With the rise of Roc Nation and the release of The Blueprint III, it has become evident that Jay plans to carry on the legacy from Roc-A-Fella and rebuild the dynasty that had the game on lock before the break with Dame Dash. As artists continue to be named for the new imprint, there seems to be a lack of the old flavor with the absence of the old Roc.
Jay has caught flack as fans have felt that the general left his Roc army behind as he continued to chase his own selfish dream for success. Artists such as Beanie Sigel and Memphis Bleek, who were a part of the team when it first started to build, seem to have been left in the past as Hov has continued to work more with Kanye West. For the fact,even Kanye is still under contract with Def Jam Records.
With the collapse of the dynasty, all of the artists seemed to crumble without the direction of Jay and all fingers seemed to point to him in relation to who was to blame.
Speaking with Culture IV, Young Chris opened up to why Jay started off fresh with the launch of the Roc Nation label.
“I spoke with Jay the other day, not on the phone, over e-mail. It was in his contract when he left the label Def Jam, he couldn’t take none of us with him, no artists with him, so that explains why I’m not signed to Roc Nation right now. But that’s my man. When we see each other, we might talk about the music Shyte, but at the end of the day he’s asking about the boys, how the fam, how the people’s doing back in the city.”
A reoccurring issue that happens with a team is that one member might shine more than others. The lead can carry the others on his back as long as he/she can, but everyone must stand on their own at the end. Jay and Dame built a dynasty with undeniable talent, but every member needed to make sure that they could push themselves into the spotlight and not just stand by idly and wait to be pushed.
Memphis Bleek, who seemed to be under the wing of Jay forever, stepped outside when he fully launched his label Get Low Records.
The window of opportunity comes and goes and a person must be able to see when his/her chance has come otherwise the window will close and everything he/she has worked up to will disappear.
“Whoever came at Big Homie had a problem with us
See we was all we knew, in Roc-A-Fella we trust
Now this bullShyte split-up, fu%&ed the whole Shyte up
Knocked us back to scraddles, f&%k we get back to that?
Ni**as need you Big Homie, gotta get back to rap
I mean vet’s expect 16, said you had my back
Now we back out on the corner, ni**as laugh at that
Seeing Neef out on the streets, how you ain’t mad at that?
Let alone ni**as plan my demise
Tough Luv, Big Homie you ain’t stand by my side
How can I…Run to the Roc…”
