Report: Jay-Z, Apple to partner on record label

After resigning as president of Def Jam Records at year's end, rapper/hip-hop mogul Jay-Z is reportedly in negotiations to launch a new label with Apple. According to The Boy Genius Report, Jay-Z and Steve Jobs (Steve-J?) are discussing an imprint that would expand beyond hip-hop to embrace rock and country as well--while Jay-Z will not run the label a la Def Jam, he will be vital in attracting and developing new talent.

What's interesting is that late last year, Jay declined to license his latest opus American Gangster to Apple's iTunes storefront because he refused to allow consumers to cherry-pick individual tracks for downloading, insisting listeners experience the album as a whole. "No one can dictate to an artist, any artist, how they should express themselves," Jay-Z said at that time. "Let me make it clear--I don't have a problem with iTunes. It's just our interests were not in line."

For more on the Apple/Jay-Z negotiations:
-read this Boy Genius Report entry

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