Have you ever read \u201cThe Secret?\u201d<\/p>\n
The pseudoscientific self-help book by Rhonda Byrne rode a 2006 Oprah Winfrey endorsement<\/a> to the tune of tens of millions of copies sold. It pushes the \u201claw of attraction,\u201d the idea that the universe is built on positive and negative energies, and that like sticks with like. In short, if you think regularly about the things you want and maintain a positive attitude, those things are more likely to come your way.<\/p>\n That\u2019s the gist, anyway. Honestly, I never read it. But its ubiquity in the aughts, its reputation for being largely composed of quotations and the relative unoriginality of the premise<\/a> \u2014 which adds a bit of woo-woo to the idea that you catch more flies with honey than vinegar \u2014 makes it feel like I have. Even if I was completely unaware of the New Thought movement, or if I\u2019d never heard the name Norman Vincent Peale<\/a>, I\u2019d have some idea of what Byrne was on about. I\u2019ve been a Jay-Z<\/a> fan for most of my life.<\/p>\n The rapper has been manifesting his second act as a power player for nearly his entire career. Outside of some early, Das Efx-indebted features in the early \u201890s, Shawn Carter has been manifesting moguldom across his discography.<\/p>\n It\u2019s right there on the cover of his 1996 debut \u201cReasonable Doubt<\/a>.\u201d The black-and-white photo and early computer-assisted graphic design look chintzy now, especially when held up to the art-directed and museum-curated sheen of his later work. But there\u2019s no mistaking what Jay-Z is going for with his fedora, scarf and cigar. This kid from Brooklyn\u2019s Marcy Projects is no street-level striver. He\u2019s a boss.<\/p>\n It carries into track one, where a middleman is warning some lackey not to cross Carter. The first thing anyone hears about Jay-Z is in reverential tones, fit for a short-tempered kingpin. You get the sense that you might get to meet him someday, if you play your cards right. But for now, he\u2019s out of your reach and your tax bracket. What follows is nearly an hour of opulent sh*t talk, laid over lush soul and jazz samples handpicked by producers with names like DJ Premier. It sounds slick and established. It sounds expensive. Most importantly, it sounds unhurried and in control. This was oligarch rap from the latest king of New York.<\/p>\n Want more from culture than just the latest trend? The Swell highlights art made to last. In 1996, Jay-Z was far from the billionaire multihyphenate we know today. He was co-owner of Roc-A-Fella Records, but at that time the label was mostly a means to release his debut after being turned away by several majors. He kept putting out the idea that he was already a magnate to anyone with a Walkman, while still scrabbling behind the scenes.<\/p>\n Case in point: Two platinum records weren\u2019t enough to convince the copyright holders of the musical \u201cAnnie\u201d to clear a sample for Jay-Z\u2019s third album. The multi-billionaire of 2026 might have flashed a wad of cash. \u201890s Jay Z (sans hyphen in several ways) wrote a letter.<\/p>\n It\u2019s just the latest example of Jay-Z putting what he wants out into the universe and getting it back.<\/p>\n \u201cI made up this story about how when I was a seventh grader in Bed-Stuy, our teacher held an essay contest, and the three best papers won the writer a trip to the city to see \u2018Annie,\u2019\u201d he told Grantland<\/a> in 2014. \u201cI wrote that from the moment the curtain came up I felt like I understood honey\u2019s story. Of course, I\u2019d never been to see \u2018Annie\u2019 on Broadway. But I had seen the movie on TV.\u201d<\/p>\n That album went platinum six times over, but even in the heady pre-Napster era, that wasn\u2019t private yacht money. You wouldn\u2019t know that if you saw the \u201cBig Pimpin<\/a>\u2019\u201d video, though. Jay-Z kept up the facade of globe-trotting mogul through several more albums, and that fantasy inched closer to reality with each release. He launched a clothing brand. He opened a nightclub. He was still talent, though, calling for the suits to \u201cpay us like you owe us\u201d on his hit \u201cIzzo.<\/a>\u201d More than a decade later, Jay-Z would make good on the idea that \u201cmoney talks so talk more bucks\u201d when he launched a streaming service<\/a> that paid higher royalty rates than its competitors.<\/p>\n On mic, he started referring to himself as the \u201cbest rapper alive<\/a>.\u201d Knowing that hall-of-famers go out with a bit of ceremony and their jersey in the rafters, he announced a short-lived retirement with \u201cThe Black Album<\/a>.\u201d Briefly free from a grueling release schedule, he bought a stake in the NBA\u2019s Nets and pushed them to move to Brooklyn. He became the CEO of Def Jam Records. His mogul dreams made real, Jay returned to rapping with the flair and distant remove of a bored emperor. He was a moneymaker first and foremost, not a businessman but a business, man<\/a>. He\u2019d spoken it into existence 16 bars at a time.<\/p>\n In that context, it\u2019s not at all surprising that Jay-Z may have hand-selected himself to headline next year\u2019s Super Bowl<\/a> halftime show. Puck broke the news<\/a> that Roc Nation, Jay-Z\u2019s entertainment conglomerate, had tagged the rapper for the championship game. Roc has produced the halftime show for the NFL since 2019, and Jay-Z is currently touring to celebrate the 30th anniversary of his debut album. It would be a natural fit, even without the hitmaker\u2019s behind-the-scenes ties. He\u2019s already a Rock & Roll Hall of Famer. He just wrapped up the release of an eight-part docuseries with producer\/guru Rick Rubin on HBO Max.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Pressed on the leaks, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell took on the tone of intelligence services, refusing to confirm or deny the news.<\/p>\n \u201cI am not aware of a leak,\u201d Goodell said in a news conference<\/a> earlier this week. \u201cI\u2019ve been in the committee meetings. So, I\u2019m not sure it\u2019s a leak. We haven\u2019t announced anything. Until we do, we won\u2019t make any comment on that.\u201d<\/p>\n If it turns out to be true, it\u2019s just the latest example of Jay-Z putting what he wants out into the universe and getting it back. He turned down an offer to perform at the halftime show over a decade ago, telling The New York Times<\/a> that he did not appreciate the way the league negotiated. Per Jay-Z, the NFL\u2019s offer hung on bringing along Kanye West and Rihanna<\/a>, who were two-thirds of his 2009 hit \u201cRun This Town.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOf course I would have,\u201d Jay-Z said in 2020, \u201cbut I said, \u2018No, you get me.\u2019 That is not how you go about it, telling someone that they\u2019re going to do the halftime show contingent on who they bring. I said forget it. It was a principle thing.\u201d<\/p>\n Jay-Z got the last laugh. After the 2019 halftime show landed with a thud, he was brought on to produce the event<\/a> and has helmed it since. Rhonda Byrne told readers that \u201cyour thoughts become things.\u201d Jay-Z told us that he would always pick himself. Who does he know fresher than Hov? Riddle him that.<\/a><\/p>\n Read more<\/p>\n about this topic<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Have you ever read \u201cThe Secret?\u201d The pseudoscientific self-help book by Rhonda Byrne rode a 2006 Oprah Winfrey…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":663264,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[321,93,61,60],"class_list":["post-663263","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/663263","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=663263"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/663263\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/663264"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=663263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=663263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=663263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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