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September 27, 2011
The Brooklyn Nets and The Barf: No News Is...No News
Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn
Not everyone buys the hype, however.
We'll happily let others cover today's non-news news event. That would be the Atlantic Interminable Mall press get-together with "Cultural Icon Shawn 'Jay-Z' Carter," eminent domain abuse icon Bruce Ratner, insomnia icon Brett Yormark and hearty handshake and obsolescence icon Marty Markowitz, where the hip hop star announced that after putting their heads together they've decided that the New Jersey Nets would become the...Brooklyn Nets, and that he'd do a few shows at the arena when it opens. (How is it news that the .3% owner of the team will perform in the team's new home? It would be news if he didn't.)
...We're also betting that there won't ever be a big press event to announce the fulfillment of 10,000 jobs or 2,250 "affordable" housing units.
Related coverage...
'An I Heard 'Em Say, Sure Jay-Z’s Rich, But He’s Still a Pawn for Really, Really Rich Dudes
And it's not just the usual suspects who aren't buying it.
First, while many are celebrating the arrival of the Nets, they forget that an entire community was essentially evicted to make way for the stadium and Atlantic Yards complex using some very sketchy eminent domain law. Simply put, a lot of every rich and powerful people, lead by real estate developer Bruce Ranter, got together, realized they could make a shit ton of money and tossed out everyone already living there to make room.
Gladwell’s piece is largely about the economics behind the NBA lockout – it’s ridiculous for teams like the Nets to claim they’re losing money and blame players when they’re involved in multi-billion dollar real estate deals – but what really caught my eye was this brief mention of Hova. Here’s Gladwell on Bruce Ratner’s plan to use the Nets, and Jay-Z, to procure some rack on racks on racks:
“Ratner knew this would not be easy. The 14 acres he wanted to raze was a perfectly functional neighborhood, inhabited by taxpaying businesses and homeowners. He needed a political halo, and Ratner’s genius was in understanding how beautifully the Nets could serve that purpose. The minute basketball was involved, Brooklyn’s favorite son — Jay-Z — signed up as a part-owner and full-time booster.”
What really struck me about that paragraph is that while the hip-hop sphere tends to treat Jay-Z like the most powerful man on Earth, it’s a reminder that he’s really just the most powerful man in hip-hop, which really isn’t that powerful. Although a completely willing, and extraordinarily well-payed pawn, Jay’s essentially being used as a pawn here by real estate moguls, Russian billionaires and New York politicians with more money and power than Jay could ever dream of.
Posted by eric at September 27, 2011 12:24 PM