Contrary to reports, Roc-A-Fella CEO Jay-Z does not presently have a label deal through Warner Brothers, which recently hired former Def Jam CEO Lyor Cohen.Reports have circulated that the rapper had signed a $75 million dollar deal with the label, on the heels of the departure of Cohen.Island Def Jam
distributes the Roc-A-Fella Records label.”There’s no truth to that,” Cohen told AllHipHop.com. “Jay-Z does not have a
record label deal through Warner Music Group.”Questions about Roc-A-Fella’s cohesion have been questioned in recent months, partially fueled by Dame Dash’s harsh words for the former chairman in the past and Jay-Z’s warm relationship with Cohen.Dame Dash, along with Kareem “Biggs” Burke and David Gensler, have formed a
new company, NativeDBG, a marketing firm designed to take advantage of all of
the Roc brands that Jay, Burke and Dash own.”Jay benefits from Native’s existence on a daily basis because we are
building all the brands that he owns,” Gensler told AllHipHop.com.He dismissed
claims that the Roc was in the process of being divided up and pointed to NativeDBG’s founding as proof of their union.When asked about Jay-Z being left out of the new company’s name, Gensler said that Jay-Z was recording his final album.”The only reason why he isn’t part of the name is because he was recording
the Black Album in the midst of the company being formed,” Gensler said.Gensler said that the company was created to also provide marketing services to outside clients.”It allows us to go out and work with other noncompetitive brands,” Gensler added. “We can supply solutions for say, GM or Coca-Cola. It’s easier for a large corporation to hire us and say NativeDBG did our account instead of them saying Roc-A-Fella Records did.”
