Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report

GQ on March 24 published Exclusive: The Jay-Z Interview  and two of the exchanges with interviewer Frazier Tharpe are relevant to Atlantic Yards and the Nets. Q. You also have a discipline of almost shrugging off any kind of perception of a loss. “The Nets could go 0 for 82 and I’d look at you like, This shit gravy.” A. Yeah, because it’s all wins. If I had point-zero-zero-zero-one of the Nets, I won. It’s like: I had ownership in a basketball team. In Brooklyn. That actually relied on me heavily to get to Brooklyn, right? So yeah, I didn’t win the championship with the Nets. I still won. That is true, as we've known for a while, thanks especially to an unskeptical New York Times article Aug. 16, 2012, With Arena, Rapper Rewrites Celebrity Investors’ Playbook . My critique . And yes, Jay-Z still won. As I once wrote, in Jay-Z’s hip-hop of distraction , "you can't hustle a hustler." Yes, I wrote that before I knew the Jay-Z line , "Can’t out-hustle a hustler, you ...

Fifteen years ago, Jay-Z (aka Shawn Carter), in an appearance on the on Howard Stern Show keyed to the release of his book Decoded , offered some illuminating observations about sports team ownership that soon were no longer accurate. HS: "Are you making any money with the Nets... It's gotta be profitable, right?" SC: "No, It's not really profitable." HS: "It's just an ego thing?" SC: "Yeah, NBA teams are like paintings for billionaires." As I wrote in 2013, Jay-Z had done very, very well with the team and the arena, leveraging his career, advertising, and a free suite. And the value of the team , thanks to the Brooklyn move and the NBA's new collective bargaining agreement, had skyrocketed. Today, the increase in value is exponential, goosed by the government assistance including tax breaks, direct subsidies, tax-exempt financing, and more.   About Joe Tsai      A July 28 interview with BSE Global owner,  AMBITION: Joe Tsai...

Last July, I wrote ( link ) how former Atlantic Yards state overseer Arana Hankin (now Arana Hankin-Biggers), after "growing disillusioned with economic development efforts," had become a cannabis innovator, Co-Founder and President, Union Square Travel Agency, a licensed legal cannabis business, which partners with The Doe Fund, which works with the homeless.  Hankin-Biggers' LinkedIn describes it as "A cannabis retail company that is committed to supporting efforts to reverse the damage created by the war on drugs." Now the Union Square Travel Agency has opened its third recreational dispensary, in Downtown Brooklyn at 118-122 Flatbush Avenue.  Circling back As reported by the website Stupid Dope: The 4,800 square foot dispensary, designed by the acclaimed creative team Leong Leong, promises a visual feast representative of the brand’s fun yet sophisticated approach to cannabis culture. Located just a few doors down from Jay Z’s old stash spot and within wa...

So, to follow up on my essay yesterday in Common Edge, Jay-Z’s Unseemly Takeover of Brooklyn’s Central Library , let me address a few of the questions and comments that have surfaced, plus add some bonus photos. (And I may update this further.) Waiting on line for the video section Isn't this bad timing? First, the exhibition's closing Dec. 4. Second, the library just got hit with a budget cut.  Well, sort of. I first pitched an article in July to a major publication that said no. My response was, "OK, but please do publish something on this, perhaps both a critical and a supportive piece." Then I got delayed, and decided to wait until after the gala. Then it took a while to get this published. Does the money raised make up for the (proposed) budget cuts?   Nope. Rather, $1.5 million goes to the Books Unbanned initiative. The take from the gala, $1.5 million gross--which likely translates to $1+ million after expenses--presumably goes to the general fund. Why do you s...

I have a long essay today in Common Edge, headlined Jay-Z's Unseemly Takeover of Brooklyn’s Central Library , with the subheading, "Crowds love 'The Book Of HOV,' but the library’s ceded space for a self-produced Hall of Fame tribute from his company Roc Nation." From the opening: Occupying a wedge of land between two major Brooklyn arteries, the landmarked Central Library (1941) of the Brooklyn Public Library is designed to resemble an open book. Since mid-July, the building’s concave limestone facade has been covered by white panels emblazoned with lyrics—decidedly not NSFW—from Brooklyn-born rap superstar, billionaire entrepreneur, and cultural force Jay-Z. If this vaguely recalls, say, Christo wrapping the Reichstag , the latter’s goal, according to the artist’s biographer, was “revelation through concealment.” This reifies an icon. If a few observers grouse (on social media) about a “darn temple” or “a massive ad for Jay-Z,” most are enthralled by “The Bo...

If the Brooklyn Public Library raised $1.3 million from its 2022 gala, celebrating its 125th anniversary, how much should it have raised from its 2023 gala, honoring Jay-Z? After all, the international superstar is the subject of the "tribute exhibit" The Book of Hov, produced by his company Roc Nation and occupying 40,000 square feet of prominent library space from July through December, with Jay-Z's lyrics plastered over the library's facade. Surely it would be a few multiples of the previous total, right? Nope. According to the New York Times, which reported on the gala, the sum was $1.5 million. That's just $200,000 more than the previous year. Expenses diminish total It's likely a significant chunk of revenue was diminished by having to throw a very fun party, with gala chairs the library CEO Linda Johnson and her husband, original Atlantic Yards (and Barclays Center) developer Bruce Ratner, as well as Joe and Clara Wu Tsai, who currently owned the Brook...

