The Jiggaman was all smiles recently when the team announced that its new arena in Brooklyn, Jay-Z’s hometown, would be called the Barclays Center, after UK-based Barclays Bank, which is paying $400 million over 20 years for naming rights. But just after the January 18 announcement, local politicians and journalists quickly rang the alarm on the deal, criticizing the team and its majority owner, Bruce Ratner, for taking money from a bank whose founding family profited from its ownership of slaves in the 18th century and was involved in controversial dealings with the South African government in the 1980s.
Since then, Jay-Z (real name: Shawn Carter), who owns less than one percent of the team, has declined to comment. His his rep told TMZ that there would be no statement given or action taken by Carter. The rapper has a history of boycotting: Last year, he stopped drinking and serving Cristal champagne after an executive with Cristal’s producer made disparaging remarks about rappers and their affinity for the bubbly.
Barclays, for its part, says its slave-trade past should be understood in the context of history, and says that it will spend $2.5 million on enhancing basketball courts all over the borough of Brooklyn.
COMMENTS
Fist bitches WEST COAST STAND UP lOS ANGELES IN THE BUILDING hAS JAY GONE PLAT. OH YEAH 1.4 MILLION... 20 MILLION CAMPAIGN
OH AND THEY ADMIT IT DAMN JAY YOU SHOULD HAVE KNOWN WISE UP HEY CALL 50 FOR SOME ADVICE
HEY EVERYBODY YOUR HERO IS SHOWING HIS TRUE COLORS! HE DOSE NOT GIVE ONE FUCK WHAT YOU THINK AS LONG AS HE MAKES A DOLLAR!
You lost me corporatepimp. Elaborate my nigga?
corporate pimp what does his sells and marketing have to do with this? anyway majority of major companies was built on the backs of african slaves especially european companies. So what do we do now, do we boycott them or do we make the pay the 2.5 million they got and give it back into the disenfranchised community?
and besides corporatepimp album sales are down across the board, the RIAA AND 50 both said in todays business climate you have multiply your numbers by 1.5 to 2. So his numbers are really like 2.5 to 2.8. And 50 said he expects to sale 10 mill but will likely sale around 5 to 6 million worldwide.
morals vs money I mean that's a tough position if you are bringing in nice with the Nets. I'm glad Im not Jay.
iI'm just a jayz hater dont mind me but I think maybe jay should have done a little more researh thats it!!!
WOW THAT BANK IS GONNA COMPENSATE BLACK FOLKS FOR 300 YEARS OF SLAVERY BY BUILDING SOME BASKETBALL COURTS IN THE PROJECTS. THAT'S A TRUE RACIST MOVE.
doeboy you are absolutly rite but what about all the marketing dollars behind him can you explain that oh yeah and the fact other artist are on the back burner ie jeezy nas method man I miss damon dash!!
mj you a wild boy sterotypical america like he didnt know the fur from the rocawear jackets wasnt raccoon dogg
Them marketing dollars come from endorsements corporatepimp. Jeezy got two singles and videos, not sure what his numbers are looking like. The last time I checked Nas was still on the Billboard Top 50. DJ Clue dropped his album. You want to talk about putting artist on the backburner we need to bring Puffy into this convo! LMAO!! MJ & doeboy: good points!
idc too much if they did it long long time ago but they did it in 80s. thats not too long ago. jay should do research just like with his clothing. dumbass nigga. hes a bumb ass sellout anyway
I think jeezy is at 750k radmamez good point on the puffy situation.. free mase...but one thing what about all those endorments you would think he would had cleard a couple million rite now now he doing the superbowl thing damn what more can he do he neeeds to (as with mc search would say ) "fall back" Oh I get a cringe up my spine everytime he says that to the white rappers
I miss STATE PROPERTY AS A GROUP DONT YALL I MISS BENIE SEIGAL
I miss NWA as a group. I also miss the west coast connection and 213 too.DON'T YALL.
213 was the shit 4real
213 WAS THE SH*T THEIR WHOLE ALBUM WAS BANGIN THE WESTSIDE CONECTION BANGIN WHAT ABUT THE DEF SQUAD REDMAN KEITH MURRAY ERICK SERMON
Jay has never been the type of artist that move crazy units. He's consistant 2 to 3 million per album. Hip Hop as a whole is not in a good position right now. Anything the big dawgs can do to generate positive publicity back to the game they need to do. Beans is one of the most underrated cats in the game. Just finished listening to that joint with Beans and Face.
Word Beanie Mack first album (The Truth) was a classic in my opinion.
HELL YEAH YOU RITE WHO THINKS 50 IS TO BLAME FOR HIPHOP BEING DEAD CUZ HE DID CHANGE IT
Nah 50 didn't kill hip hop. HIP HOP AIN'T DEAD. It's on life support. A lot of things fucked up hip hop. Especially these gimmicks rappers that use the game for money and not the luv. Biggie and Pac rollin in their graves rite now.
this article and argument is a JOKE! This entire fuckin' country was built off of slaves! MILLIONS AND MILLIONS of Blacks doing SLAVE LABOR for FREE for 400 YEARS!!!
