Sure Jay-Z’s Rich, But He’s Still a Pawn for Really, Really Rich Dudes

Not your typical RefinedHype column, but considering that Malcolm Gladwell just dropped an excellent article breaking down the economics and politics behind the new Brooklyn Nets, and Jay-Z just announced the official creation of BK's first NBA franchise, I thought it was only fitting. Warning, this will require actual reading and thinking. If that prospect frightens you, might I recommend blatantly objectifying women?

First, while many are celebrating the arrival of the Nets, they forget that an entire community was essentially evicted to make way for the stadium and Atlantic Yards complex using some very sketchy eminent domain law. Simply put, a lot of every rich and powerful people, lead by real estate developer Bruce Ranter, got together, realized they could make a shit ton of money and tossed out everyone already living there to make room.

Gladwell's piece is largely about the economics behind the NBA lockout - it's ridiculous for teams like the Nets to claim they're losing money and blame players when they're involved in multi-billion dollar real estate deals - but what really caught my eye was this brief mention of Hova. Here's Gladwell on Bruce Ratner's plan to use the Nets, and Jay-Z, to procure some rack on racks on racks:

"Ratner knew this would not be easy. The 14 acres he wanted to raze was a perfectly functional neighborhood, inhabited by taxpaying businesses and homeowners. He needed a political halo, and Ratner's genius was in understanding how beautifully the Nets could serve that purpose. The minute basketball was involved, Brooklyn's favorite son — Jay-Z — signed up as a part-owner and full-time booster."

What really struck me about that paragraph is that while the hip-hop sphere tends to treat Jay-Z like the most powerful man on Earth, it's a reminder that he's really just the most powerful man in hip-hop, which really isn't that powerful. Although a completely willing, and extraordinarily well-payed pawn, Jay's essentially being used as a pawn here by real estate moguls, Russian billionaires and New York politicians with more money and power than Jay could ever dream of. What they don't have, however, is the adoration of the public, and that's where Mr. Beyonce's Baby Daddy comes in. If Mikhail D. Prokhorov (crazy Russian owner of the Nets) steps off a private jet from Moscow and starts kicking people out of their homes they're be an uproar. But if he does it while Jay holds a series of concerts? Everyone's too busy singing along to "Empire State of Mind" to care.

In summary, here's two things to put in your proverbial pipe and smoke it. (Or literal pipe, I won't judge you.) First, in the end the stadium may prove to be a great thing for Brooklyn (although stadiums often aren't), but in the short term Jay is at least partially responsible for kicking a lot of fellow Brooklynites out of their homes. Second, Jay's got millions, but there are a lot of people out there with billions. The story line around Jay, which often borders on myth, is that he's unstoppable business machine that controls the world around him. We need to remember though, that Jay's just as beholden to people above him as Roc Nation employees are to him.

Or to put it in the language of our digital age: Russian billionaires > Jay-Z > J. Cole.