BY KAZEEM FAMUYIDE
It’s weird to see JAY Z lose.
I don’t want you to mistake these words as the 10,000th think piece taking down JAY Z this week. That’s not what this is, and in fact, that’s not needed at this point. The point of these words is to get comfortable in discomfort. It was weird to watch Michael Jordan wear #45 and get his *** handed to him by Penny Hardaway and Shaquille O’ Neal. It was weird to watch the Yankees lose the World Series weeks after 9/11 took place, when New York needed it most. It was weird to watch Anderson Silva and Mike Tyson get put to sleep in their prime. Watching the guys who never lose get taken down a peg is awkwardly sobering and, for some reason, makes lesser folks revel in their failures. It’s the reason why we never stop bringing up Manny Pacquiao getting knocked out and it’s the reason why so many people are rooting for him to knock out Floyd Mayweather.
It’s not like we haven’t seen it before. “Ether” and “Renegade” exists. We had to sit through Kingdom Come, and Teairra Marí. JAY Z is the gold standard when it comes to winning in music, it’s just that it’s weird to see it when it happens. When he loses. Now like most legends in their respective fields, once you get to a certain point a loss is all relative. A win for most is definitely a loss for some and, make no mistake about it, Tidal has been an “L” for a man of JAY Z’s stature. And for some reason, people love it.
About a month ago, Tidal was sold to Mr. Carter for $56 Million. A week after his much talked-about launch which featured a roll out of A-list partners like Kanye West, Rihanna, Madonna, Nicki Minaj, Alicia Keys, Daft Punk and Beyoncé, Tidal’s valuation rose to $250 Million. You don’t have to be a hustler or a d-boy to know that that’s one hell of a flip. But like the aforementioned MC spit years ago on “The Watcher 2,” we give him his props but that’s where it stops.
J**** was already fighting an uphill battle against established streaming properties like Pandora, Spotify and even Beats Music. As a consumer, what Carter’s platform was offering wasn’t anything better or worse than what the established beasts of streaming music was already offering. Sure, Tidal offers some pretty cool exclusives that live only on their platform…but that only holds true until the pirates get their hands on it and it’s available for everyone for free .99. Tidal, which costs $20.00 a month for a subscription, has a higher price tag than life-changing apps like Netflix, Hulu, Spotify, Beats Music, Pandora, the WWE Network, Redbox and more.
While it was safe to assume that fans might have thought about paying for a more expensive streaming service for a good reason, Tidal never provided that during its reveal, and when they did it was too late. Tidal leaned on the use of their superstar partners which shot off the worst mixed message in the world: multimillionaires were crying broke. While getting artists fair payouts over streaming services is absolutely something that needs to be addressed, Tidal could have done itself millions of favors if they took those same superstars and intermixed them with popular independent artists such as Post Malone, Chance The Rapper, Run The Jewels, or AWOLNATION. Instead, it just looked like fodder for YouTube commenters to go to town on with illuminati BS.
This is what makes people revel in J****’s failure. The one thing that Hov has, or had, over all of the big suits and corporate machines that he’s taken great joy in taking down throughout the latter part of his career is the cool factor that you can’t put a price on. Sure, there are a ton of record labels and sports agencies that could make you amazing deals just like Hov’s team can, but one thing they can’t do is throw up the ROC. Something so simple, but something you absolutely can not put a price on is having a pulse on the culture and, for the last 20 years, JAY Z was the culture. It’s why Roc Nation and its subsidiary Roc Nation Sports has been such a success and has pulled top athletes and artists from all over the world.
The Tidal reveal was the first time that showed that JAY Z was out of touch (well, second if you count the whole “we don’t wear Timberland boots” thing—that was wild), and his supporters and detractors are loving the fact that right now is the time to take this dude down a peg. Google “JAY Z” right now, and you will have to flip through a couple of pages before you can get to something even remotely positive. Even a reveal of a JAY Z/Beyoncé joint album that would be a “Tidal Exclusive” has been met with a collective “meh,” something that you would never have thought a few shorts months ago.
Two weeks after Tidal briefly cracked the U.S. iPhone top 20 download chart, the app has taken a swan dive off of the charts out of the top 700 ,and Tidal’s CEO was kicked out in what has been called a “streamlining” move. To make things even worse, its main rivals, who they spent most of their campaign trying to **** on, have surged. On April 20, Pandora and Spotify stood at No. 3 and No. 4 on the U.S. iPhone revenue chart, respectively. This was the first time two music-streaming services have hit the top 4 in sales simultaneously. Those that say all press is good press must be doing the whip dance right now.
So now what?
JAY Z, the ultimate hustler, now has to bet on himself and his popularity to get Tidal out of the streaming music ****ter. Aside from the rumored JAY Z/Beyoncé album, Hov has even resorted to calling random subscribers to thank them for joining Tidal. It’s gotten Hov in a position that this writer probably thought he would never see: desperate. While it’s safe to say that a guy who is worth close to a billion dollars could never be desperate, one thing that is also safe to say is that Jay is not used to losing.
It’s not about the money, right now. We’ve heard for years about how Hov is smarter and more cunning than the average Joe, and he’s had the bank account to back it up. No more is that affluence showcased than in his last two musical projects: Watch The Throne and Magna Carta Holy Grail.
This is the reason why people have been letting those digital eggs fly all week long on Hova. Us regular folk love to see rich people squirm. It’s the reason why A Christmas Carol is awesome. It’s the reason why we love seeing the awful Mr. Burns get what’s coming to him for nearly 30 years on The Simpsons. It’s the reason why nobody with any type of dignity ***** with Fox News.
And that’s what Hov sounded like when he was hocking Tidal to us. He sounded like Hov Limbaugh, a black Republican. “The challenge is to get everyone to respect music again, to recognize its value,” JAY Z told the New York Times. “Water is free. Music is $6 but no one wants to pay for music. You should drink free water from the tap — it’s a beautiful thing. And if you want to hear the most beautiful song, then support the artist.”
How out of touch do you have to be to know how many people throughout the world don’t even have the luxury of water every day. ****, JAY Z himself fought for people in Africa to have clean water back in 2006 in his Water For Life campaign. 2006 couldn’t have been that long ago, right? Right?
Sure, water is free but, for the most part, so is music. So is art. Much like how people can die from dehydration from lack of water, the soul can be deprived without art. As an artist, Hov still understands this. He, and his millionaire friends, just want their cut-and that’s fair. It’s all good, though. JAY Z is a master of spin and wit, and one freestyle or hit record can change an entire world’s perspective of him. Joke that he only owned a fraction of the Brooklyn Nets? He’ll quip that he’s still got his seats on “Open Letter.” Taunt him on a hit record like Jim Jones did on “Ballin?” He’ll tell you to go “Dig A Hole.” Drake giving you a hard time about collecting art? He’ll shrug his shoulders about his disposable income on a “We Made It” freestyle.
The all-important cool factor is what JAY Z has, and what he’ll need to turn the tide on Tidal. Until then, that ether is going to make that soul burn slow.
Mr. Carter @S_C_ · 9s 9 seconds ago 
