With seven platinum-plus albums, his stakes in
Roc-a-Fella Records and Rocawear clothing, producing films and a distribution
deal with Armadale vodka, Jay-Z’s future looks brighter than ever. Sales for
his combined interests in 2002 are projected at more than $300 million. And
yet, amongst all this success, there is talk of retirement.
"My next album will be ‘The Black Album’
and then that’s it. I want to make it a prequel to Reasonable Doubt,
leading up to me having an idea for a song…and that’s how the album’s going
to end," Jay told the Los Angeles Times. He continued to explain that he
wanted to "loop the whole thing back together, make it a nice package,
and that’s it – it truly, truly is." Jay wants to move on to different
things.
At this point in his life, Jay-Z is ready to
offer his expertise to the rap game as an executive. His hopes include to become
more involved with Roc-a-Fella’s business element so that he can work with new
artists, watch them grow, help them along the way and ultimately succeed.
Currently, Jay-Z’s The Blueprint 2 hit #1 on
the charts and sold 545,000 copies in its first week. He also appears on the
8 Mile soundtrack and on Missy’s and Snoop’s new albums.