Jay Z continues to give back. Something as simple as his signature can help charities earn millions. A unique bottle of the rapper’s D’USSÉ cognac was sold for a large chunk of change at a recent auction in New York City.
The signed bottle was special because it was released in 2019 to celebrate Jay Z’s 50th birthday. His signature made the bottle even rarer. It sold for $52,500 on Friday (March 12). The auction, which partnered with Sotheby’s for their first dedicated spirits auction, donated three one-of-a-kind bottles equaling $508,750.
Proceeds will go to The Shawn Carter Foundation, helping young professionals and recent college graduates looking to launch their own businesses. The bottle is called “Bottle No. 1” and is part of the D’USSÉ 1969 Anniversaire Limited Edition. It is the lone bottle in the collection. There are 50 bottles in the overall collection, however, the one with Jay’s signature is unique. The other 49 bottles were mostly given to Jay’s family and friends.
Jay’s movements have been making waves, and recently, Akademiks came at the legend for what he says is “bait and switch” business moves. “Jay-Z bought a company, he said it was for Black creators,” he ranted. “He said people shouldn’t support Apple and Spotify because they’re White-owned and he wanted to have something for the culture, for the artists, by the artists, and he wanted to keep it Black-owned and he wanted to do it that way. He did many B-Side concerts and sh*t like that talking about Black excellence, Black power, you should support him because he owned a Black business even though we found out later when they went to Sweden at Tidal headquarters, pretty much not one of the employees or the higher executive people at Tidal were Black.”
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