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Among Jay-Z’s thesaurus of boasts in his rap songs is a rich index of sports comparisons. He is the “Mike Jordan of rap” with a “serve like Sampras”. He can “shoot faster than Kobe” (that’s basketball ace Kobe Bryant) as well as “bob and weave, move my feet from side to side” like Muhammad Ali. He has “more belts than [Michael] Phelps” – title belts, that is, though presumably not from the butterfly stroke. “I never learnt to swim,” the rapper revealed in his 1999 gangster anthem “So Ghetto”.
Jay-Z的說唱歌曲是一部“吹牛寶典”，涉及體育的比喻多種多樣。他是“說唱界的邁克爾•喬丹(Michael Jordan)”，他“發球像桑普拉斯(Sampras)”。他“投籃比科比還猛”——說的是籃球明星科比•布萊恩特(Kobe Bryant)，他像穆罕默德•阿里(Muhammad Ali)一樣“左擋右閃，腳步騰挪”。他的“綬帶比（邁克爾）菲爾普斯(Michael Phelps)還多”——這里是說冠軍綬帶，不過恐怕不是蝶泳冠軍。Jay-Z在1999年的匪幫歌曲《So Ghetto》中唱道：“我從沒學過游泳。”
Compulsively entrepreneurial, Jay-Z has transformed his love of sport into a business. This week his entertainment company Roc Nation revealed that it was branching into sports management. Its first client is New York Yankees baseball star Robinson Canó, whose contract is up for renewal at the end of this season.
創業成癮的Jay-Z將對體育的熱愛投入到經商當中。4月初，他的娛樂公司Roc Nation宣布將涉足體育管理領域。第一位客戶是紐約洋基隊(New York Yankees)棒球明星羅賓遜•卡諾(Robinson Canó)，后者目前的合同將在本賽季末到期。
Jay-Z, who grew up playing Little League baseball in Brooklyn, is a huge Yankees fan. But the venture is based on profit not sentiment. It will be Roc Nation Sports’ job to negotiate a whopping new deal for Canó. A 10-year, $254m contract signed in 2011 by Albert Pujols, a rival star, is the benchmark.
Jay-Z少年時期在紐約布魯克林區打過少年棒球聯盟(Little League baseball)，他是洋基隊的鐵桿球迷。但做生意看重的不是感情，而是盈利。Roc Nation Sports將負責為卡諾談判一紙待遇豐厚的新約。另一位棒球明星阿爾伯特•普霍爾斯(Albert Pujols)2011年簽下的10年2.54億美元合同可作為參考。
Such are the sort of sums the rapper deals in nowadays (“I’m all about the dollar bills that I make,” he once rapped). When he set up Roc Nation with the concert promoter Live Nation in 2008 he got $150m, including a $10m-per-album deal for himself. That too has entered his armoury of boasts. “I ran through that buck-50 Live Nation fronted me,” he bragged in a rap track last year. Translation: he spent it all.
當今說唱歌手的合同價值大約也在這個數目。（他曾唱道：“賺美鈔就是我的全部。”）2008年Jay-Z與演唱會經紀公司Live Nation聯合成立Roc Nation時，他進賬1.5億美元，其中包括一份每張專輯1000萬美元的合同。這也成為他“吹噓”的資本。他在去年的一支說唱歌曲中唱道：“我揮霍掉Live Nation付給我的50美元大鈔。”言下之意是：他把這筆錢花光了。
Wild feats of profligacy are a crucial hip-hop pastime, one that Jay-Z performs with élan: he and his wife, the singer Beyoncé, reportedly lavished $200,000 on their daughter Blue Ivy’s recent first birthday party. But appearances are deceptive. Accumulating money fascinates the self-described “black Warren Buffett” far more than spending it.
恣意揮霍是嘻哈人士重要的消遣方式，Jay-Z更是發揮得淋漓盡致：據報道，他與同樣身為歌手的妻子碧昂斯(Beyoncé)為女兒布魯•艾薇(Blue Ivy)的一歲生日豪擲20萬美元。但表象是有欺騙性的。對于自詡為“黑人巴菲特”(black Warren Buffett)的Jay-Z來說，賺錢遠比花錢有趣。
The rapper, real name Shawn Carter, is the archetypal American rags-to-riches story. His unremorseful passage from Brooklyn crack cocaine dealer to corporate mogul might lack the pious trajectory of Andrew Carnegie’s escape from a dismal Scottish upbringing or Sam Walton’s journey from Dust Bowl poverty to Walmart plenty. But the affinity remains. That’s why he named his first record label Roc-A-Fella, after the great New York industrialist – and son of a lowly travelling salesman – John D. Rockefeller.
