Jay-Z Named Head of Def Jam
 

NEW YORK - Rapper Jay-Z has been named president and CEO of Def Jam Recordings, home of such acts as Grammy frontrunner Kanye West and rap veteran LL Cool J.

advertisement
He will report to Antonio ?L.A.? Reid, chairman of the Island Def Jam Music Group, which is part of Universal Music Group. Based in IDJ?s New York offices, Jay-Z will officially take his new post on Jan. 3.

Jay-Z, whose real name is Shawn Carter, will continue to run his record company Roc-a-Fella. IDJ recently bought the remaining 50 percent stake in the label from Jay-Z and his business partners Damon Dash and Kareem ?Biggs? Burke.

Over nearly a decade the Roc-a-Fella brand has spawned other ventures, including the Roca Wear clothing line, films including ?Fade to Black? and ?State Property,? the 40/40 nightclub and a Reebok sneaker line.

?After 10 years of successfully running Roc-a-Fella. Shawn has proven himself to be an astute businessman, in addition to the brilliant artistic talent that the world sees and hears,? said Reid in a statement. ?I can think of no one more relevant and credible in the hip hop community to build upon Def Jam?s fantastic legacy and move the company into its next groundbreaking era.?

....

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6680078/

Looks like he retired from the rap game for the right reasons. :thumbsup

there is no "rap game"

its a sell-out industry like the rest.

that's pretty awesome

he's hitting beyonce too..wow ..how can 1 guy be so lucky:Graucho

He's only doing it for the love of the game. His clothing company Roc-A-Fella already grosses several times more than Def jam every year and his Reebok shoe deal has introduced the best selling Reebok shoe in over a decade.

He's grossing close to $500 million yearly in apparrel and footwear alone.

Plus, he's hitting Beyonce.

Damn.

He truly pimped the 'rap game!'

Yeah hip-hop is huge business. JayZ is worth almost half a billion dollars and so is Def Jam co-founder Russel Simmons. And that's only two players in 'the game'.

good for him

he still sucks ass

volume 2 4 life

Def Jam own / distribute 3/4 of other rap labels guys ... this is bigger then you think :)

He's a talented smart business man and has a lot of respect from me but I can't stand rap...

If I'm not mistaken Def Jam had the most grammy nominations this year of any major label as well.

you guys sound worst than fucking whores.

how deep does that guys dick go down your throat?

Yes I know that people all around talk shit about us
They don't know what we are they just wanna make a fucking fuss
But listen to me and what I got to say
We are just working class patriots and we rule youth today

We are skinheads, skinheads from Finland
And we know who we are, and we know what we can do
We are skinheads fighting for freedom
Fighting for our land, fighting for the things we stand

Our government try to put us down 'cause we fight against our enemies
We are all the blame, we are always the fault
We are the worst thing they've ever seen
But they don't know that we are one for all and all for one
That's the way where we've been growing up and that's the way it's going to be

:glugglug

I thought Russel Simons was worth a billion dollars already?

:helpme

everyone who has a record deal is a "sell out" as you call it.

did i say having a record deal made you a sell out?

nope.

but when one stops being an artist and becomes a suit, what that maketh ye?

Just did a search for Def Jam, came up with a concise history of hip-hop. Some stuff I didn't know. It's come a long way:
http://www.openhardware.org/catalog/...p-history.html

jayz is terrible now, its all the idiots who think they know rap that figure he is good.

listen to the song sunshine and then compare it to his new shit, he isnt rap he is a pop piece of crap.

I know damn he's got it all..

He's still better then most of the new cats out there

the new cats arent rappers either. terribly produced pop shit.

congrats to jigga

v

:glugglug

"i piss on this generation....
all i see is little mtv babies playing their little mtv games
that aint the fucking real world i was forced to see,
that aint the real world at all.

and i dont want your love
and i dont need your respect
i just cant hate enough
i got no tears or regrets.
fuck you
fuck you
fuck you and fuck society too."

:glugglug

Jay-Z is/was okay.

At least he's not like 50 Cent and the Gay-Unit. They're really bad.

Everybody is a fuckin' critic!

LOL

Gallery makers and post whores DECLARING what IS and what ISN'T ...

