Empire State Of Mind Review

Posted by admin on Apr 5th, 2011 | 0 comments

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Empire State Of Mind review: Last month, Forbes’ Zack O’Malley Greenburg released his book Empire State of Mind: How Jay-Z Went From Street Corner To Corner Office.
The biography of Shawn Carter tells the story behind Jay-Z’s rise to the top as told by the people who lived it with him. To get an in-depth look at Jay-Z’s business acumen and philosophy, Greenburg secured one-on-one interviews with former business partner and friend Damon Dash, DJ Clark Kent, the man who convinced Jay-Z to pursue a career in rap, Branson B., the man credited to introducing hip hop to champagne, Fred “Fab Five Freddy” Brathwaite, ?uestlove, drummer of the hip hop band The Roots, DeHaven Irby, his former partner in the drug game, MC Serch of 3rd Bass, NBA stars Jamal Crawford and Sebastian Telfair and CEO of Atlantic Records Craig Kallman.

“As much as Martha Stewart or Oprah, [Jay-Z] has turned himself into a lifestyle,” Greenburg writes. “You can wake up to the local radio station playing Jay-Z’s latest hit, spritz yourself with his 9IX cologne, slip on a pair of his Rocawear jeans, lace up your Reebok S. Carter sneakers, catch a Nets basketball game in the afternoon and grab dinner at The Spotted Pig before heading to an evening performance of the Jay-Z-backed Broadway musical Fela! and a nightcap at his 40/40 Club.”

Through Greenburg, we see Jay-Z not as “a businessman but as a business, man,” who’s loyalties lie with money. A perfect example of Jay-Z’s mentality is shown early on in the book when Greenburg approached Jay-Z’s camp about getting a one-on-one interview with the mogul and was asked, “What’s in it for us?’ Needless to say, he was denied an interview. Even more interesting, the memoir that Jay-Z put on the back burner in 2003 was revamped, named Decoded and put it out before Greenburg’s book went to press.

Behind closed doors, it’s not all champagne popping (whether it be Cristal or Armand de Brignac). Greenburg introduces us to the seventeen-year-old Jay-Z who shot his older brother in the arm for stealing his jewelry, the rapper who ditched his mentor Jaz-O when he was no longer useful to him, the man who stabbed Lance “Un” Rivera for bootlegging his album, and the man who bought out Damon Dash’s stake in Rocawear for $22 million then sold Rocawear the following year for a reported $204 million.

Greenburg sheds light on Jay-Z’s little talked about failed business ventures such as the deal with Chrysler to create the Jay-Z branded Jeep in Jay-Z blue and the feature movie that was never released about Jay-Z and his first basketball team in the Entertainers Basketball Classic that plays during the summer at the famous Rucker Park. The book also talks about his marriage to singer and pop sensation Beyonce and the financial ramifications of two of the biggest stars on the planet merging. Greenburg does some investigative journalism to uncover why Jay-Z went from endorsing Cristal to favoring the sub-par overpriced champagne Armand de Brignac As one liquor expert tells Greenburg, “What an amazing job to take a piece of shit wine and turn it into a $300 bottle of wine overnight.”

Jay-Z’s tale is intriguing and fascinating not just because of his celebrity status, but because his story embodies the essence of the rags-to-riches American dream and is a model for any entrepreneur looking to build an empire. The book leaves you respecting his hustle but do you respect the man?

Zack O’Malley Greenburg is a staff writer at Forbes, where he’s covered music and finance since 2005 and now writes a column called The Beat Report. Greenburg has profiled Akon, 50 Cent and Afrika Bambaataa. He has also written for The Washington Post, The Huffington Post and Dan’s Papers.

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