Jay-Z rooting for LaVar Ball, bought 3 pairs of BBB sneakers
Jay-Z sees the whole picture when it comes to LaVar Ball and his billion-dollar ambitions for Big Baller Brand.
While everyone is busy ridiculing BBB for their steadfast resistance against partnering with a major sporting apparel company, Jay-Z admires Ball's determination to create and profit off his own brand.
There's a lot of parallels between what Ball is doing in the apparel game and how he built his empire in music, Jay-Z explained on the latest episode of the Rap Radar podcast as transcribed by Slam.
LaVar Ball, he said, 'I’m gonna start my own company.' Everybody’s like, ‘You should sign to Nike.’ He may go about things wrong. He may have a big mouth. But I bought three pair. I didn’t get ‘em. But that man has a vision of his own.
Why wouldn’t I support him? Why wouldn’t I support him? He feels like he can move culture and his son got a big enough name and a big enough brand that they can do it. Nike had to start somewhere.
Why do we get so upset when we, as a culture, want to start our own s---? That s--- is puzzling to me. I sit back and I’m like, this makes no sense. Why can’t he start a sneaker? 'Oh, his sneakers are terrible.' Remember, I’m not being negative towards anyone. I’ve seen some bad sneakers from Under Armour. I’ve seen bad Michael Jordan sneakers. Michael Jordan obviously is the greatest.
At some point he was selling for Nike and at some point he broke away and he started building the Jordan Brand. I’m sure that was difficult. And I’m sure people at that time, when he was building the Jordan Brand, was like, ‘You playing yourself. You’re gonna leave Nike?’
Man, all due respect, f--- Nike. And I don’t mean personally, I mean like f--- the thing. Everyone has this reverence towards these things.
I’m sure when we walked in and started Roc Nation, everyone looked and said ‘Universal’ or Def Jam. Like, we built the brand. It can happen. We are culture. Nothing moves without us. We just continue to give it away.
Ball wants $3 billion - one for each of his sons - from any major apparel company in a co-branding agreement with BBB. Nike and Adidas are reportedly interested in signing No. 2 overall pick Lonzo Ball, but not the astronomical price. Without any deal in hand, BBB independently released signature sneakers on behalf of Lonzo priced at $495 per pair.