H to the Izzo
Listening to Young Jeezy and baking brownies. Normally, I bump Saigon when I get my Betty Crocker on (weird, right), but thought I would try something new. Jeezy is hot and all, but I wish he would stop hollering "Yeeeeaaaaahh" all the time. It gets on my nerves.
Been thinking about Toure's Rolling Stone cover story on Hova.
One of the best pieces of music journalism I have read in a long time, for a number of reasons, but mostly because it was so moving. That's what I want when I read a feature profile. I want to feel something.
Jay is a fascinating dude. One of my hobbies is reading books on business, entrepreneurialism, and success and I found the section on Jay's approach to Def Jam really interesting.
The early months of Jay's first year as President were a bit rocky. "When I first started it was stale," Jay says. "I wanted to quit right away." He wondered if he could resign without public embarrassment. "There was nothing fresh, there was no excitement, it was just doin the same shit over again. I said where's the passion? Where's the ideas? Where's the new shit? I'm used to bein around entrepreneurs and we was passionate about everything. But [in a corporation] whether this artist comes out and does 400 million or 40,000 the first week, their check is the same. So you're doin everything routine, routine, routine, and you lose the passion for it. You stop comin up with new ideas and you start erasing the name off the marketing plan and fill it in with another name and it's the same shit." Then he realized that as the President it was his responsibility to inject the energy and passion. So he planned a company retreat.
At a two-day company-wide retreat at the Tribeca Grand Hotel in Manhattan, Jay gave an opening address, then played the 1984 Def Jam sales presentation tape to remind them of the passion that'd pulsed through the company when it was small, independent, and revolutionary. Then, because most of the staff knew little about their co-workers, Jay had everyone talk a little about themselves and why they got into the record business in the first place, to remind them of their early passion for the business. "We got people to go back to that inner kid and the joy of being in the record business," he said. "I wanted them to be alive again."
The stuff on Jay's issues with his father was totally captivating as well.
Jay's father's leaving is one of the most traumatic moments of his life, a moment that led him to become emotionally cold. "I'd say I changed a little bit." He paused. "I changed a lot. I became more guarded. I never wanted to be attached to something and get that taken away again. I never wanted to feel that feeling again [of being left]. I never wanted to be too happy or gung ho about something or too mad about something. I just wanted to be cool about it. And it effects my relationships with women. Cuz even when I was with women I wasn't really with them. In the back of my mind I'd always feel like, when this sh!t breaks up, you know, whatever. So I never really just let myself go. I was always guarded, always guarded. And always suspicious. I never let myself just go." (He says that because he's never let himself go he's never once been heartbroken over a girl. "Never, ever. Never. Never.")
Been thinking about Toure's Rolling Stone cover story on Hova.
One of the best pieces of music journalism I have read in a long time, for a number of reasons, but mostly because it was so moving. That's what I want when I read a feature profile. I want to feel something.
Jay is a fascinating dude. One of my hobbies is reading books on business, entrepreneurialism, and success and I found the section on Jay's approach to Def Jam really interesting.
The early months of Jay's first year as President were a bit rocky. "When I first started it was stale," Jay says. "I wanted to quit right away." He wondered if he could resign without public embarrassment. "There was nothing fresh, there was no excitement, it was just doin the same shit over again. I said where's the passion? Where's the ideas? Where's the new shit? I'm used to bein around entrepreneurs and we was passionate about everything. But [in a corporation] whether this artist comes out and does 400 million or 40,000 the first week, their check is the same. So you're doin everything routine, routine, routine, and you lose the passion for it. You stop comin up with new ideas and you start erasing the name off the marketing plan and fill it in with another name and it's the same shit." Then he realized that as the President it was his responsibility to inject the energy and passion. So he planned a company retreat.
At a two-day company-wide retreat at the Tribeca Grand Hotel in Manhattan, Jay gave an opening address, then played the 1984 Def Jam sales presentation tape to remind them of the passion that'd pulsed through the company when it was small, independent, and revolutionary. Then, because most of the staff knew little about their co-workers, Jay had everyone talk a little about themselves and why they got into the record business in the first place, to remind them of their early passion for the business. "We got people to go back to that inner kid and the joy of being in the record business," he said. "I wanted them to be alive again."
The stuff on Jay's issues with his father was totally captivating as well.
Jay's father's leaving is one of the most traumatic moments of his life, a moment that led him to become emotionally cold. "I'd say I changed a little bit." He paused. "I changed a lot. I became more guarded. I never wanted to be attached to something and get that taken away again. I never wanted to feel that feeling again [of being left]. I never wanted to be too happy or gung ho about something or too mad about something. I just wanted to be cool about it. And it effects my relationships with women. Cuz even when I was with women I wasn't really with them. In the back of my mind I'd always feel like, when this sh!t breaks up, you know, whatever. So I never really just let myself go. I was always guarded, always guarded. And always suspicious. I never let myself just go." (He says that because he's never let himself go he's never once been heartbroken over a girl. "Never, ever. Never. Never.")
Plus, you can't beat Toure's account of the I Declare War concert.
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I can't believe that there are still people out there who think Jay is just some money, hoes, and clothes rapper with nothing to say.
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