We have two completely different deals with him—the Jay-Z deal and the Shawn Carter deal. Jay-Z is that completely rare artist who is not only King of his genre but one of the greatest of all time as an artist. And if you look at Shawn Carter the businessman and what he’s accomplished, he’s got to be in the top five of the most successful businessman-artists. He definitely grew up in the street—but he’s got incredible intuition and skill in being able to turn that on-the-ground training into a real business.
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Michael Rapino, the CEO of Live Nation, speaking on the supreme success of Jay-Z as both an artist and a businessman with Cigar Aficionado in 2009.











