![]() “The first ‘Blueprint’ was based on soul samples and more of a place where I came from and the records I listened to growing up with my mom and pop. “This being the end of the trilogy, I wanted to bring it full circle,” he says. He will release “The Blueprint 3” September 11, eight years to the day from the debut of the original “Blueprint.” Now all of Jay-Z’s ventures are coming into alignment. Why wouldn’t you want to do this with me?’ I felt underutilized.” TRILOGY COMPLETE I can’t just sit here and make records and not do anything else. I’m an entrepreneur - that’s what I’ve been all my life. “To me it was like, ‘I’ve sold companies for huge amounts of money. ![]() ![]() “You have to figure, this is like four years ago, and to them it was just like, ‘Are you crazy? No! Make a song!’” he says. (Def Jam had no comment on its relationship with Jay-Z.) But he says the Universal Music Group label passed on the opportunity to develop him into the kind of mogul he wanted to be. At one point he thought Def Jam would be more appropriate for such a partnership. Heading over to Sony seems an ideal fit for Jay-Z, who has a close relationship with Columbia Records co-chairman Rick Rubin, not to mention the fact that his wife, Beyonce, is signed to the label. According to Forbes, which based its numbers on earnings between June 2008 and June 2009, Jay-Z pulled in $35 million in the past year, mostly from his international tour and his ownership stakes in 40/40 and the New Jersey Nets. Forbes recently released its Hip-Hop Cash King list and crowned Jay-Z the highest-earning rapper of the year, knocking down last year’s winner, 50 Cent. It was about owning my own masters and owning my own companies, but you have to pay for the privilege, and that comes at a premium.”ĭuring his career, Jay-Z has sold more than 29 million albums in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan. It was more so the principle than the amount of money. “I’ve always prided myself on being a principled person. It seemed a little archaic in my plans,” he says. Everything in my life I had taken charge of, but yet I was still an artist signed to a label. “I still owed an album to Def Jam, but I wanted to have it back for a number of reasons, the most important being that it wasn’t consistent with the type of business I planned for me or where I was positioning myself. In June, he signed a deal with Atlantic to distribute his upcoming, 11th studio album, “The Blueprint 3” a month later, he signed a deal with Sony for all future Roc Nation releases. In May, Jay-Z parted ways with Def Jam, his longtime label home, at the cost of $5 million, but gained control of his future master recordings. PAYING THE PREMIUMįollowing in the footsteps of Madonna and U2, the 39-year-old rapper last year signed a 10-year, $150 million deal with the concert promotion giant Live Nation that includes touring, publishing and recording. But it’s his overarching big-business vision and talent that have positioned him as one of the most well-known and influential artists of his time. Jay-Z, born Shawn Carter and raised in Brooklyn’s Marcy Projects, is the first to admit he could not have achieved half of his successes on his own. His assistant is booking flights, hotels and car service for the BET Awards, which is taking place that weekend his publicist whispers on the phone about another magazine story. His employees are scattered around the room, some perched on stools or couches, others standing or sitting on the floor, some with laptops before them. Sitting on a swivel chair at his Roc the Mic studios in downtown Manhattan with a glass of Santa Margherita white wine in hand, he tackles interview after interview with Japanese reporters, pausing only to use the restroom or ask his assistant to get him a refill or an order of food from his sports club, 40/40.īut while he handles his international duties, his Roc Nation team - seven people, including his assistant, longtime publicist and engineers - make sure his empire runs smoothly. Singer Jay-Z performs "D.O.A." at the BET Awards '09 in Los Angeles June 28, 2009.
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