Jamie Hector Reacts to Jay-Z’s Marlo References During Viral Roots Picnic Freestyle: ‘It Was a Great Feeling’

You want it to be one way, but it’s the other way.

That’s one of the several Marlo Stanfield lines Jay-Z referenced during his viral “Roots Picnic Freestyle” from the critically acclaimed HBO series The Wire. Jamie Hector, who played the ice cold villain, recently stopped by Way Up with Angela Yee and spoke on how he found out about being mentioned by Jigga during such a monumental moment.

“I was grateful. It was a great feeling,” he said. “You know, Jay is the head honcho, right? He gets it done. And he was gone for a minute and then when he decides to reappear and get onstage, he starts talking about the work that was created — ’cause it was art that was created, right? And it’s placed onscreen. Coming from an artist paying homage, and showing love and respect to it, and who it’s coming from, as well. It felt great. And not to mention, my phone started blowing up. I’m talking about coming from everybody. And I was like, “What’s going on?”

He was then asked by Angela’s co-host B-Dot his thoughts on the character he helped make famous becoming a favorite reference for rappers in general, and Hector showed nothing but appreciation for being acknowledged by other artists for his work. “I mean, I appreciate it because the work was done,” he replied. “It’s a collaboration. They’re talking about the character and everything like that, but the character wouldn’t exist without the entire show, without the writing, without the director, without the producers, without everybody putting everything together. Developing that character was fun, it was work, and hopefully it’s timeless. And what do I feel about them mentioning it? I feel good, keep it alive.”

Yee then asked if his kids were aware of his chilling turn as a cold-blooded drug dealer, and he said that his 16-year-old daughter is watching the series for the first time and actually just started the third season while his nine-year-old son has just seen clips online. “My daughter is watching it now and my son, he catches clips and he just be like, ‘You evil.’”

You can watch the full episode below.