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The State of Jay-Z's Empire
- jeffmiller 16y agoJay-Z. An inspirational guy. Other startup folks think so too, given how often I see Jay-Z quotations on Twitter.
- mynameishere 16y agoReally? Example? I couldn't find one thing here that wasn't embarrassingly juevenile. http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jay-Z 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?
- benologist 16y agoHow is that really any less embarrassing than slapping ads around fwd:fwd:fwd:fwd:fwd cat photos? Either way it's going to sound dumb explaining it to your grandchildren.
- icegreentea 16y agoIt'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 16y agoI 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.
- palish 16y agoJay-z is a man who made his money ruining the lives of ... millions by being a horrific influence. ...?
- untamedmedley 16y agoWhat's entertainment for a lot of Jay-Z's listeners is more like a guidebook for far too many young black men (and the women who chase men like him). I personally like rap and know that if you dig deeper into many of Jay-Z's songs, you'll find more substance, but that doesn't negate the fact that he has a far more negative than positive influence on people who need all the positive role models they can get. I upvoted the comment above yours because I see his (and other rappers) influence firsthand among friends and family members and it's really very depressing. Sometimes I don't know how I justify listening to his music...
- matwood 16y agoThere are very few perfect role models. I would argue that the best roles models are the ones who made mistakes, learned from them and then kept moving forward. People also tend to hear themselves in music. They hear the parts they relate with and block out the parts they don't. I hear Jay-Z and hear a story about a kid who had nothing, did what he had to do to survive and kept working till he made it. You don't even have to go that deep into his tracks to start getting a lot of good motivational lyrics. He has an entire song (with some Notorious Big dubbed in) talking about never getting lazy to keep working and 'treat your last like your first.'
- trustfundbaby 16y ago> He has an entire song (with some Notorious Big dubbed in) talking about never getting lazy to keep working and 'treat your last like your first.' My 1st song ... favorite of mine. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_1st_Song http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_1st_Song
- catshirt 16y ago
- hugh3 16y agoI really wonder how many people would be saying the same thing if he were white.
- GHFigs 16y agoDon't confuse the art with the artist. Being familiar with context and the tropes of the genre (like braggadocio) are important for understanding white rappers, too. It's the same as with any other lyrical genre of music or any other form of communication with language or any other performance art. Why would it be any different for rapping?
- BrandonM 16y agoEver heard of Eminem?
- carbocation 16y agoBlueprint 3 has a couple: The motivation for me / was them telling me what I could not be (So Ambitious) I'm on the practice field running two-a-days / so I don't drop the ball when it's threw my way (Off That)
- kenjackson 16y agoThis is a Zuckerburg line: I heard motherfuckers saying they made Hov. Made Hov say, "Ok so, make another Hov" Another line I've always liked, about how you run with action, not the mouth: Now all the little soldiers wanna roll with my team, Cause I ain't sold em a dream, I just showed em the cream
- PStamatiou 16y agoI remember this being on HN last year: startup tips from Jay-Z http://themetricsystem.rjmetrics.com/2009/12/21/top-5-startup-tips-from-jay-z/ http://themetricsystem.rjmetrics.com/2009/12/21/top-5-startu... Adapt to Serve Your Market Be a Renegade Stay in Food and Beverage Be a Business, Man Data is King
- jfb 16y agoI 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 16y ago"I'm not a businessman, I'm a business, man." - Jay-Z
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- sudont 16y ago"While white suburban kids studied rap lyrics, gangstas studied corporate culture." --Misquoted and without attribution. Rolling Stone, maybe.
- zackattack 16y agoWas the innate poetic structure and meter of your sentence intended? hagigography/technology, businessman/musician
- access_denied 16y agoAsks the user called zackattack :-)
- jfb 16y agoJust happenstance. I'm not much of an MC.
- adlep 16y agoHe is a big pimpin I guess...
- InfinityX0 16y agoI 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 16y agoYeah that was fairly awesome. It's nice when news outlets make use of new media like that :D
- troffe 16y ago"I sell ice in the winter, I sell fire in hell. I'm a hustler baby, I sell water to a well."
- aston 16y agoBest part about that line is the homophone: "I sell water to a whale."
- nochiel 16y agoJay 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.
- uurayan 16y agoDon'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 16y agoand for every one of those, there are hundreds, if not thousands, who piss their money away
- nickelplate 16y ago"Y'all not remembering. My motto is simply: I will not lose."
- TGJ 16y agoHe 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.
- InfinityX0 16y agoUndoubtedly. He has business sense - a foul mouth sells the records, but it doesn't seal the million-dollar deals. I have no question that he is smart enough to not be a philanderer when talking with other business moguls.You don't get to $500 million net worth without this ability to differentiate.
- ZeroGravitas 16y agoDidn'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 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."
- datums 16y agoHe'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 16y ago"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.
- grandalf 16y agoIt is truly heartwarming the amount of love that HN readers have for Jay Z.
- msy 16y agoTo 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.
- polynomial 16y agoDamn it feels good to be a gangsta.