The Throne is back? Music mogul JAY-Z breathes new hope into a much-needed Watch The Throne 2 album courtesy of his presence on longtime friend and protégé Kanye West‘s Donda album. JAY-Z Comes To Kanye West’s Rescue During Ye’s Donda album listening party, West shocked attendees at Atlanta, Georgia’s Mercedes Benz Stadium with some unexpected […]
When you’re rich enough to commission a $28 million Rolls Royce like Jay-Z and Beyonce, you’re most definitely rich enough to own multiple properties. The music industry’s favorite power have opulent homes across the country, owning houses in areas like Los Angeles, New York City, and the Hamptons. But one of their reported homes seems to have quite a big emergency this week as fire fighters responded to the scene of a New Orleans mansion on fire.
According to a report from TMZ, Beyonce and Jay-Z’s reported home in New Orleans caught ablaze in the early evening on Wednesday. The fire was reported in the 1500 block of Harmony Street at around 6:15 pm.
The fire was apparently classified as a one-alarm fire, meaning it was relatively low in severity. Even still, twenty-two firefighters reportedly responded to the fire, and they were able to contain in just before 7 p.m. Thankfully, no one was injured during the fire. Per TMZ’s report, the owners as of 2015 were Sugarcane Park LLC, which had their primary address listed as Beyonce’s Parkwood Entertainment management company.
“If they hadn’t gotten it under control, it could have been worse,” a spokesperson said, according to New Orleans news outlet Nola. Nola’s report notes the building was nearly 100 years old. It was built in 1926 by the Westminster Presbyterian Church and was later converted into a ballet studio.
Over the course of a long and impressive career, one of Jay-Z’s most impressive feats has been remaining aware of and relevant to hip-hop’s youth movements. While others who started around the same time have fallen out of favor over the years, today’s rising stars still look up to Jay, even now, nearly 30 years later. A Jay co-sign is often the first sign that it’s a new artist’s time to shine, and most recently he bestowed that blessing on Louisville rapper EST Gee, who he not only invited to the studio but also gave some blunt but useful advice.
Normally, being told to not bring a ghostwriter to the studio might be considered an insult, but EST Gee seemingly took it in stride, seeing it as a sign that Jay is cooler than the average old head. He told Complex about the phone call Jay made just before bringing EST Gee to the Super Bowl and to the studio.
“Jay-Z kinda old,” he recalled. “He been in rap for a long time and he ain’t weird. He’s a regular n****. He gon’ shoot a joke at you and everything. He told me, ‘Let me bring you down to the Super Bowl with me so we can kick it, man.’ He’s like, ‘We get in the studio, make sure you don’t bring your ghostwriter with you.’ I’m like, ‘Damn.’ He’s like, ‘Yeah man, they told me you have somebody write that shit for you.’ He was dead serious about it. That’s how I know he’s a street n**** who made it down to the big level.”
EST Gee on Phone Calls with Jay-Z | @Complex pic.twitter.com/WYhFK7fOaE
— Pierce Simpson (@PierceSimpson) July 20, 2021
Jay is far from the only rap veteran to put his stamp of approval on the Kentuckian rapper. EST Gee is also signed to Yo Gotti’s label, CMG, along with Moneybagg Yo and 42 Dugg, where he just released his new mixtape, Bigger Than Life Or Death, this week.
Watch EST Gee recount his phone call with Jay-Z above.
Last month, Dame Dash was hit with a lawsuit from Roc-A-Fella Records after he attempted to sell an NFT of Jay-Z’s Reasonable Doubt as well as his stake in Roc-A-Fella Records. Dash owns one-third of the company along with Jay-Z and Kareem “Biggs” Burke, which brings some confusion for the lawsuit.
So far, a judge has blocked the NFT of Reasonable Doubt Dash tried to sell and shut down an attempt from him to stop a meeting between Jay-Z and Biggs. While the matter is far from solved, Dash spoke with HipHopDX to share his thoughts on the lawsuit.
“From my perspective, it feels like this was all done to devalue this asset,” Dash said to HipHopDX’s Kyle Eustice. “I just don’t understand why. What’s odd is that they knew I was only trying to sell one-third, but they’re trying to say I tried to sell the whole thing. But we all know that that’s not the case, so why do they keep saying it? The question is, why is it such a big deal? Why is everyone so scared for me to sell my one-third?”
