Jay-Z’s Roc Nation to Aid NFL in Entertainment and Activism
August 16, 2019
Roc Nation, the entertainment company founded by rapper and businessman Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter, is entering into a multiyear partnership with the NFL to amplify the league's social justice efforts and enhance the NFL's live game experiences.
A major component of the partnership will be to nurture and strengthen community through football and music, including through the NFL's Inspire Change initiative. As part of the agreement, Roc Nation will also advise on the selection of artists for major NFL performances like the Super Bowl.
The NFL formally launched Inspire Change in early 2019, following more than two years of work with NFL players, to create positive change in communities across the country. Through this initiative, NFL teams and the league office work with the Players Coalition and other NFL players to support programs and initiatives that reduce barriers to opportunity with a focus on three priority areas: education and economic advancement; police and community relations; and criminal justice reform.
"With its global reach, the National Football League has the platform and opportunity to inspire change across the country," Carter said in a press release. "Roc Nation has shown that entertainment and enacting change are not mutually exclusive ideas -- instead, we unify them. This partnership is an opportunity to strengthen the fabric of communities across America."
Carter added during a Wednesday Q&A with select media: "I'm really into action -- I'm into real work. I'm not into how it looks. How it looks only lasts for a couple months until we start doing the work. I've been in this position many times.”
Carter said the platform that the NFL provides speaks to the work in the community that the league and Roc Nation can do together.
"Inspire Change is already happening (with Roc Nation) and the NFL has a huge platform," he said. "We can use that huge platform, and we've seen it happen. Like with J.J. Watt, when he brought the aid to everyone in Houston, everybody forgot about the turmoil that was in the NFL. If you can use this platform to do that in different areas, that's a home run. That's how I would view a success. That's success for me."
Roc Nation also will work with the NFL to create and distribute content across multiple music streaming services for a variety of initiatives.
"Every conversation I've had with Jay has been inspiring," NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said Wednesday. "Not just on his perspective on the process of how we do the entertainment, but what we should try to achieve. We always say we should get better and we should evolve. We think we should partner with the best, and that's why we're sitting here. We believe we're partnering with the best. So, his perspective is going to drive us."
The NFL is a Founding Supporter of Beyond Sport.