You know how Jay-Z’s always retiring, then un-retiring, then sailing to St. Tropez with Beyonce? Well, apparently not everyobody over at Def Jam appreciates the rapper’s flightiness and propensity for indirectly stealing everyone else’s pension.
Says a source: ???People have lost count of how many times he???s come out of retirement…Everybody knows he???s not around the office much. Everybody at Universal loves him, but they can???t justify paying him the money he wants when so many people have been laid off.”
Translation: L.A. Reid to fire Jay-Z before everyone else at Def Jam (who totally loves him!) quits in protest. [NYDN via Stereohyped]
No sooner do we get done passing along rumors of massive upheaval at Def Jam – executives fleeing, 40 people laid off – than Jermaine Dupri, who runs the Island label under Def, announces he’s signing girlfriend Janet Jackson away from rival Virgin. Certainly that’ll help squash rumors that the label has become a playground for its executives who are throwing cash around. (Janet’s latest, 20 Y.O, has moved just 650,000 copies domestically and is widely considered a bomb.)
And of course, over at Warner Music, they’re laying off 400. Good! Times!
Is Def Jam floundering? That’s what one tipster claims, bringing (unverified) word that some 40 people were laid off today at the record label – home to Ne-Yo, Rihanna, Fabolous, Bobby Valentino, and Young Jeezy – with a number of executives fleeing last week. “Jay-Z, L.A. Reid and Jermaine Dupri are still getting paid millions … and running the company into the ground,” says a source.
What? Jay-Z a wasteful spender?