Dash then addressed Biggs and Jay directly. “Honestly, I think this is corny,” he added. “If there’s an issue, just call me. Why do I have to hear it? Why do I have to get sued? Biggs, Jay, call me and tell me what the play is but if you swing on me, I’m going to have to swing back. And when I say that, I’m saying now that I’m looking under the hood, it looks crazy, but I just do believe that I don’t need all of this.”
He then spoke about an issue he recently discovered with Reasonable Doubt.
“And then insult to injury, just very oddly, we look at Spotify and we see that it says ‘Copyright owned by S. Carter,’” Dash says. “And we’re like, ‘The copyright is owned by Roc-A-Fella, Inc.’ I’m looking at the ledgers and they’re not showing anything that reflects income from any streaming service. So where does that go? I just want to know who authorized that. That’s all I want to know.”
He then revealed that he was offered $1.5 million from the co-founders for his stake in Roc-A-Fella before adding:
When they offered me the 1.5, I was like, “Let me see the books. Let me see how much it’s making.” When I looked at the ledgers, I was like, “Yo, I don’t see any income coming from streaming services.” And then I look on the streaming services and it’s on the streaming service. I don’t remember authorizing any of that. So we’re sitting here thinking, “What’s the long game here? Why f*ck with me?” If I want to sell my third, then you don’t have to be my partner. What’s the problem? You’re making shit up. Why not call me?
You can read the full interview between Dash and HipHopDX here.
The drama between a pair of Roc-A-Fella Records co-founders continues as a judge delivered a new ruling this past week. The label was created more than 25 years ago by Jay-Z, Dame Dash, and Kareem “Biggs” Burke, but recently, Dash sought to sell his one-third stake in the company, a move that Jay-Z is reportedly trying to stop. According to TMZ, Dash recently learned about a meeting that was set to take place between Jay-Z and Burke on Friday and quickly sought to have the meeting stopped by a judge. Unfortunately for Dash, the judge denied his request and told him to file a lawsuit at a later date if he was not pleased with the outcome of the meeting.
This comes less than a month after a judge blocked Dash’s attempt to sell an NFT of Jay-Z’s debut album, Reasonable Doubt. According to The Hollywood Reporter, U.S. District Court Judge John Cronan signed off on a temporary restraining order to the label. Dash denies trying to auction an NFT of Reasonable Doubt, but his partner in the business move, SuperFarm, announced the auction “of Damon‘s ownership of the copyright to Jay-Z’s first album Reasonable Doubt. This marks a new milestone in the history of NFT’s, entitling the new owner to future revenue generated by the unique asset.”
As for Dash’s attempt to sell his one-third stake in Roc-A-Fella, he claims that Jay-Z offered to buy his portion of the label back in March, but it was at “a price I deemed unacceptable.” As a result, Dash was left to find a more suitable buyer for his Roc-A-Fella stake.
Music mogul JAY-Z and Meek Mill just don’t hang out at billionaires’ all-white parties. Instead, the hip-hop pair have a close-knit bond and look like they could quietly have some tunes brewing. JAY-Z + Meek Mill Look Primed To Drop Heat Meek hit up his Instagram page with a couple snapshots of himself alongside the […]
Ever since his days as president, Barack Obama has been very open about his musical taste. Year after year, he’s shared playlists of favorite songs, both old and new. On Saturday he continued that trend. He dropped his 2021 summer playlist on Instagram, and it’s comprised of 38 songs featuring some of the biggest names of today and yesterday.
“With so many folks getting together with family and friends, there’s a lot to celebrate this summer,” Barack wrote. “I put together a playlist of some of the songs I’ve been listening to lately — it’s a mix of old and new, household names and emerging artists, and a whole lot in between.”
Some of the artists include Rihanna (“Desparado”), SZA (“Good Days“), Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak (“Leave The Door Open“), Drake (“Wants And Needs”), Migos (“Straightenin“), and J. Cole (“Neighbors”). Older additions include The Rolling Stones (“Tumbling Dice”), Stevie Wonder (“If You Really Love Me”), Bob Marley and The Wailers (“Exodus”), Erykah Badu (“Didn’t Cha Know”), Bob Dylan (“I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight”), and many more.
You can see the full list of songs on the playlist in the post above.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
