Jay-Z

I'm Not a Businessman. I'M A BUSINESS... MAN. If you ask ten people today for one word to associate Jay-Z, nine of them would probably trot out success as their choice. Hip Hop and entrepreneurial success are bosom buddies ironic, considering how the original pioneers ignored Sylvia Robinson when she came looking for an artist to sign to Sugar Hill Records. As if making up for that original sin, Hip Hop's evolution has woven business and entrepreneurship into its narrative far more than any contemporary music form. Dope artists aren't admired. Dope artists who get paid are admired. Jay-Z didn't just embody this formula he completely rewrote it. Lebron and company may have organized the basketball free-agent power move in the summer of 2010, but Jay-Z laid that blueprint back in the mid-'90s after the success of Reasonable Doubt, distributed in a one-off by Priority Records. At a time when most artists were happy just to be signed to a record company, Jay-Z and his Roc-A-Fella crew went looking for a corporate partner, not a corporate master. And they found one in Def Jam. That laser focus on partnership and branding set Jay aside from the masses of Hip Hop artists and entrepreneurs trying out their own versions of business- and hustler-oriented success. He would ride that focus to amass one of the more sterling portfolios in American business, including Roc-A-Fella Records, the fashion giant Roc-A-Wear, numerous corporate pitch clients (who can forget those Hewlett Packard commercials?) A tenure as CEO of Def Jam, owner of the 40/40 sports bar/club chain, part owner of the New Jersey Nets and his groundbreaking partnership with Live Nation for his entertainment umbrella, Roc Nation a deal that would include recordings and tours, and one that reflected a novel approach given the crumbling fortunes of the traditional music industry in recent years. Stunning as his vocal gifts might have been, this business record was unprecedented for a music artist, and, again, it set him out on an evolutionary frontier all by his lonesome.