真名肖恩•卡特(Shawn Carter)的Jay-Z是美國人白手起家取得成功的典型。他從布魯克林的霹靂可卡因販子一路成長為企業大亨，比起安德魯•卡耐基(Andrew Carnegie)走出蘇格蘭的艱苦童年、后來功成名就的故事，或者山姆•沃爾頓(Sam Walton)出身美國沙塵暴時期(Dust Bowl)的貧寒家庭、但最后締造沃爾瑪(Walmart)的歷程，Jay-Z的這段人生軌跡缺少一種神奇色彩。但他們的經歷仍有相似之處，也正因此，他將自己首家唱片公司命名為Roc-A-Fella，這個名字源于紐約偉大的工業家、一位卑微的旅行推銷員之子——約翰•D•洛克菲勒(John D. Rockefeller)。
One of his most quoted aphorisms is: “I’m not a businessman, I’m a business, man.” But what sort of business is Jay-Z Inc?
他流傳最廣的一句話是：“我不是生意人，我本身就是門生意。”那么，“Jay-Z公司”經營哪門生意？
The rapper sees himself as an insurgent, the black rebel capitalist “getting money up under you” – “you” being the white establishment. Key to his self-conception is the notion of the “hustler”. With a long tradition in African-American street lore, the hustler is the black urban equivalent of the cowboy, a solitary adventurer living by his wits in an OK Corral of NYPD squad cars, boom-bam beats, housing projects and gun-slinging rivals.
Jay-Z自視為反叛者，一位“在你們底下賺錢”的叛逆黑人資本家——“你們”指的是傳統白人階層。他的自我認知以“販子”(hustler)為核心（hustler具體是指賣力地、往往用欺騙手段兜售商品的人——譯注）。販子在非裔美國人的街頭文化中有著悠久的歷史，是城市黑人版的美國牛仔，是獨自闖蕩的冒險家，依靠自己的智慧，在這個由紐約警車、說唱音樂、保障住房和持槍競爭對手組成的OK圍欄（OK Corral，一場西部著名槍戰的發生地）一樣的環境中生存。
In his memoir Decoded he describes the hustler’s dream as “independence, wealth, and success outside of the mainstream’s rules”. A lot of vanity lies in his self-depiction as the hustler supreme, the smooth talker who hustled his way into Manhattan boardrooms. Friendship with Barack Obama hardly constitutes living “outside of the mainstream’s rules” either. But there is a degree of truth in the self-portrait.
在自傳《解碼》(Decoded)中，Jay-Z將販子的夢想描述為“游離于主流規則之外的獨立、財富、成功”。他自許為能說會道、一路兜售到曼哈頓公司董事會議室的販子高手，但這多半是虛榮使然。同樣，與巴拉克•奧巴馬(Barack Obama)的友誼也很難作為“游離于主流規則之外”的印證。但他的自述仍有一定的真實性。
The best hustlers (like the best sports players) rely on smoke-and-mirrors – gulling victims, outwitting opponents, staying one step ahead of the rest. As Jay-Z says in Decoded, “every hustler knows the value of a feint”. The same goes in rap. “So many people,” he writes, “can’t see that every great rapper is not just a documentarian, but a trickster.”
最優秀的販子（就像最優秀的運動員一樣）靠的是“忽悠”——欺騙受害者、智斗對手、永遠比別人更先一步。正如Jay-Z在《解碼》中所說，“每個販子都深知裝模作樣的重要性。”說唱也是一樣。他寫道：“很多人不知道的是，每位優秀的說唱歌手不僅是記錄者，還是魔術師。”
His music career is full of feints, such as his periodic claims to be retiring from the studio. Hits such as 2009’s “Empire State of Mind”, a modern standard, disguise the fact that his recent solo albums have been ordinary. Charisma and “uncontrollable hustler’s ambition”, in his words, ensure a golden glow of success suffuses all Jay-Z touches.
