Jay-Z: Showin' em what he's got

Wassup, Y'all!

By all measures, Jay-Z is big ballin' these days. A homey doesn't have to look further than his high profile 'Show Me What You Got' commercial for Budweiser Select on the October 16th Monday Night Football game (the MNF games that are, coincidently, bringing in record ratings for ESPN this season). Not only is Jigga starring in the commercial, he's been hired by Anheuser-Bush as the Co-Brand Director for Budweiser Select. As if that's not enough, take a walk through ad mecca Times Square in NYC or any major airport and you'll spot at least one or two billboards or mylar posters of Hova hawking anything from suits to watches. Jay has clearly separated himself from the wannabe rap entrepreneurs and now with his new found clout Z trying to be a champagne king maker...or is he?...

When we last left Jigga, he was acting all brody and orchestrating a boycott of Louis Roederer's Cristal Champagne after a perceived slight of hip-hop's infatuation of the bubbly by Frederic Rouzard, managing director of LR. Since the dust up there's been a vacuum in what's been termed the 'bling bubbly' world as hip-hop began a search for the new 'it' champagne. Enter the exotic gold foil bottle with the ace of spades on it featured in Jay-Z's high profile 'Show Me What You Got' MNF commercial debut. Buzz got hot and speculation was on that this was it - the new brew blessed by the Jay-Z midas touch. But hiphopgame.com did some digging and uncovered a tale that seems to have Jigga's hand in the cookie jar by trying to 'manufacture' this new brand dubbed 'Armand de Brignac'. Dang - I was just about to cop me a bottle and sit out in my driveway to show my homeys that I'm always ahead of the game!

Now this cloak and dagger marketing approach has me 1) giving two snaps up to Hova for playing the game just like the big boyz and 2) wondering if propping Beyonce as arm candy is just another image move of a savvy media mogul?

I remember when I first heard the news that B and Jigga were dating and I thought 'Man, how lucky is Jay-Z to pull a shorty like that? You know if he was just Shawn Carter from Bed-Stuy, he'd be lucky to pull Mo'Nique.' But now, it's clear that Beyonce got the better end of that deal as Jigga's potential seems unlimited and he's now making moves that would make Donald Trump drop a wink as their Maybach's pass each other on 5th Avenue. Can a tax evasion charge be far behind? I'm just playin', Jay - keep goin' for yours, homey!

Peace@Least,

Tyrone