
The State of Jay-Z's Empire - jonbischke
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304741404575564092478617462.html
======
datums
He's all business. In his earlier work he was more of a lyricists. He pivoted
and started selling more record, making commercial music. His timing was right
and he executed perfectly. In his own words.

"I dumb it down for my audience

and double my dollars

they criticize me for it

yet they still yell "Holla"

If skills sold

Truth be told

I'd probably be

Lyricly

Talib Kweli"

The glorification of drug dealing and gun carrying is a huge turn off album
after album.

~~~
nickelplate
"Truthfully I want to rhyme like Common Sense

But I did five mil

I ain't be rhyming like Common since

When your senses got so much in common

And you've been hustlin since your inception

Fuck perception go with what makes sense"

He is essentially saying that he started dumbing it down after doing "Vol. 2
Hard Knock Life" - which sold five million copies.

------
jfb
I thought it was an OK read, thankfully light on the hagiography, although
(like Gates and technology), I think Jay-Z is much more interesting as a
businessman than a musician.

~~~
SandB0x
"I'm not a businessman, I'm a business, man." - Jay-Z

~~~
sudont
"While white suburban kids studied rap lyrics, gangstas studied corporate
culture."

\--Misquoted and without attribution. Rolling Stone, maybe.

------
msy
To me he represents the best of the meritocracy in action: incredible success
without the gifts of money, power or connections at birth, survival and
achievement though skill, intelligence, hard work and refusing to ever give
up. I have so much genuine respect for him.

------
InfinityX0
I love love love that they added a Jay-Z song to the page in a classy, non-
automatic way. It enhances the article so much. Well done on WSJ's part there.

~~~
omouse
Yeah that was fairly awesome. It's nice when news outlets make use of new
media like that :D

------
uurayan
Don't sleep on these hip hop guys. They're born hungry. Look at Russell
Simmons, Diddy, Jay-Z and 50 Cent, and (technically not a rapper) Usher. They
all have pretty impressive business portfolios.

~~~
vaksel
and for every one of those, there are hundreds, if not thousands, who piss
their money away

~~~
uurayan
It still takes dedication and drive to make it to have the thousands to piss
away. There are tons of business owners who piss away their earnings too.

------
troffe
"I sell ice in the winter, I sell fire in hell. I'm a hustler baby, I sell
water to a well."

~~~
aston
Best part about that line is the homophone: "I sell water to a whale."

~~~
nochiel
Jay is a master of making one word flower multiple meanings. In "So appalled",
he delivers the punch line, "Not only am I fly, but I'm f*in not playin' "

The way he makes "playin'" sound like "plane" and "plain" is characteristic of
his whole lyrical style.

------
jeffmiller
Jay-Z. An inspirational guy. Other startup folks think so too, given how often
I see Jay-Z quotations on Twitter.

~~~
mynameishere
Really? Example? I couldn't find one thing here that wasn't embarrassingly
juevenile.

<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jay-Z>

 _Niggas pray and pray on my downfall, But every time I hit the ground I
bounce up like round ball_

I mean, seriously?

~~~
icegreentea
It's from a rap. Can't judge the line all by itself. It exists in the context
of the rest of the lines, and the delivery.

Also, what you consider juvenile, others may just consider 'simple'. Jay-Z has
frequently been criticized for his relatively simple lyrics and rhythm
structure. But that's part of the reason why its so popular, AND
inspirational. You don't need to sit there for a minute trying to wrap your
head around it. You just get it.

~~~
najirama
I downvoted your(the above)comment. Why?

#1 - You contradict yourself implicitly with this defense. If a quote needs
more context to have impact, then it is a shitty quote, which is what the OP
said plainly.

#2 - 'Juvenille' and 'simple' are synonymous in this context. Period. Jay-z
lyrics are more often then not, ridiculously vapid of substance or depth.
Musical kool-aid.

#3 - Jay-z is a man who made his money ruining the lives of thousands by
selling drugs, and millions more by being a horrific influence. He is a man
who has admittedly attempted murder on more than one occasion. He is a man who
has used and debased women proudly. He is a man of many transgressions. And I
could look past all of them if he did not glorify them so.

Yet he does - so shamelessly in fact that its revolting to witness. His wealth
and the adoration of the mindless sheep who buy his "music" are the
justification he uses to continue to do so.

 _He says he'll always rap about variations on the same themes: drug hustling,
business boasts, luxury hopscotching from Gucci to Louis Vuitton to the new
Dior suit he says is a perfect fit._

I'm sorry his money and "accomplishments" and his poor excuse for music do not
make this a praiseworthy man.

