Startup Tips from Jay-Z
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Lyrical excerpts from the past decade of Jay-Z's most inspirational business-themed rhymes
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That has to be one of the best lines of all-time from Jay-Z. Great post. Thanks for sharing.
I also wouldn't say 2001 was when Jay-Z was a "young star." He was already incredibly mainstream in the late 90's.
Of course, I understand that this post was more for entertainment value :)
The first verse is rumored to be about Jaz-O, his former mentor and business partner, or about long-time friend, business partner, and co-founder of Roc-a-fella Records Damon Dash. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_One
He's saying that they should have kept a low profile, while he, the 'business, man' developed his personal brand.
In reference to point 5 - That line made me respect Jay-Z as an artist. He isn't in my top 5, but that was honest of him to admit. In that song, he says something along the lines of "Lyrically, I'd rather be Talib Kweli". Now, Talib Kweli is in my top 5. He writes on some deeper topics then most mainstream artists, and as a result, is rarely heard of. Kweli, in a song he wrote after Moment of Clarity came out, would say:
> If lyrics sold then truth be told, I'll probably be just as rich and famous as jay-z
Anyways... A lot of rappers are ex-drug dealers. As a result, many of them are business-savy. I feel Jay-Z is the best example of this.
L.L. Cool J., Missy Elliott, and Kanye West are just a few highly influential artists who have no known history of drug dealing or other criminal activity. And I think Stephen Levitt goes a long way to disproving the whole concept that "drug dealers are savvy businessmen" (http://www.ted.com/talks/steven_levitt_analyzes_crack_econom...)
I should edit my OP because the truth is that there are many sub-genres of hip hop, some of which are prevelant with the drug-dealing folklore and others which are not. It was wrong of me to make a blanket statement.