According to Axios, Hip Hop mogul Jay Z - born Sean Carter, is launching his own VC fund!
I don't normally salivate over announcements but this is BIG!!!
The man is in a cadre of Rap revolutionaries that are literally changing the game. Gone are the days when the genre was brushed aside as "gangsta" or "thug" music. Hip Hop is currently the BIGGEST influencer of pop culture and a staple of American entertainment.
It appears Hip-Hop is at the forefront (AGAIN) of radicalizing the often marginalized African American community. His latest album 4:44, is littered with innuendos and overt calls to redistribute black wealth valued at over $1.3Trillion/year. African Americans are the biggest consumers of technology, spending over $300M/yr on telecommunications.
Imagery is the biggest weapon used to disperse and blind the community into thinking all there is to do is play sports, rap, or be criminals. And just like Oprah's speech about the impact her award will have on little black girls all across America, Jay Z's ascension into the realms of powerful VC's will fuel passions in young black men and women all across the world.
Jay Z is no newbie in VC funding.. He was a huge investor in Uber's series B round back in 2012. At the time, Uber was valued north of $300M. His small investment at the time is worth a significantly larger share now that Uber had a valuation north of $50 Billion!
Other tech related investments include a stake in jetSmarter - the "Uber of private jets", TIDAL, a music streaming service, and minority ownership in a plethora of yet-to-be-disclosed startups.
"Not bad for a kid that grew up in the Macy projects..."
@sonofthesoil