Jay Z Talks LaVar Ball and The Big Baller Brand

LaVar Ball received a new ally in the fight to claim Big Baller Brand (Triple B) for the people. In a recent interview on the Rap Radar podcast on Tidal, Jay Z spoke on buying three pairs of the yet-to-be-delivered Zo2’s and why supporting Triple B is important.

In addition to revealing he was a supporter of Ball, Jay also discussed why he believes black people can be crabs in a bucket when it comes to supporting their own.

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 pairs. 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 shit? That shit 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, fuck Nike. And I don’t mean personally, I mean like fuck 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. And it’s cool. Everyone can participate. Nike still works with Jordan. It’s just the nature of our relationship has to change.

Jay also addressed his beef with Kanye West and the infamous elevator incident with his sister-in-law Solange.