With Jay-Z’s NBA mission accomplished in BK, he sets his sights on other financial ciphers to rip down. The rapper-mogul announced that he is dropping his minority stake in the Brooklyn Nets in order to focus on building his newly formed sports agency , Roc Nation Sports. He’s off to a great start, signing Yankees all-star Robinson Cano earlier this month.
Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov helped build upon the legend of Jay-Z, who parlayed a mean flow on the meaner streets of Brooklyn into iconic status and minority ownership in the Brooklyn Nets.
In return, Jigga lent his rising profile and cultural cachet to a step-son, upstart squad looking to build its own NY fan base. Doing that in a town oozing Knicks orange and blue and drunk off the team’s rebirth would take a wild card like no other. Sean Carter was that ace in the hole.
Some say he got used. It’s obvious he got his too.
“The Nets have made their mark on the NBA and as they enter a new era, Roc Nation does as well; as we embark on Roc Nation Sports," Jay-Z said in a statement to the Nets community. "Our newest endeavor is committed to building the brands of professional athletes as we have done for some of today's top music artists.”
Jay-Z only owned 0.015 percent of the Nets but his tenure with the team was all about attaching a well-respected high profile name to the franchise. Jay-Z is Mr. Brooklyn, so his inclusion in the launching process was brilliant, sensible and definitely paid dividends. Some Martians don’t dig basketball, but everybody follows Jay-Z. In NY, the Knicks-haters, the casual basketball observers and the younger-generation NBA fan is rocking Nets gear in abundance.
The Nets are a much hotter item than they would have been without Jay-Z’s early presence and marketing influence.
He’ll still have some relationship with the Nets that will undoubtedly cause some type of conflict of interest accusations, but Jay-Z’s success is unprecedented for an inner-city black rapper from the wastelands of Marcy Projects; so he’s a cat that kind of makes the rules as he goes along.
