More distant on the family tree was the legendary roc, a vast, elephant-eating bird, which shared some pseudo-palaeontology with mythical horned beasts.
According to Marco Polo, Kublai Khan inquired in those parts about the roc and was brought what was claimed to be a roc's feather, which may really have been a Raphia palm frond.
For example, the giant roc, whose egg resembles a huge white dome, also appears in Marco Polo's descriptions of Madagascar and other islands off the eastern coast of Africa.
Possible references to pirates are hidden in the tales of shipwrecks, which in the third and fifth voyages are caused by the fabulous roc, a bird that drops huge stones on the ship, and by hairy apes that swarm over the ship and leave the crew on an island.
Aepyornis may have given rise to the Arabic legend of the roc, a gigantic bird.
The shop's former manager, DJ Eclipse, told Complex that he already stood out from the crowd: "Now we had a lot of the usual suspects in the place that day such as Ill Bill, Arsonists, Lord Finesse, Adagio, Breeze Brewin, AL Skills, Percee P, J-Live, Mr Live, Chino XL, Al Tariq, Black Attack, Xzibit, Shabaam Sahdeeq, Rawcotiks, Ak Skills, Rob Swift, Roc Raida, DJ Spinna and many, many more.
Rennsteig Outdoor Centre (00 49 700 7700 7711; roc-team.de) offers a Skiflyer Winner package for €96pp (£80) with four jumps, tuition and a tour of the ski jumping world cup centre in Lauscha.
He is a successful entrepreneur and investor, partly owning or founding businesses such as the 40/40 Club, Rocawear, Roc-A-Fella Records and Roc Nation Sports.
Jay-Z and two friends founded their own company, Roc-A-Fella Records, to release his debut album, Reasonable Doubt (1996), which eventually sold more than a million copies in the United States.
In 1996, Carter and his friends Kareem Burke and Damon Dash (now a hip-hop mogul in his own right) set up an independent label, Roc-a-Fella records, to release Jay-Z's classic first album Reasonable Doubt, a DIY ethic that continues to inspire young urban artists today.
WAVES comes out through GOOD Music, Roc-A-Fella Records, and Def Jam Recordings on 11 February, 2016.
