Fans are remembering how gangster-turned-actor Dave Courtney inspired Jay-Z

25 October, 2023

two side by side images of Dave Courtney (left) and Jay-Z (right)

Fans are remembering how late gangster-turned-actor Dave Courtney inspired the cover artwork for Jay-Z‘s 2001 album ‘The Blueprint’.

Courtney – who claimed to be an associate of ’60s gangland criminals the Krays – was found at his home in Plumstead, south east London last Sunday (October 22) after reportedly dying by suicide. He was 64 years old.

The Metropolitan Police said his death is currently being treated as unexpected and is under investigation.

In a statement, Courtney’s family paid tribute to his “incredible, colourful, rock ‘n’ roll life”, and said he had experienced the “pain of both cancer and arthritis in his later years”. They wrote: “On October 22 2023, Dave made the decision to ‘stop the ride’.”

Since Courtney’s passing, some fans online have recalled his connection to Jay-Z – specifically the cover for his iconic sixth studio album, ‘The Blueprint’.

The rapper was said to have been inspired by a black-and-white photograph of Courtney delivering a speech at Oxford Union – a debating society at the University of Oxford – for the artwork.

Courtney, who called himself the “most feared man in Britain”, subsequently said that the unexpected nod was the “proudest moment” of his life.

The original image is also featured in a book titled The Firm by photographer Jocelyn Bain Hogg, which documents the lives of gangsters in south London.

During a video on YouTube channel ‘Gangster Tales’ last year, Courtney explained:
“In this book, there is a photograph of me – an aerial photograph that was taken from the balcony of me addressing the Oxford Union (via LadBible).

“[Jay-Z] actually looked at it like, ‘Wow there is a convicted felon teaching future parliament. He is the lecturer in the Oxford Union, teaching the next Lord Mayor, Prime Minister [and] Chief of Police’.

“He thought that was really funny. So what he did was he did the exact same picture and put his head on it.

“He put it on the cover of Blueprint, his album which is a fucking good album.”

But Courtney went on to claim that Jay had “just changed the head on the picture and put him on it and called it ‘Blueprint'”, adding: “My photograph became really famous on the cover of Jay-Z’s album.”

He continued: “I don’t think it is the last you’ll hear of that, I think it is gonna raise its head again. Right now he is running around in show business, saying he has done it all down to himself.

“He actually started off with me on front of his fucking cover, to be honest. It hasn’t gone unnoticed by a lot of people.”

Sharing the photo of Courtney on Instagram this summer (see above), Bain Hogg wrote: “This image is from my first solo jaunt where Dave Courtney, who had just published an autobiography to much fanfare, had been invited to the prestigious Oxford University Union to discuss his life of crime.

“This photograph had another claim to fame when Jay Z, inserting himself on a lookalike desk, lovingly recreated the shot for the cover of his 2001 album, ‘The Blueprint’. Ah well.”

Courtney was rumoured to have been the inspiration behind Vinnie Jones’s character “Big Chris” in Guy Ritchie’s gangster film Lock, Stock, And Two Smoking Barrels (1998).

He swapped his gangster life to become an author and actor, publishing six books, and starring in a film called Hell To Pay.

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