He’s Got 99 Problems But His Biz Ain’t One

By Matt Rebackoff At 11:30PM Saturday night, I watched as Shawn Carter aka Jay-Z, with help from his wife Beyonce, finished up an historic eight concert run to open up the billion dollar Barclays Center in Brooklyn.  The rust colored behemoth of an arena will be home to many things, chief among them the newly re-located-from-New Jersey-Brooklyn Nets. While you might not like or even agree with Jay-Z's lyrical content, his success is undeniable. In addition to his TWELVE number one albums, Mr. Carter owns a clothing line (Rocawear), a record label (Roc Nation) in conjunction with a concert distribution deal with Live Nation, and part ownership in the Brooklyn Nets. His net worth as of 2011 was $450 million. Jay-Z grew up in the Marcy projects in Brooklyn, just seven minutes from the arena he recently christened that houses the team he helped bring back to his old neighborhood and whose franchise he is now the face of. Full disclosure, I am a huge fan of Jay's, but this does not change the fact that any business can learn from his path to success.