In 2001, Jay was 31 when Ether dropped, not 36. As far as the Billy Blanks and Tae Bo, that wasn’t some legit martial arts classes. It was more like some cardio. That’s why it got so popular. Who’s learning martial arts from watching videos? Nas used that line Jay said on “Girls Girls Girls” and flipped it, plus that video of Jay boxing on MTV Diary.
“That means I fly rough early, plus I know Tae Bo” - Jay
“You 36 in a karate class? You Tae Bo hoe.” - Nas
Prodigy was dressed up like Michael Jackson as a kid doing a dance, and Jay said he was a ballerina. The point was to try to discredit P as a street dude by saying he was doing ballet.
Couple things here that are off.
We all know what Tae Bo was. Everyone was doing it back then, in music. Nas didn't say what he said because he thought Jay was watching videos. Jay was meeting up with Billy Blanks at Chelsea Piers and at Billy's studio in Soho back then and Billy was in the paper saying he was training Jay in martial arts. Not cardio. That's where Nas got the "karate class" thing from.
Secondly, Prodigy and Ashanti were in a
dance class together in Hempstead. In the class, they did
all kinds of dance. Not just ballet, but ballet was included. Prodigy spoke on it mad times back then, and said that he learned ballet in that class. The MJ pic was for a show they did. But that wasn't the only pic that Jay had, and that wasn't the only thing they did in that class for the couple years he was in it. P really was learning ballet in there, so
that's why Jay called him a ballerina.