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Jay-Z spent around a decade holding a minority stake in the Brooklyn Nets, and while a former player who made beats in his spare time tried to take advantage of the hip-hop mogul’s links to the franchise, he found himself getting soundly rejected by the man who was technically his boss.
In 2003, Jay-Z earned the right to say he was a part-owner of the NBA team that was still called the New Jersey Nets when he reportedly paid $1 million for what amounted to 1/15th of a percent of the franchise.
The rapper (as well as Beyoncé) was frequently spotted sitting courtside at games over the course of the next ten years before he sold his shares to Jason Kidd and another investor at a $500,000 loss shortly after the Nets relocated to Brooklyn, which was a forced divestment linked to his decision to launch the agency Roc Nation Sports agency in 2013.
You have to be a pretty diehard basketball fan to remember Maurice Ager, who was drafted by the Mavericks with the 28th overall pick in the 2006 NBA Draft and spent five seasons in the league before pivoting to a career as a record producer.
In 2008, Ager was traded to the Nets as part of the deal that brought Kidd to Dallas, and during a recent conversation with Brandon “Scoop B” Robinson, he recalled the time he decided to approach Jay-Z to bring his side hustle to Hov’s attention when the team headed over to London to face off against the Heat in a preseason game in 2009.
Unfortunately for Ager, the conversation didn’t pan out as he’d hoped:
“You know I love making beats. That’s my passion.
Jay-Z comes to our practice. I remember having a really good practice. I went over to Jay…I was like, ‘I make beats, fam. I’d like for you to check out my beats.’ He was like, ‘Oh word? I need you to concentrate on that court, though.’ I was like, ‘Alright. Appreciate it, bro.”
Ager said he nonetheless went back to his hotel and made 30 beats and was intent on proving he could hold his own on the court against the Heat.
He thought he did exactly that after scoring nine points in the 11 minutes he played and once again approached Jay-Z after the game only to receive the following assessment: “I see you did your thing tonight. No more beats, though. Concentrate on that court.”
Ouch.