American voters during the primaries.
Perhaps even more extraordinarily, after a
particularly heated primary debate, Obama
brushed off Hillary Clinton’s attacks with
a gesture of wiping lint off the shoulders of
his suit, and hip observers recognized an
unmistakable reference to Jay-Z’s song, “Dirt
Off Your Shoulder.”
Jay-Z’s eyes widen as he recalls that
moment. “I felt like, man, what time are
we living in, where a presidential nominee
is making reference to a rapper?” he says.
“What a beautiful place we’ve come to.
Growing up, politics never trickled down
to the areas we come from. But people from
Obama’s camp, and Obama himself, reached
out to me and asked for my help on the
campaign. We’ve sat and had dinner, and
we’ve spoken on the phone. He’s a very sharp
guy. Very charming. Very cool.
“It’s surreal,” continues Jay-Z. “I couldn’t
imagine anything like that could happen.
I didn’t vote until I was an older adult. I
didn’t think I would ever vote, because
it didn’t matter who was in office. The
situation never changed where we lived.
Our voices weren’t heard.”
J
ay-Z walks idly around the studio as
crew members break down the set
for his photo shoot. He’s rapping
along with a hip-hop track that’s
blasting in the room. When the
sound system abruptly shuts off, Jay-Z
continues rapping and moving to the
music, like Wile E. Coyote in the moment
before he looks down and realizes that he
has run off the cliff. Jay-Z catches himself,
looks around the room in mock surprise,
and laughs. It’s the sort of self-deprecating
gesture he’s good at, acknowledging that
all eyes are on him, but humorously taking
the edge off whatever intimidation factor
his presence might have.
That’s a quality he brings into the
boardroom as well. He’s far from just a
figurehead or a media front man. He takes
his businesses as seriously as his artistry,
and he goes at both with the same level of
determination. He’s clear about his own
views, willing to listen to others, eager
to keep everybody loose and motivated,
and far more interested in long-term
strategy than short-term gain. Even in the
current economic environment, which is
challenging to say the least, he’s insistent
on executing his game plan rather than
making changes that might not ultimately
be right for his brands.
“He’s smart as hell,” says Neil Cole,
chairman and CEO of the Iconix
Brand Group, the company that bought
Rocawear two years ago for more than
$200 million. “He understands himself
as a brand, and it’s incredibly well thought
out. We meet every week, and there’s
nothing impulsive about him. He’s
very consistent, and he won’t settle. If
something’s not right, he’s not going to
do it for more money. He’ll wait to get it
right. He has a wonderful taste level
about where he wants to take the brand…
and himself.”
Michael Rapino, the president and
CEO of Live Nation, echoes Cole’s
assessment of Jay-Z. “In meeting with
superstars about potential deals, there
are some who spit out ‘How much can I
get?’ and the meeting is over, because you
know you’re starting out on the wrong
basis,” he says. “When we sat down with
Jay-Z, ‘How much money are you going
to pay me?’ came up in maybe the seventh
conversation. The first conversation was,
‘Can we change the business together?’
“Right there, we knew we had a
common agenda,” continues Rapino. “It
was like, ‘I’m hungry. The business is
changing. I’m a change agent, and I have
a lot of years left.’ Then the creativity
flows. You don’t become the best in the
world at what you do, and then flip the
off switch. Jay-Z wants to win. And for
him it’s also about the integrity of the
win. He’s a true partner, always looking
for the win-win. He’s asking, ‘How do we
win together?’ ”
Indeed, part of the refinement Jay-Z has
attained entails that big-picture vision of
success. It’s a vision that extends beyond
business and beyond music. It’s about
what makes your life meaningful, and it
goes beyond lifestyle to a way of life. “I’m
hungry for knowledge,” says Jay-Z. “The
whole thing is to learn every day, to get
brighter and brighter. That’s what this
world is about. You look at someone like
Gandhi, and he glowed. Martin Luther
King glowed. Muhammad Ali glows. I
think that’s from being bright all the time,
and trying to be brighter.
“That’s what you should be doing your
whole time on the planet,” he concludes.
“Then you feel like, ‘My life is worth
everything. And yours is too.’ ”