~~~
catshirt
I'd downvote you respectfully- but I can't. :)

#1 - You're treating the quoted text as (I quote) "a quote". It's not. It's a
small piece of a much larger whole. (I see your point- but it's wrong. I will
elaborate in the next bullet).

#2 - Like the first statement- it's a mistake for you to speak factually on
something so subjective. We're talking about art here, right? "Period" is
especially offensive since clearly so many people disagree. Juvenile and
simple are _never_ synonymous. That's not to say they can't live mutually, but
that certainly is not "synonymous". Period. Just the fact that people have
agreed suggests he is delivering the emotion he intends to with his art.
Unless, of course, you can tell me what his _true_ intentions were with the
lyric?

#3 - I'm going to make a fair assumption that you've lived a _relatively_
privileged life. By this- I mean I'm pretty sure you didn't grow up in
Bedstuy. I certainly don't believe that relieves him of his poor judgement,
but I hope it helps invoke some situational empathy. Likewise, do you consider
yourself not praiseworthy because of the mistakes you've made?

Edit - I assume a downvote _one_ minute after a post is either accidental or
negligent.

~~~
najirama
Quite frankly - you didn't respond to any of the objectives I raised. But I
will respond strictly to the one's you've made up.

#1 - _You're treating the quoted text as (I quote) "a quote". It's not. It's a
small piece of a much larger whole._

Hmm - last I checked, a small piece of a larger whole _IS_ a quote. Webster's
definitively settles this in my favor.

#2 - No - there is no subjectivity involved in the claim that his lyrics are
'juvenile' and 'simple' especially when the man himself has said so on
_several_ occasions, both in verse and out. (See the song: Moment Of Clarity)
If the artist himself says he 'dumb downed' his lyrics, I think its purely
factual to then say his lyrics are 'simple'.

#3 - Pardon me, you don't know a damned thing about me or how I grew up. So
no, your assumption is not fair. I've seen the gutter in my life. I've lived
in places that I gather you are only familiar with through Jay-z songs. So
forgive me if I take a particular offense to this comment.

Situational empathy? Are you kidding me? I suspect this kind of careless,
'there are are few better options' mentality stems from a brutal ignorance of
what inner-city life is really like. So let me just help you out by saying
there are thousands of kids from these terrible situations, (many of whom I
work with weekly), who do not deal drugs, who stay in school, who pursue
scholarship, who do not idolize Jay-z and his calling cards, thug-culture, gun
violence, promiscuity, drugs, and death. Unfortunately for all of us, these
kids are in the _vast_ minority.

~~~
catshirt
" _...there are thousands of kids from these terrible situations, (many of
whom I work with weekly), who do not deal drugs, who stay in school, who
pursue scholarship, who do not idolize Jay-z..._ "

My argument stems from my assumption that there are also thousands of kids
from terrible situations, who don't deal drugs, who stay in school, and _do_
idolize Jay-Z.

If I'm wrong in the above assumption, then you're entirely right; my argument
has no ground. Perhaps my optimism is blinding. If my assumption is correct,
then is it not safe to say that there are _other more compelling forces than
Jay-Z_ leading youth into drugs or crime? The italicized is the point that I
am trying to make entirely.

I don't think we're disagreeing on facts here. By situational empathy I'm not
suggesting Jay-Z has _no other choices_. It's just my personal opinion that I
would rather be inspired by Jay-Z's ambition to overcome such an unfortunate
situation, rather than to condemn him for his past.

------
nickelplate
"Y'all not remembering. My motto is simply: I will not lose."

------
grandalf
It is truly heartwarming the amount of love that HN readers have for Jay Z.

------
polynomial
Damn it feels good to be a gangsta.

------
adlep
He is a big pimpin I guess...

------
TGJ
He talks about how people look down on the genre because of the foul language,
but I have to wonder. Would Gates and Buffet and the rest of the business
world put up with a foul mouthed individual? I very much doubt that he talks
like he raps and more than likely he keeps his mouth in check when trying to
make million dollar deals.

~~~
ZeroGravitas
Didn't Joel (on Software) write about famously foul-mouthed reviews from
Gates?

Here it is:

 _My First BillG Review_ <http://www.joelonsoftware.com/items/2006/06/16.html>

_"In my BillG review meeting, the whole reporting hierarchy was there, along
with their cousins, sisters, and aunts, and a person who came along from my
team whose whole job during the meeting was to keep an accurate count of how
many times Bill said the F word. The lower the f-count, the better."_