You, me, Jay, and EVERYBODY else have been dealing with people who built their wealth ofF the slave trade...
gimme a break.
Definitely not dead! I think a lot of cats try to follow 50 when it comes to beefing to bring attention to themselves instead of letting their music do the talking. Niggas don't create their own lanes anymore. Whatever is hot at the moment best believe four or five niggas will follow the same path.
Real talk Radamez. Every since 50 dropped Get Rich or Die Tryin, everybody and they momma tryin to act hard. BE UR SELF AND DO U. OTHER RAPPERS NEED THEIR OWN SWAGGER.
TRU DAT TRU DAT i CANT STANT THAT HIPHOP IS DEAD BULLS**T WHOEVER THOUGH ABOUT THAT SHOULD BE HUNG BY THEIR DI*KS
That whole statement from Nas was nothing more than promotion for his album and to put a few niggas on notice.
nas going on that jayz level is a insult to his hardcore fans thats when hiphop died when you got nas gets signed to the same level as the dude who dissed his baby moms that should have been unacceptable
I hear you Homie! At the same time a Ho is gonna do Ho shit. Word on the street Nas got his biggest payday ever fucking with Jay.
its not all about the money thats why hiphop is dead he answed his own question
Ho should of stayes his ass behind the desk
Your right it's not all about the paper. For a nigga like Nas he has paid his dues and deserves to get his proper share of the CAKE! How many of these niggas would be rapping if it was no money to to be made??
It ain't all about the money homies. I'm sure they didn't approach Jay or his people and was like "yo, we got this bank that was funded by slave trades and they looking to invest in our company" and Jay was like fo sho let's do it. You don't think the nike airs we sport are made by slaves? I won't get into that but I will say I hope Jay don't pull a Michael Jordan and look the other way. Jay does a lot for the community and helps out a lot in Africa. Fuck the CAKE if it's spoiled, and loot from a bank that punk'd our people and still OWES us for building not only America but 85% of the world is some spoiled cake
i'm all for protest and my people but if he passes up the chance to bring jobs (much needed jobs) to a community like Brooklyn bc of the Slave Trade then we would have to question every company. And focus on all slave labor. From modern prison slave labor. Many corporations, whose products we consume on a daily basis, have learned that prison labor can be as profitable as using sweatshop labor in
developing nations. You might have had a first-hand experience with a prison
laborer if you have ever booked a flight on Trans World Airlines, since many
of the workers making the phone reservations are prisoners. Other companies
that use prison labor are Chevron, IBM, Motorola, Compaq, Texas Instruments,
Honeywell, Microsoft, Victoria's Secret and Boeing. Federal prisons operate
under the trade name Unicor and use their prisoners to make everything from
lawn furniture to congressional desks. Their Web site proudly displays
"where the government shops first."
I didn't read on this site how the DC residents don't have voting rights in a place Slaves built.Ironically, the White House, official residence of the President of the United States, was built with slave labor. Considering the fact that the location of the capital city of the United States, Washington, D.C., was originally a swamp, necessitating the drainage of the area before the city was built, it is likely that the city itself was largely initially built by the labor of slaves. It is also noteworthy that the White House was staffed by slaves owned by the successive presidents, for about the first forty or more years of its existence. Until all these facts are brought to light, we cannot expect America to arrive at a state of social peace. As long as the past is covered up with lies, so that Americans are not allowed to recognize the course of action that must be taken to create a balance between the ethnic groups in America, so that genuine social justice can be obtained, not only will social peace be impossible, but the likelihood that the future will be one of further dissolution is almost guaranteed.) All I'm saying is why hold Jay to a standard we aren't willing to hold ourselves and STOP USING PRODUCTS FROM COMPANY'S THAT USE SLAVE LABOR ACROSS THE BOARD.
Slander is what i read now that i think about it saying Jay takes money from slave owners too.
i DONT LIKE JAY Z BUT I CAN RESPECT HIS HUSTLE ON SOME LEVEL...IMMA NAS FAN...WHERE IS DAMON DASH HE MADE JAYZ
-Corporate Pimp
Please stop spamming other news. It's ok to do it on one story but not throughout the site. I've already deleted 3 of your posts saying the same thing under different stories. Failure to stop will result in your account being deleted.
Shout out to floridaboy dis nucca got street-smart 4real. It is what it is we still getting fucked ova. Its just some BS they
put shit on here for us to read & make comments about 4real dough.
How many people in here wear Timberland boots? For corporatepimp Dam didnt make Jay(If he was lame he wont be here today) he just helped him on his way & got paid.
ahah i find it funny people actually believe this LOL