About You, Now.
Sunday, June 29, 2008
More than anything else (I’ll leave the “else” to the entire Internet), isn’t the above performance another fascinating example of Jay-Z’s continuing efforts at world domination through identity synergy? Think about it: Jay-Z settling a “beef” at Glastonbury with arguably the CEO of the festival at this point, by adopting part of Gallagher’s brand (the glasses, the guitar, the scarf) and incorporating it into his own strategy. In the process, Jay squashes any bad mojo while simultaneously adding to his own brand/legend/aura. Similarly, remember when he played with Phish, with the full knowledge that the “I ain’t pass the bar but i know a little bit/ Enough that you won’t illegally search my shit” lyric was tailor-made for crossover to that crowd? Remember last year? Jay, way too self-established to just do a soundtrack for American Gangster, instead created a parallel-universe bio of his own, calling back to the film only by name and broadly-drawn narrative structure. Jay-Z is huge, but because he’s such an established brand as well, he’s much, much bigger than himself. While certainly goofy, gimmicks like this weekend’s (peep the Zooropa backdrop!) show that Jay has long since moved past any idea of hip-hop street-cred defining how he manages his career and brand, and is well-immersed in a phase of his career much more akin to a corporation going global, adopting its logo and advertising plans for foreign cultures. There’s a reason Kanye looks up to him so much.
great point, eric.
i’m not sure if hov is the first, but i believe he’s certainly the world’s foremost artist-as-brand ideal.
in addition to remaking american gangster in audio format, let’s not forget that he was probably the first recording artist to ever have a successful clothing line (like, really successful) and the first rapper to his own sneaker. and unlike, say, 50 cent, his credibility as an artist never suffered as his business ventures grew.
he is a hustler, baby, he’ll sell water to a well.