Jay-Z is planning another takeover, but this time, it has nothing to do with rap. Jigga’s got some ambitious plans for the New Jersey Nets.
Jay, being a minority owner of the team, hopes he will have a major impact.
“The Nets have always been the cousins. I hope to change that. On all fronts, whether it be my relationship with players or the (VIP) rooms… everything besides messing with Rod Thorn. I am like the guy in ‘Ray’ who turns down the lights. It needs to be done,” he said of his role with the team.
He also noted that he’s no stranger to business and that he knows how hard one has to work in order to achieve a goal. “I was the CEO, executive producer of my first album,” Carter says of Reasonable Doubt.. “I was the promotion guy, the artist, everything, the driver. We were vikings,” he said of his early years in rap.
“We would go anywhere for a show. I drove two hours for a five-minute show one time somewhere in upstate New York. It was maybe 12 people and I might have performed in a classroom for maybe $1,500 dollars.”
After attaining so many accomplishments in rap, with multi-platinum albums, having a million dollar clothing line and a lot more, Jay hopes to make the Nets successful as well.
Robert Johnson, owner of the Charlotte Bobcats understands the impact Jay could have.
“To have his input in owning an NBA team could be invaluable. He thinks of himself as a brand. He has a keen intellectual understanding of market forces and how to create market dynamics. He has a personality and style of behavior that makes him attractive to sponsors and a good business head. It is the same ingredients that any entrepreneur would have. He just happens to be an entrepreneur and rapper.”
Johnson’s Bobcats also have a rapper turned owner in Nelly. However, would he and other celebrities be involved in owning NBA teams if Jay wasn’t? Hov seems to think that wouldn’t be a possibility.
“If I had come in here with just (expletive) and treated it like a joke, then there is no Nelly, no Usher,” Jay said. “Are you kidding me? They’ve seen the experiment works.”
Future plans for this “experiment” include moving The Nets out of New Jersey and into Jay’s hometown of Brooklyn. Jigga has not disclosed any new information concerning his alleged comeback in rap, but the future of the Nets is in his hands, according to him. Like he said at the Power House Concert just a couple of weeks back, he’s ready for the job. “This is my house,” Jay-Z yelled. “I own the Nets!”
Now, fans just have to wait and see what will happen next.
