
Throughout his career he has never lost his love for his block (the borough of Brooklyn) and has shown this in many ways. One major example was when he was approached to invest in the US basketball team The New Jersey Nets. What swung the deal was learning that the team (lock, stock and barrel) would re-locate to Brooklyn, with a brand new arena to boot. This new home, The Barclays Center, would not only host basketball games but also other major events including shows by world class entertainers such as Barbra Streisand, The Rolling Stones and of course, Jay Z himself. On top of his other achievements, Jigga was now part owner of an NBA basketball team. He had achieved what he himself would have thought unreachable when he first started to spit rhymes.

Last week he made an official statement, "Being a member of the Nets organisation surpassed some of my greatest ambitions. It was never about an investment; it was about the NETS and Brooklyn. My job as an owner is over but as a fan has just begun. I'm a Brooklyn Net forever. It's been an honor to work with Mikhail Prokhorov, Dmitry Razumov, Christope Charlier, ONEXIM Sports & Entertainment, Brett Yomark and all the wonderful people involved in making the NETS first class. My sincerest thanks goes to Bruce Ratner, who first introduced the idea of moving the NETS to Brooklyn. A thank you and deepest appreciation goes to the fans. You are the lifeblood of any team."
Jay Z's stake in the Nets has been valued at around $350,000 and the word is he has transferred some of his Nets ownership to the Barclays Center, of which he now owns 0.02%. This works out roughly that the Brooklyn kid now has a $2 million piece of the billion dollar complex. Looking at Jay's incredible story so far, my thoughts run to the tagline from Al Pacino's gangster classic flick, 'Scarface'. "He loved the American Dream with a vengence". Only in Mr. Carter's case, this was all achieved by legal means. You've come a long way, baby!