JAY-Z’s Marcy Venture Partners venture capital firm (MVP) co-founded by JAY-Z, Rocnation Vice-chairman Jay Brown, and venture capitalist Larry Marcus is investing in Spatial Labs. Spatial labs is a tech incubator that will focus on cryptocurrency and blockchain developments and products. JAY-Z Peeks Into The Future As the music industry takes on the newest trend […]
Jay-Z’s continues to fight for social justice and reforms. Towards the end of last year, his Team Roc group covered the legal fees for protestors in Wisconsin. His and Meek Mill’s REFORM Alliance helped bring forth a new California bill that limits probation sentences to one year for misdemeanors and two for felonies. Now Jay-Z and Team Roc helped raise $1 million to investigate wrongful convictions in a Kansas county.
According to the Kansas City Star, Team Roc raised the funds for the Midwest Innocence Project (MIP) to investigate wrongful convictions in Wyandotte County, Kansas. “It’s a huge investment,” MIP’s executive director Tricia Rojo Bushnell said in a statement. “The ability to look at these cases is really going to continue to shine a light on what we need to do to actually provide a just criminal legal system in Wyandotte County.”
So far MIP has received 40 applicants through the initiative. Recently Wyandotte County had to overturn a conviction of one of its inmates a few years ago in a notable case. Lamonte McIntyre, who spent 23 years in prison for two murders he did not commit, was released in October 2017 after evidence surfaced of widespread misconduct that led to his undeserved conviction.
On Wednesday night, Jay-Z took a trip to London for the premiere of The Harder We Fall. The film, which premieres on Netflix on November 3, is produced by the rapper himself and directed by Jeymes Samuel for a tale that captures the rivalry between Black cowboys. It’s this plot that prompted a rather unique question for Jay-Z during his red carpet appearance at the London premiere. “You need to be able to make sure that you can actually do what you’re asking the actors to do,” a reporter said before asking, “So Shawn, can you ride a horse?”
Jay cracked a smile at the question and replied, “I can ride a Porsche,” referencing the German-bred car model before adding, “It got horsepower.” In the rapper’s defense, the reporter’s question technically didn’t specify which type of horse Jay could ride.
Ahead of its premiere on Netlflix, Jay-Z also spoke about his excitement towards the official release of The Harder We Fall. “I’m super excited for Jeymes [Samuel], who’s actually from London,” he said about the upcoming film. “Just the idea of him releasing his major debut, because he’s done film work and he’s done music. But for him to be releasing in London, a place where he’s from, it has to be a dream for him. So I’m super proud of my brother.”
In addition to producing the film, Jay also has an upcoming collaboration with Kid Cudi titled “My Guns Go Bang” that will appear on the soundtrack for the movie.
You can watch the moment between Jay-Z and the reporter above.
Later this year, Jay-Z will celebrate the 22nd anniversary of his fourth album Vol. 3… Life and Times of S. Carter. The 15-track body of work is highlighted by records like “Big Pimpin” with UGK, “Do It Again (Put Ya Hands Up)” with Amil and Beanie Sigel, and “Jigga My N****.”
During a recent episode of the New Rory & Mal podcast, The Alchemist and former Roc-A-Fella Records A&R Kyambo “Hip-Hop” Joshua, who were guests on the show, reflected on Vol. 3… Life and Times of S. Carter while Joshua revealed what one of Jay-Z’s inspirations was for the album.
Joshua noted that the closing song on Vol. 3… Life and Times of S. Carter, which packages “Hova Song (Outro),” “Jigga My N****,” and “Girl’s Best Friend,” was inspired by the outro track on Dr. Dre’s 1992 album, The Chronic.
“I remember with The Chronic, ‘B*tchs Ain’t Sh*t was on the album and it wasn’t on the credits,” Joshua said. “I remember a n**** playing it in school and I’m like, ‘I can hear it, but I can never find it!’ They were like, ‘Nah, you just gotta let the album play.’”
Rory stepped in and added, “When y’all put Vol. 3 out, I remember the next day in school everyone was like, ‘Yo, did you let that outro rock? There’s three more records!’” Joshua replied straightforwardly, saying, “I did it strictly because of that, because of The Chronic.”
Jay and Dre have worked together on a number of occasions with the latter appearing on “Watch Me” from Vol. 3… Life and Times of S. Carter. Jay-Z was also responsible for Dre’s verse on his popular record, “Still D.R.E.” Most recently, Jay’s Roc Nation imprint was responsible for recruiting Dre, along with Eminem, Snoop Dogg, Mary J. Blige, and Kendrick Lamar, as performers for the Super Bowl LVI halftime show in February 2022.
You can watch the episode of New Rory & Mal with The Alchemist and Kyambo “Hip-Hop” Joshua above.
JAY-Z teased a new collaboration with Kid Cudi in the Netflix trailer for a soon-to-be-released Western film. The movie, The Harder They Fall, is also co-produced by JAY-Z. JAY-Z and Kid Cudi Team Up Once More New music is on the way for JAY-Z and Kid Cudi as the two are heard on a snippet […]
Jay-Z and Kid Cudi, despite both being very popular rappers in the upper echelon of the genre’s best-known names, would seem to be diametrically opposed at first glance. Jay came up in the gritty ’90s and helped define the glitzy sound of the 2000s before settling into his elder statesman role in the last decade. Kid Cudi, however, was a part of the blog era movement to redefine rap, focusing on mental health rather than “Money, Cash, Hoes.”
But the two make for one awesome dynamic duo in the new trailer for the Netflix Western The Harder They Fall, where a new collaboration between them can be heard as Idris Elba, Jonathan Majors, and Regina King shoot at each other with old-timey revolvers. Fittingly, the song features a shootout theme, with Cudi’s chorus echoing the refrain “My guns go bang” and Jay’s verse describes a duel: “Bullets with your names, drew / Cock back, aim, shoot.”
Netflix has appeared to make an effort to reach out to both hip-hop generations in recent years; from the rap contest Rhythm + Flow to a new Kanye West documentary to a comedy special hosted by Saweetie, the streaming company has made sweeping overtures to capture a demographic with plenty of potential for all kinds of enjoyable content.
Watch the Harder They Fall trailer above and stream the film itself on Netflix on 11/3.
