Jay Z is on a roll when it comes to creating content that matters.
With his latest project, the Roc Nation mogul is tackling race in the Trump era for his new docuseries, “Race With Jay Z,” with National Geographic. The project, produced by Jay and The Weinstein Company, is said to explore the systematic injustices minorities face in America, such as incarceration and the wealth gap, social media, activism, and family. According to published reports, it will look at how race became “the most pressing issue in the nation” following the election.
The six-part docuseries, hosted by Jay Z, will include documentary, animation, and archival footage. It will also feature diverse voices from immigrants, first-generation Americans and others.
“National Geographic and Jay Z are the world’s foremost storytellers in their own right, and we’re thrilled to be working with them on such an evocative and meaningful project,” Harvey Weinstein, co-chairman of The Weinstein Company, told Variety. “By using highly cinematic storytelling techniques along with Jay Z’s singular point of view, the series will tell a dramatic, thought-provoking story on race in America.”
“Race With Jay Z” marks Jay’s third docuseries exploring racial injustice in America. His first effort followed the story of a teen unjustly incarcerated at Rikers Island, “Time: The Kalief Browder Story,” premiered in March, with his latest project covering the 2012 shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin.
In other Jay Z news, Jay Z’s landmark $150 million deal with Live Nation is coming to an end, and the rap mogul is sounding out other music industry bigwigs about taking a stake in his recorded-music business at Roc Nation.
Jay signed an epic 10-year “360 deal” with Live Nation in 2008 for $150 million, which ends next year and may be putting a stake in Roc Nation up for grabs.
Page Six reports that Live Nation hopes to continue its lucrative touring deal with Jay, but is backing out of the recorded music side; leaving speculation that UMG may be the new partners stepping in. The move could give Jay more resources to develop new artists and bolster his streaming service Tidal, which is in a tough turf war against the larger Apple Music and Spotify services.
UMG already has a distribution deal with Roc Nation, which is a small percentage of their artists’ business, but if they took a bigger investment, UMG would own a much larger stake of Roc Nation artists.
Roc Nation artists include J. Cole, DJ Khaled, Fabolous, The Lox, Rihanna, Meek Mill, Fat Joe, and Shakira.
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