他的音樂生涯中就充滿這種聲東擊西的把戲，比如他時常聲稱準備退出樂壇。現代說唱音樂典范《Empire State of Mind》（2009年）等作品掩蓋了他近來個人專輯水準平平的事實。個人魅力和“販子難以抑制的野心”（Jay-Z的原話），令經他之手的事物統統罩上成功的光環。
But look beyond the feints and tricks, and the Midas touch flickers. His three-year spell in the mid-2000s as president of Def Jam Recordings was mixed, with the emergence of two superstars in Rihanna and Kanye West, but also a number of flops. In 2007, the $204m sale of the clothing range he co-founded, Rocawear, propelled him up pop’s rich lists, which advertise him as being worth up to $500m. However, Rocawear, with which Jay-Z continues to be involved, has not thrived. Last year it laid off half its employees.
但拋開虛招和花樣不看，Jay-Z“點石成金”的本事有時候似乎不靈了。2005年前后，他在街頭教父唱片公司(Def Jam Recordings)擔任了3年的總裁，業績喜憂參半——公司發掘出了蕾哈娜(Rihanna)和坎耶•維斯特(Kanye West)等超級巨星，但也不乏失敗的例子。他與別人合伙成立的服裝品牌Rocawear在2007年創下2.04億美元的銷售額，使他以超過5億美元的身家躋身流行歌手富豪榜。然而，仍然有Jay-Z參與的Rocawear卻沒能再接再厲。去年，它裁掉了一半員工。
His vaunted co-ownership of the basketball team the Brooklyn Nets turns out to comprise an initial stake of $1m, a tiny fraction of the team’s worth. His publicised investment in the Barclays Centre, a new arena venue where the Nets play, amounts to about 0.2 per cent of the $1bn building. The real money comes from Russian oligarch Mikhail Prokhorov, who paid $200m for the Nets and has a 45 per cent stake in the new arena.
Jay-Z夸耀自己是布魯克林籃網隊(Brooklyn Nets)的共同所有人，但人們后來發現他的首次入股只有100萬美元，僅占球隊身價的極小一部分。他公開宣稱自己參與投資籃網隊新主場巴克萊中心(Barclays Centre)，但他的投資僅占這座價值10億美元球館的0.2%左右。真正投入重金的是俄羅斯寡頭米哈伊爾•普羅霍羅夫(Mikhail Prokhorov)，他掏出2億美元注資籃網隊，新球場也有他45%的股份。
Jay-Z’s habit of teaming up with bigger partners extends to the new sports management agency, which has been formed with management behemoth Creative Artists Agency. Jay-Z’s participation has caused a blaze of publicity, but it is unclear precisely how much involvement he will have. More tricks, more feints?
Jay-Z習慣與實力更強的伙伴合作，他新成立的體育管理經紀公司也不例外——它是Jay-Z與業內巨頭創新藝人經紀公司(Creative Artists Agency，CAA)聯合成立的。Jay-Z的參與引發了一陣轟動，但他的參與程度仍是個謎。或許這又是他的花樣和虛招？
The rapper has his critics. Chuck D, leader of Public Enemy, from an earlier, more radical generation of New York rappers, implied to the Financial Times last year that Jay-Z may be little more than a frontman. “I would say there are people behind him who have invested in him heavily,” the veteran firebrand said.
Jay-Z不乏批評者。Public Enemy組合的隊長Chuck D屬于思想更為激進的上一代紐約說唱歌手，他去年曾對英國《金融時報》暗示，Jay-Z不過是個臺前人物。“我敢說幕后有人給他投了很多錢，”這位性情好斗的說唱老將表示。
But Jay-Z should be seen as part of a subterranean but vigorous tradition of black capitalism; the efforts of individuals, in the face of entrenched hostility, to advance Booker T. Washington’s belief that: “At the bottom of education, at the bottom of politics, even at the bottom of religion, there must be, for our race, economic independence.”
但Jay-Z仍應被視為“黑人資本主義”傳統的代表，這一傳統盡管處于地下，卻充滿生命力；在他的身上，我們看到了個人在根深蒂固的敵意面前如何踐行著布克•T•華盛頓(Booker T. Washington)的信念：“在教育的底層，在政治的底層，甚至是在宗教的底層，我們的種族必須獲得經濟獨立。”
Or, as Jay-Z raps: “Hustle hard in any hustle that you pitch.”
或者，正如Jay-Z所唱的那樣：“不管賣什么東西，都要努力地賺錢。”
