Lola Ogunnaike profiled Jay-Z in the Sunday NY Times.  Although much of it is a Sunday paper look at the day in the life of a rapper turned Def Jam exec, there are some bits and pieces of useful information.

On the subject of weak sales of releases from Memphis Bleek and Young Gunz:
"Logically, I shouldn’t have put them out because the numbers – the video spins and radio spins – didn’t indicate that they were ready to go . . . But me, relying on the brand, figured they’d do 100,000 anyway, but they didn’t. So that was a mistake."

One exchange between Jay-Z and his senior vice prez of finance, Joe Borrino, kind of blew my mind.  They were discussing financial negotiations that were about to occur for the signing of Tru Life:

"I’m supercomfortable with four" – $400,000 – Jay-Z told . . . Joe Borrino. "I’m a little less comfortable with five. After that, I don’t want to be in that business, especially right now. Only six hip-hop releases have done over 150,000 this year."

"So," Mr. Borrino said, "I’m going to say that we can’t go more than five."

"No, because if I was hearing you say that, then I would ask for five because that means I can get five," Jay-Z explained. "You tell him that a typical first-time artist deal is between 400 and 450."

"O.K.," Mr. Borrino said, looking unsure.

"Be confident, man," Jay-Z said, noting Mr. Borrino’s furrowed brow. "If there’s a problem, come back to me, O.K.?"

There was not a problem.

Uh, this guy’s your vice president of something or other?  I’d say there was definitely a problem.

It’s clear from the piece that Jay-Z’s personality is a big part of the dynamic, which is probably true for any exec.  However, I remain curious about who gives him advice.  For example, this part sounds like typical fare from corporate consultants:
"When he first arrived in January, he recalled: "I sat in on a couple of meetings and it was like a machine. The passion was gone. No one really said anything. There were no ideas." So he set about to improve morale. He organized several retreats and a weeklong team-building exercise inspired by Donald Trump’s show "The Apprentice," in which several teams competed for a $50,000 prize. Their task? Land a record deal for a fictional artist."

Nevertheless I’m happy to get some kind of peak into what he’s up to and I believe that if he sticks it out he will be a great exec, especially once he starts trusting the numbers a little more and gets more experience at signing artists and making tough decisions.

Besides, I was in a bad mood today and played the $6 worth [at iTunes pricing] of The Black Album that’s still worth listening to.  Those tracks made me feel a lot better.