2 chapters across the catalog
The discussion focuses on how celebrity "ownership" in sports teams, such as Jay-Z's minority stake in the Brooklyn Nets, is often used as a marketing tool to gain community support for projects that ultimately displace residents. The hosts argue that the term "owner" is used ambiguously to mask the fact that these celebrities often own less than 1% of the entity.
Jay-Z is identified as a pioneer in using a "black face" to facilitate gentrification, specifically regarding the development of the Barclays Center and the Brooklyn Nets. The hosts argue that his small ownership stake was used as a marketing tool to suppress community pushback against large-scale redevelopment. This model is compared to how other rappers are used as figureheads for real estate projects in their respective cities.
