(The Enron of this rap shit)
This is not another angry blogger crying because Jay-Z didn't save hip-hop.
I like Jay-Z.
I think he may very well be the best rapper of all time as well as one of the best examples of a rapper turning the slave system of the music industry to his favor.
But as a CEO the dude is/was suspect.
He didn't develop artists (The Roots, Juelz Santana and Memphis Bleek all went wood) alienated his veterans (Luda, LL and Method Man are all bitter) by stealing their shine (He's directly eating into Nas' sales by dropping his album around the same time) and his main strategy for marketing was to rap on the remix to whatever mediocre single he was trying push.
Rick Ross "Hustlin'" (Remix) anyone?
Or throw his own song in the middle of Bleek's wack-ass album.
Remember "Dear Summer?"
Peep this XXL article where they highlight all the songs Jay has been on since he "retired."
Damn.
The dude has been busier than Enron's criminal defense team.
This is new leaked single which has Def Jam's lawyers on the attack.
Jay-Z - "Show Me What You Got"
Really now?
The whole celebratory soulful horn thing was officially killed by Kanye with "Late Registration" and the chorus may be one of his worst.
Not to mention the fact that lyrcially he's treading water.
The ridiculous hype around anything Jay-Z dribbles out is part of what happens when anyone reaches legendary status.
It's all legend and no merit.
If anyone was paying attention to the merit they would see that since Jay-Z 'retired' he has been rapping more than most working artists with an album to sell and what he has been spitting has been weak.
His verses on Beyonce's songs are trashbags, although to his credit, if I was in a studio alone with Beyonce, rap would be the last thing I'd be focusing on.
Let's hope he wasn't cooking the books at Def Jam and didn't wipe out the company's pension fund like some other CEOs out there.
Juelz Santana needs health insurance.
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For a hot minute I thought he was really doing something business wise. However, when an artist runs a company and can't do anything for any other artist but himself...he's become the weakest link.
ReplyDeleteI really can't think of one hot verse he's spit post-retirement other than on Kanye's Diamonds of Sierra Leone Remix...I remember when even Jay-Z throwaways like "Hey papi" and that song "Girl's Best Friend" from the Blue Streak soundtrack were dope. The worst was him aping Ross' flow on that Hustlin remix. I couldn't believe it. It's too bad because I'm a Jay fan for life dating to Reasonable Doubt. I think Ghost might be my number 1 all-time, but Jay is #2. Too bad.
ReplyDeleteI didnt understand why people thought Jay-Z would be a good CEO of a major label.
ReplyDeleteFor the longest time nobody but him did anything on Roc-A-Fella. They had Kanye West in house for years and he had to beg and plead for record while they were steady putting out Bleek albums no one cared about.
Besides Andre Harrell has their been a successful rapper-to-CEO transition?
Roc A Fella was a disaster.
ReplyDeleteThey had no one but him.
Now it's the same, but on a larger scale.
And he has to release again to save the label.
Wait, are we talking strictly about hip hop releases or Universal/Def Jam releases in general? Sean may have dropped the ball when it comes to hip hop, but Fall Out Boy isn't doing too shabby...
ReplyDelete