Yesterday, I mentioned  that the chairs for the big Jay-Z gala at the Brooklyn Public Library's Central Library Oct. 3 include library CEO Linda Johnson and her husband, the developer Bruce Ratner (who built the Barclays Center), as well as Joe and Clara Wu Tsai, who currently own the Brooklyn Nets, New York Liberty, and the arena operating company. Photos: Norman Oder But let's not skip over the other co-chair Desiree Perez, CEO of Jay-Z's company Roc Nation , who--as a reader pointed out--has an interesting backstory, involving a drug conviction (for some serious weight), a bold gambit to wear a wire, and, much later, a pardon by President Donald Trump which prompted speculation. After all, if Perez could get the Brooklyn Public Library to install essentially a Jay-Z Hall of Fame in its public spaces, put a Lexus on its lawn, and cover its facade with visually striking but mostly forgettable Jay-Z lyrics--after all, most are hardly hits--she's got to be an operator an...

Photos: Norman Oder Well, now.  The Brooklyn Public Library, likely executing a plan long contemplated, has extended The Book of HOV, the Roc Nation-produced "tribute" to company founder Jay-Z, to Dec. 4, which just happens to be Jay's birthday.  And Monday, the Central Library will again--as with a summer shindig previewing the exhibit, per Hell Gate -- close early, for the library annual gala, likely to reap more in donations than previous efforts. After all, they're honoring Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter and his mother Gloria Carter, and the significant list of supporters--including corporate names like Amazon, Goldman Sachs and Google--suggests some deep pockets. Then again, the library has already compromised itself by hosting, with no editorial control, an exhibit that mythologizes Jay-Z, and two weeks ago even allowed a Lexus used in a famed video--another Jay-Z "artifact"--to be mounted on its lawn, complete with its own security guard. The library...

Barclays Center, Book of Hov online Do read Adlan Jackson's necessary essay in HellGate,  Is ‘The Book of Hov’ Really for Anyone but Jay-Z? , subtitled "The Brooklyn Public Library exhibition glorifies Jay-Z and advertises his products—but we’re being told it’s for the people." He writes: There's just not much here for you to engage with unless you're a Jay-Z superfan, and want to look at a jacket he wore once. If that's you, that's fine, but even you might wonder why on earth it's in the middle of the fucking library. And do read Theodore Hamm's 7/18/23 essay in Hyperallergic, Brooklyn Public Library Has 99 Problems but Jay-Z Ain’t One , subtitled "Should a struggling public library be used as a shrine to a billionaire’s glamorous life?" Photos by Norman Oder Who else is it for? For now, let me add that the exhibit, at least in one way, is "for" some others beyond Jay-Z: the arena developer, Bruce Ratner, and the arena designer...

If you check Twitter  and other social media, most commenters think the new Book of Hov Jay-Z tribute exhibit at Brooklyn Public Library's Central Library is fantastic, including memorabilia like tour photos, a replica of his studio, and interviews about all of his albums. That's not surprising--he's a huge star, and worthy of a major exhibition. It's fascinating and well-executed sponcon, or sponsored content. (I'm just going by the coverage and online exhibit; I haven't been to the library yet.) But should that exhibition dominate--and in some ways displace--a public library? Should that exhibition be more than a tribute produced and paid for by his company? (I  pointed out  that there might be contradictions in a presentation that seems to ignore--or at least gloss over--Jay-Z's early career as a drug dealer, or his alliance with developers.) Those questions were aired not in the major New York Times article that appeared online Thursday, July 14,  How a ...

There's a giant Jay-Z exhibit--or is it more a tribute/homage--taking over the Brooklyn Public Library's Central Library, called  The Book of Hov . Heck, they closed the building for a day--as HellGate reported --so the library could have a huge party to help with fundraising. It's likely to be a huge hit with Jay-Z fans and many Brooklynites, though it should be noted that it's produced by Jay-Z's company Roc Nation--so it's more of an "authorized exhibit," not an actual work by a curator who might explore Hov's contradictions.  Hey, was Rachel Kaadzi Ghansah unavailable? She wrote an illuminating 2010 essay for the New York Observer,  He Shall Overcome: Jay-Z Is $450 M Beyond the Marcy Projects. Where Does He Go From Here? , noting that there was truth to the criticism that Jay-Z was a "marketing device" for developer Bruce Ratner's Barclaays Center: At the groundbreaking in March, Jay-Z brought the crooked-arm language of the left ...

From the Brooklyn Nets The tenth anniversary of the Barclays Center came and went on Sept. 28, and it was no time for celebration, perhaps because the revamp of the arena's SeakGeek Plaza still wasn't finished.  (Presumably most of that work will be ready by the Brooklyn Nets' home debut tomorrow.) But there's no way that Joe Tsai's Brooklyn Nets--he also owns the arena operating company--would let the ten-year anniversary go unremarked, so yesterday they announced ... The Brooklyn Way. Or, maybe, #HelloBrooklyn ten years later, again leaning on the borough's brand, inflected by hip-hop. What's notable, though, is what the "sports entertainment corporation" (in the piquant phrase of subsidy skeptic Bettina Damiani) can't celebrate (um, basketball success ), and what they leave out (the rest of the project that was supposed to serve Brooklynites with jobs and affordable housing). Brooklyn identity The new campaign echoes that Biggie Smalls li...