It's a familiar story to Jay-Z fans, and Rocawear is bringing the rapper's rise from Brooklyn's Marcy Projects to big business to the small screen in a new commercial.
The spot (which debuted today on his website, Life and Times and is aptly titled "From Marcy to Barclays") features a montage of on-the-street shots of New York cut against footage of Jay-Z putting on jewelry and shadowboxing his reflection in a mirror.
"Wherever you grow up, that's your root, right?" Jay asks. "My goal was to have one gold album, and that was it, and then it became, 'I want to show that artists can extend to the executive ranks.'"
After a huge arena tour with Kanye West, Jay-Z celebrated the birth of his daughter and performed at SXSW. The show was livestreamed by American Express on YouTube. This weekend, the rapper was spotted catching a March Madness game at Kentucky's Superdome.
And on the business side of things? Though Rocawear has fallen on tough times (the label laid off half of its employees), Jay's not to be defeated.
Hov recently reopened the 40/40 Club in New York after an extensive renovation. Forbes estimates that he'll make back the $10 million he put into the arena in a quick year (see the update at the bottom of this article).
.jpg)
