founder and chief executive of the Shawn Carter Foundation. (She did not attend.)<\/p>\n
Nearby were pieces from \u201cThe Book of Hov\u201d<\/a> exhibit \u2014 like encased CDs, magazine covers, Grammy and Emmy Award statues, and a full-scale replica of a studio \u2014 which features artifacts tracing the artist\u2019s decades-long career. The exhibit opened in July and was extended through Dec. 4, Jay-Z\u2019s birthday.<\/p>\n Above a scribbled chalkboard, a large rendering of a green dragon hovered over stacked glasses on a bar that served Ace of Spades champagne and D\u2019Uss\u00e9<\/a> cognac, the rapper\u2019s brands.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cYou have experienced the multiple open bars inside of the public library. That\u2019s how you get literacy done,\u201d joked Baratunde Thurston<\/a>, the writer and cultural critic, while hosting the event.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Hundreds of guests spread onto the main floor for cocktails and a buffet of short ribs, roasted salmon and chicken with preserved lemon. The building\u2019s information area was transformed into a cafeteria-like seating area.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Xiomara Hall, a friend of Cassandra Metz, a library board member, flew in from Kansas City that morning after attending the last show on Beyonc\u00e9\u2019s Renaissance tour.<\/p>\n \u201cThis was my library growing up, and there was never a display or recognition of a Black artist that had an impact in this kind of a way, in this library, when I was growing up,\u201d Ms. Hall said.<\/p>\n \u201cSo it\u2019s powerful for me to come back to my childhood library to see someone like him who\u2019s also a Brooklyn native being honored like this.\u201d<\/p>\n Along with the exhibit, which came as New York City celebrated<\/a> the 50th anniversary<\/a> of hip-hop, the library has also introduced special edition \u201cBook of Hov\u201d library cards<\/a>, with 13 cards designed with the rapper\u2019s solo album covers.<\/p>\n Since the exhibit started, more than 80,000 limited-edition cards have been issued and more than 20,000 new library accounts have been opened, according to library representatives.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n For the evening remarks, guests moved outside to a covered structure along the library\u2019s entrance as Questlove served as the D.J.<\/p>\n In the front row of nearly 500 white folding chairs, Desiree Perez, the chief executive of Roc Nation, sat across from Linda E. Johnson, the president and chief executive of the library, and her husband, Bruce Ratner, the real estate developer. Clara Wu Tsai, the philanthropist and co-owner of the Brooklyn Nets, and Antonio Delgado, the lieutenant governor of New York, were also seated there.<\/p>\n Waiting in an undisclosed location nearby, Jay-Z walked quietly from behind the stage into his seat.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The singer, Victory, performed a song against the sirens and car horns from the Grand Army Plaza roundabout.<\/p>\n Speeches from elected officials, and well-known Brooklynites, praising Jay-Z were peppered with references to his music.<\/p>\n \u201cAs Senate majority leader, I got 99 problems,\u201d said Senator Chuck Schumer, the majority leader, as the crowd cheered.<\/p>\n \u201cBy the way,\u201d Mr. Schumer said, \u201cI live across the street and I wake up every morning reading your lyrics,\u201d referring to some of Jay-Z\u2019s lyrics plastered on the facade of the library\u2019s entrance, in celebration of the exhibit.<\/p>\n \u201c \u2026 but we all know that Jay-Z is a business, man,\u201d said Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso.<\/p>\n In a letter read by his sons, Jeremiah, 21, and Joshua, 19, Representative Hakeem Jeffries, Democrat of New York, who could not attend and sent his sons in his place, wrote that his children were inspired by \u201cthe life and times of Shawn Carter,\u201d a nod to the rapper\u2019s 1999 album<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n