Jay- Z, the 47-year-old rapper who called himself in one of his rhymes as not a businessman but a businessman, seems to be showing us that that was not just a line but an actual description of his life. The rapper who has not released an album since 2013 has not exactly been lying on the beach enjoying life.
He has been working on a deal which is not finally done plus his 13th album titled 4.44. Yes, that’s right the album’s name is numbers, 4.44 to be exact, they probably are the dates to something that happened in his life, important dates maybe.
The legendary rapper who just became the first rapper recently to be inducted into the songwriter’s hall of fame an award that was virtually presented by former President Barack Obama, although Jay Z also didn’t attend the event to receive the award.
Tidal deal with Sprint
He was maybe busy with his album and putting this deal with Sprint together. According to various sources from the media, Jay Z has a deal that will have Sprint line holders and current Tidal subscribers exclusive access to his new album which is being launched hours from now, on the midnight of 30th June 2017. This, in turn, is a way to seal the deal which Tidal has with Sprint paying them $200 million for 33% of the company and also paying $75 million to help with advertising for the music from Tidal.
This deal is a step up, which goes a long way in freeing artists and allowing them to make more money at least Hov is making more money as he is a stakeholder in Tidal. In the last deal, he had with Samsung for $20 million had Samsung buy 1 million copies of his album, and offer them to buyers of its new phone at the time. The record companies usually make the bulk of music deals justifying that share by the costs of its advertising and stuff.
Tidal takes that away from the record companies and provides direct access to clients, how had also bragged in some of his older rhymes that he sold kilos of coke he can probably sell CDs. Well, it sure seems like he can sell them and not just his, he learned that there is power in numbers and thus Tidal which has many artists under it’s helm.
Roc Nation
Roc Nation another of Jay Z’s business ventures has ties with pop star Rihanna and basketball star Kevin Durant. This is just a piece of what’s happening in the rapper's life, Blue Ivy’s dad (5) is also the recent father of twins. Tidal after the share sale to Sprint is now worth around $600 million, and Hov is still the richest rapper with Forbes estimating his wealth at $810 million $10 million short of Diddy and his wife Beyonce has $350 million, so their net worth amounts to $1.16 billion. They are also still the highest paid celebrity couple. For all those readers with access to either Tidal or Sprint, have a great time playing the album on loop, if Jay Z is anything like he has been, I’m sure it will be on loop for a while at least plus it is sure to go Platinum and lead the Billboard 200 and 100 list.
Oscar-winning stars Mahershala Ali of Moonlight and Lupita Nyongo of 12 Years a Slave have also made cameos in recent teaser clips for the album, with rumours circulating that Lupita will be the focus of the visuals.
