One of the toughest challenges in journalism is reporting on a subject matter that you like. For Forbes staff writer Zack O’Malley Greenburg this was one of the obstacles he faced when investigating all things Jay-Z for his unauthorized biography. Greenburg actually thanks the rap mogul at the end of the book which shows the difficulties he had in trying to fairly expose the inner workings of Jay-Z’s burgeoning empire while trying to divulge his business failures and personal flaws. Even though Greenburg does not get the opportunity to interview Jay-Z for this book the high-speed chase of tracking down information is actually more intriguing. In the introduction to the book, Greenburg sits down with Jay-Z’s manager, John Meneilly hoping to get Jay-Z to participate. When Meneilly asks, “What’s in it for us?” the tone of the book is set.
LOVE IT: As a Forbes staff writer Greenburg uses his skill set to provide amazing financial information about Jay-Z that we were never able to get in one place. We learn that the joint venture that Jay-Z’s Roc-A-Fella records completed with Def Jam in 1997 gave him up to $4 per CD sold which was far ahead of the industry norm especially for a rap artist. To put this in perspective Michael Jackson earned approximately $2 per album sold when he released “Thriller” in 1982. As president of Def Jam, we learn that Jay-Z was paid up to $10 million per year depending on performance bonuses. It was reported that as a co-owner of the New Jersey Nets Jay-Z invested $1 million in the team and received a 1.5 percent stake worth $4.5 million. After including a gold bottle of Armand de Brignac or Ace of Spades in his “Show Me What You Got” video and even giving it a shout out on the song, Greenburg traveled all the way to France to try and get to bottom of Jay-Z’s affiliation with the champagne brand. Through his research, Greenburg discovers that the brand is “frowned upon by most connoisseurs” but sells close to sixty thousand bottles a year. At $300 per bottle Jay-z made an estimated $4 million annually during his promotion of the brand.
In his interview with DJ Clark Kent, who produced three songs on Jay-Z’s “Reasonable Doubt” debut, we learn that although Jay-Z never wrote his rhymes down on paper, Biggie Smalls stopped using a pen once he discovered Jay-Z’s use of memorization. During their classic collaboration on “Brooklyn’s Finest” Kent tells Greenburg that Jay-Z completed his verses first and Biggie was so amazed by what he created that he asked to take the track home rather than complete it in that same session.
While Greenburg is clearly a fan of Jay-Z he reiterates on more than one occasion that he is a shrewd business man and not the most loyal friend. He declares that “when it comes to business, Jay-Z is a cold pragmatist. He ditched Jaz-O, the boyhood mentor who showed him how to rhyme; he split with Damon Dash, the man who taught him how to sell CDs. He even shot his brother in the shoulder for stealing jewelry. Jay-Z parted ways with many of his former colleagues because he realized he’d outgrown them, or simply didn’t need their help.”
The index at the back of the book helps you navigate easily to the aspect of Jay-Z that you want to investigate further whether it is a particular album, person in his life or business venture. You have all the tools you need for your next rap debate either for or against Shawn Carter.
HATE IT: Without interviewing Jay-Z for this book, the second and only option to make this book worthwhile is an interview with Damon Dash, who co-founded Roc-A-Fella and Rocawear with Jay-Z and is labeled as a “visionary” by Russell Simmons. Even though Greenburg is able to hunt him down by phone the conversation is brief and we don’t get all the details that we need in order to learn about the complexity of Jay-Z from someone who was actually there during his rise, and played an integral part in it as well. After Greenburg was snubbed by Jay-Z’s manager, some of his sources began to change their minds about being involved in the book. Therefore when we get amazing quotes from these sources it feels incomplete.
When praising Jay-Z’s accomplishments as president of Def Jam and revealing the “A-plus” rating that he gave himself for the job, Greenburg fails to discuss the overwhelming tension brewing at the label when rap legends such as Method Man, Redman, DMX and LL Cool J voiced their complaints publicly about how inaccessible he was during their projects. LL wasn’t happy with Jay-Z’s “goat” reference on 50 Cent’s “Get Money (Forbes 1, 2, 3) remix,” the song that also helped inspire this book. Cool J responded to Jay-Z during an interview with BlokTV when he said, “When you were doing that verse you should have been doing your job.” Greenburg should have investigated this legendary clash further and tried to confirm whether LL’s claims of being offered the presidency at Def Jam prior to Jay-Z was actually true. It would have been a great tie-in.
Greenburg once again praises Jay-Z for signing the Roots and releasing their “Game Theory” album which received critical acclaim and sold sixty-one thousand copies in its first week. However, through further research the Roots were very disappointed in how their album was handled and questioned their president’s lack of focus. Their manager Richard Nichols was so furious that he went to XXL Magazine to state the issues they were encountering.
“Oh, Def Jam fucked the project up,” stated Nichols. “They didn’t really do much of anything besides make a video that nobody has seen. I think Jay-Z was interested in the group because it wasn’t like the norm, but internally there was no mechanism kicked into gear to market the group. If you sign a group like the Roots, you should have an idea forthright of what to do. What we expected was an association with Jay, who, in terms of image, is trying to look worldlier. That didn’t happen, though. Maybe it was his fear of failure, or maybe he just has a short attention span.” If these quotes were added to the book it would have provided readers with more insight into Jay-Z’s tenure at Def Jam and how he was perceived by his peers.