When Jay-Z stepped down as President of Def Jam Records, many assumed there was beef between Jay and L.A. Reid. At the 50th Annual Grammy Awards, Hov put all the rumors to rest.
“It wasn’t a hostile thing,” Jay told MTV on the red carpet. He also added that he would continue to work with Reid on future projects, “just not with me as the President of Def Jam.”
“You wanna end on a high note,” he added.
And end on a high note he did. Kanye West’s latest album snagged several awards, Ne-Yo picked up one for his Because of You album. Rihanna’s “Umbrella” —which he also rapped on—was nominated as well.
The question on the Hip Hop world’s mind is simply: what’s next?
Last week, we reported that Jay and Steve Stoute would own and operate and advertising business. Prior to that, there was a rumor that he would run a digital record label with Apple.
The latter never came to fruition.
With all the speculation, Jay assured the world that whatever he was doing will involve music.
“I wanna continue to push the envelope, represent the culture well. Make the people proud. The next thing is gonna involve a little bit of everything. It has to involve music, ’cause I love music.”
In what may be the sign of a true hustler, Hov has found an upside to the downturn in album sales, insisting that the “consumption of music is at an all time high.”
“People still love music as much as ever. I’m trying to help other artists figure that out so you can make beautiful music and you don’t have to pay your bills with your CDs. You’re making money in so many other places. I’m just trying to figure that out.”
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