Maxy

resident Carter got up this morning around eight, watched SportsCenter and worked out in the gym at his place in New Jersey with a personal trainer, then slid into his Mercedes Maybach and let his longtime driver Romero take him over the George Washington Bridge and into Manhattan to the Universal building at 8th Avenue and 50th street. The Maybach drops him off less than twenty yards from the front door. His L-shaped corner office is on the 29th floor. Shawn Carter, better known as Jay-Z, has been the President of Def Jam since January 3rd, 2005. ?Soon as we came back off of vacation I was here, 10 o?clock in the morning,? he says with pride.

Jay usually gets to the office around 10 or 11, but on this particular Friday he arrives at 12.20pm, his BlackBerry to his ear as he zips past security and up the escalator, wearing an iced-out Rocafella chain, a white and red European soccer-inspired polo shirt from his clothing company, Rocawear, baggy Rocawear jeans, and white S. Carters with blood-red tips, all of which make him look about ten years younger than his 36 years. He goes straight into an emergency meeting. A new song from Young Jeezy?the 25-year-old Atlanta rapper?has been leaked to radio and Jeezy?s A&R man is afraid this will screw up their plans for Jeezy?s next single. Jeezy is one of Jay?s first big successes as a record executive. His album, Let's Get It: Thug Motivation, entered the charts in August at Number Two and has moved over a million units making Jeezy the hottest new rapper of the year. Still, Jay fails to see the song leak as an emergency. He?s always been panic-averse. His persona, in life and on record, is cool and in control?the same even, authoritative tone whether the subject is sex, survival, wealth or vengeance. ?His thing is just make it simple,? says Beehigh, Jay?s cousin who grew up with him in the Marcy Projects in Brooklyn. ?People make obstacles for theyselves when sh!t ain?t really no obstacle. He?ll just show you the simpler way to do it.?

At the not-so-emergency meeting Jay explains that the leaked song is a club record, not a radio record, meaning most radio stations won?t want to play it. ?Manage your heat,? he tells Jeezy?s A&R man. ?Get your Joe Torre on, nigga,? which means, become a brilliant manager and navigate the situation, nigga.

In the 80s, when crack was dominating America?s inner cities, he was a teenage street entrepreneur selling crack and other drugs. In his 20s he escaped the street and became a rapper but when no label wanted to sign him he founded Rocafella Records. As hiphop moved into the Get Big Money era and rappers maximized their earning potential by diversifying into clothes, movies, and bottled water, Jay-Z became one of hiphop?s most successful entrepreneurs. According to a close business associate, Jay?s top revenue stream has been his music enterprises, second has been Rocawear, which has grossed over $500 million since it was founded in 1999, and third an endorsement deal with Reebok (but if Jay liquidated his share of Rocawear that would surpass his music earnings). On December 4th Jay turns 36 and there?s no midlife crisis anywhere in sight: he?s worth more than $320 million and he?s the President of the most important label in the history of hiphop, Def Jam. Founded in 1984 by Russell Simmons and Rick Rubin, the label has been home to several generations of major rappers: L.L. Cool J, the Beastie Boys, and Public Enemy in the 80s; Jay, Method Man, Redman, and DMX in the 90s; and, more recently, Kanye and Jeezy. But no matter what Def Jam was in the past, many people think Jay being at Def Jam is more important for Def Jam than for Jay. ?Def Jam is the number one hiphop label in the world,? said L.A. Reid, the Chairman of the Island Def Jam Music Group. ?Having Jay says that the legacy continues. If you?re a 16 year-old rapper in Brooklyn or Atlanta or Houston, and you know that Jay-Z carries on the legacy of hiphop, then Def Jam becomes your preferred destination. Without Jay-Z you start to wonder if it?s become what Motown has become. The past, lost its vision, lost its value. Jay is the foundation that Def Jam continues into the future.?

Jay?s deal with Universal reportedly pays him between $8 and $10 million a year. He?s also the President and part owner of Rocafella Records, the proud owner of a small piece of the soon to be Brooklyn Nets (?I was happy to cut that check!? he says), and, owner of two multimillion dollar Manhattan apartments, one of them a 10,000-square-foot loft in Tribeca worth $7.5 million, and the other a penthouse at the Time Warner Center by Central Park worth more than $10 million, from which he can see a penthouse owned by his girlfriend, Beyonce. He is also, sometimes, an MC. ?My life is crazy,? he says, in awe of his own journey. ?I?m not jaded. I?m on the board of the Nets. I?m the only black guy and I?m the youngest one there. I?m a fcukin President-CEO of Def Jam. That sh!t still sounds crazy to me even to this day. What the fcuk does that mean?? Then he gets all philosophical. ?And I?m outside of it, too, baby. I?m outside of it, like, hot damn. That?s some crazy sh!t. And it?s not stopping. It?s gonna get even crazier.?

But as far as he?s come, he never forgets who he was, still carries old habits. For example, typical of a multimillionaire, his wallet has no money in it. Today there?s just a single, lonely dollar. But, in his other pocket he?s got a two-inch thick knot of big bills, the sort you?d find in the pocket of a hustler. ?I don?t feel right without it,? he says.

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