Like YOUR WORDS affect millions or MAKE MILLIONS?

ROTFLMAO

EVERBODY that makes money from their "craft" is a fuckin' sell out!

You're all lying to yourself if you think otherwise ... hypocritical muthafuckas!

:2 cents:

he knows how to make money that is for sure

get the new nas album...

lyrically outstanding :)

jay-z is a good rapper, but nas stands for better things. nas doesnt have the beats like jay-z does, but he has better lyrics.

wow.

the same guy that was after a % of my shit.

:glugglug

You can't argue that he is one of the best that ever did it. Just on the strength of Reasonable Doubt he will go down in history as one of the best lyricists.

He said himself on the last album that he had to dumb down his rhymes to sell. He said it himself. And yunno what, all the stuff that is his now like the half billion dollar company, the 30 million records sold, the Def Jam presidency, The New Jersey Nets NBA basketball team, and probably even the hottest R&B chick in the game all came because of him knowing when to spit for the lowest common denominator.

You can be little boys and hate him for that but what would you do in that situation? Would you take all of that or would you be happy with a couple of million records sold and the cover of the Source. Sure you could get in parties free by keeping it real and spitting 'hot rhymes' but would your great, great, great, great, grandchildren be taken care of? No you will die broke like Big L.

Jay Z is paid for life and has many great songs we will be hearing FOREVER.

Wow.

I wasn't even referring to you. I was making a general blanket statement.

And you think I was after a % of your shit?

LOL

I had a client that wanted to spend $$$ on advertising on webmaster boards.

Glad your former friend quiet didn't respond, it would have been wasted money I'm sure

:winkwink:

its possible i took it personal, but how many gallery makers and post whores posted above you???

i didnt want to respond, it was my call. cheers

:glugglug

Great Post.

To the haters: You can call him a sellout, but you'd need to have about $501 million in the bank to start calling him a bad business man.

So which would you prefer?

Well, Dre is mos def a post whore

LOL

But more to the point it was a general statement.

BTW - the email went to quiet, not to you - so there goes that. who knows?

maybe next time professional courtesy takes the place of blissful arrogance ... or not?

:winkwink:

nice promotion

a disgruntled loser musician who never got anywhere....

and please dont go on about "artists" and "artistic values" "sellouts" which falls under the heading of "i never made it in music because[ad excuse here] " when really it was because you sucked or didnt work your ass off.

an entrepreneur.

wtf are you guys talking about ? ? this was announced last august ?...........

hahahahahah


how can someone who's life motto is "make money every fuckin way possible" be a fuckin sell out ?? ? ?


:1orglaugh :1orglaugh :Graucho

H to the OMO
G to the iz..AY

just drop it, sorry i took your post out of context. no need to continue this, but let it known, no decisions were ever to be made without me.

hahaha

you forget who made the site and who owned what

Again, you let your arrogance gets the best of you.

LOL

IMHO you lack some important business skills, Fletch. You type fast and alot, but you sound like a chest thumping teenager and not a business person to me.

Anyway, I didn't forget anything - I heard it was quiet's board so I contacted him ... nuff said.

A word of advice ... we all get excited at times - take a deep breath and learn to be a little humble

:2 cents:

arrogance?

i apologize in the first line.

hardly arrogant.

as i said, i posted apologies for taking your post the wrong way.

yeah exactly, they can hate all they want, but he will be laughing all the way to the bank.

"If skills sold, truth be told, I'd probably be
lyrically, Talib Kweli
Truthfully I wanna rhyme like Common Sense
But I did five mill' - I ain't been rhymin like Common since
When your cents got that much in common
And you been hustlin since, your inception
Fuck perception go with what makes sense"

what a lucky bastard

nice

not at all man, just a couple beers got my attitude up.

accept my apology.

http://www.gofuckyourself.com/showth...adid=400278&s=

Wow!

Honestly, I'm surprised.

Apology accepted!

:thumbsup

i fucked up.

i quoted you with the absolute wrong intention.

i took your post 100% wrong and it was probably because i had some beers and just bit.

i was an ass.

genuinely, accept my apology man.

Genuinely accepted and already in the past

No hard feelings, dude - at all!

:)