BlackDroog.com Gets Some Publicity...

Earlier this month, a friend of mine consulted me for an article he was writing on Jay-Z. It was Published in a Brooklyn Newspaper called Brooklyn Today. The Full Article is below...

Jay-Z Turns 40 On Top Of The World
By: Chris Opfer
Wednesday November 4, 2009



Rapper turned entrepreneur Jay-Z turns 40 this December and, if his latest record’s success and expanding portfolio are an indication, he’s poised to continue to be a captain of both music and industry. Jay-Z, who grew up as Sean Carter in the Marcy Houses project in Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood, has sold more than 30 million albums over the course of his 13-year career.

With his latest record, The Blueprint 3, Jay-Z passed Elvis for the most solo albums to reach Billboard’s top spot.

He’s also developed a range of lucrative business ventures from record and clothing labels to a vodka distributor and professional basketball team.

Jay-Z’s success - as both an artist and a businessman - is arguably as much about marketing as it is about the product.

In the late ’90s, he successfully inserted himself into the “best MC” debate, comparing himself to big hitters Tupac Shakur, Notorious B.I.G. and Nas.

By prematurely announcing his retirement from hip hop in 2003, Jay-Z has created buzz around his later albums, keeping fans guessing which will be his last.

“Jay is at a stage in his career where he dictates what people consider to be ‘cool’ and ‘good’… if Jay says it's popular, then it is accepted as a truth,” said Black Droog, proprietor of entertainment blog The Black Droog.

In 2002, he shifted the style of a generation of rap fans simply by proclaiming “I don't wear jerseys, I'm 30 plus/Give me a crisp pair of jeans and a button up," on hit single What More Can I Say.

Jay-Z has proven he has a keen eye not only for what is hot, but also whom, developing a number of successful protégés including Kanye West.

His knack for trend setting also helped Jay-Z earn success in a variety of business ventures, including Roc-A-Fella Records and Roccawear, a retail clothing line that he reportedly sold for $204 million in 2007.

Yet, while aging rockers such as the Rolling Stones and U2 have continued to milk their commercial appeal decades into their careers, it is yet to be seen whether an “over the hill” MC with 11 studio albums under his belt - and a reported net worth of $150 million - can keep his finger on the pulse of hip hop fans.

“You have to keep in mind that the hip hop genre itself is no more than about 30 years old. The guys who are getting older now never had the commercial success that Jay-Z has enjoyed,” Droog noted.

Droog added that Jay-Z “doesn't have to adapt to what's popular because he has positioned himself to be an authority in the music business.”

All signs are that Jay-Z remains the most influential and popular rapper in the game today. The three studio albums released since his supposed retirement have each sold over 1 million copies.

Meanwhile, he’s making waves at home as part of an ownership group seeking to move the New Jersey Nets to Brooklyn in 2011.

Perhaps the essence of Jay-Z’s appeal is best summed up by the artist himself: “I’m not a business man, I’m a business, man.”