News: Jay-Z Reportedly Buys-Out Def Jam Contract, Drops $5Mil For "Blueprint 3"

News: Jay-Z Reportedly Buys-Out Def Jam Contract, Drops $5Mil For "Blueprint 3"
Written by Cyrus Langhorne

Thu, 21 May 2009 10:27:11


Hip-Hop mogul Jay-Z has reportedly bought out the remainder of his business contract with Def Jam Records, including his unreleased Blueprint 3 album obligation, for roughly $5 million.

While Def Jam has yet to comment on the alleged transaction, details surrounding the deal have begun circulating online.

As Roc Nation, Jay-Z's new home under the Live Nation umbrella, takes shape, the hip-hop superstar has reportedly bought back the last remaining record on his Island Def Jam deal for what some say is a whopping $5 million, raising a number of intriguing questions. How does the album figure into the plans of Roc Nation's brain trust, which also includes the A&R-savvy Jay Brown and Tata, as well as Jay-Z's business manager John Menielly? How will it be marketed and distributed? Will Roc Nation employ a traditional distribution channel or take the LP direct to retail? (Hits Daily Double)
Jay previously discussed his long-awaited Blueprint 3 release earlier this year.

"For me, the process of making an album is difficult with so many things going on," he said in an interview. "And me, I wanna make it beyond and above. I'm gonna take my time with it. I don't have any quotas, and that's a good thing. It may be too freeing. It's a good thing and a bad thing. You know, I think I need some restrictions. 'Cause if I had restrictions, I would have done it in three weeks. I would have made what I believe to be a great piece of art. I actually recorded a lot of records already. You know, all those records that leaked [online] were on The Blueprint 3." (MTV)
Claiming he helped craft Blueprint 3, producer No. I.D. recently promised the finished product would be a "classic."

"Me and Kanye [West] have been doing a lot of work, we worked on Blueprint together," No. I.D. revealed. "Most of the stuff, I kinda took an ego, stepped back and said, 'Hey, let's [Dr.] Dre and Mel-Man it. I played Mel-Man. I'm gonna say, we were doing Blueprint 3 when we did 'Heartless.' 'Heartless' made 808s & Heartbreak happen and all that is related but everything in Blueprint 3 is like 808s & Heartbreak but with more hip-hop. So it's kinda like they related and Jay brings it around to make it hip-hop credible. It's some records on there. That record is also gonna be something that's gonna grow on people in a certain way and in a certain amount of time it's gonna be a full fledged classic." (Real Talk Express)
Jay has been with Def Jam for over a decade.

Together with friends Damon Dash and Kareem "Biggs" Burke, Jay-Z created Roc-a-Fella Records, a risky strategy for cutting out the middleman and making money for himself. Once he found a reputable distributor, Priority Records (and then later Def Jam), Jay-Z finally had everything in place, including a debut album, Reasonable Doubt (1996). (All Music)
A release date for Blueprint 3 has not yet been announced