Jay-Z Lays Off Half Of Rocawear Staff

so look... let me preface this first by saying that I ain't nobodies business and/or success critic but letting over half of your staff go kinda sounds like some sucka shit to me all things considered (although Rocawear is a kinda whack brand now) so for that I say f*ck hov! When you are a young black millionaire don't nobody supposed to get laid off...you supposed to shift the jobs elsewhere daddy to make sure everybody keep getting money not cut their necks off because the power is in the people...young up and comers are supposed to want to work for and inspire to become people like you, not feel like they could get f*cked over...so as a business man myself I kinda gotta say f*ck hov for this yo word up!

And I know I may be coming on a little strong but about an hour before I came home and saw this i just hoped off the horn building with my man from college for about 30min talking about the race we are in to get 6 figures ourselves so to see people who are in a position of power to help create other opportunities for other people and can't see that vision just baffles me yo..

Excert form the New York Post:

Hov just fired 28 of the 56 member staff at his once hugely successful Rocawear Clothing company according to the New York Post.

The massive lay off was due to "economic reasons" according to documents filed with the New York State Department of Labor. The bad economy has hurt a lot of businesses, but according to a source Jay just doesn't seem interested in the company any more. He rarely shows up in the office.


“It’s kind of like he’s given up on the brand,” the source told the Post.

Rocawear was founded in 1999 by Jay and Dame Dash. In 2005 Dash sold his share of the company back to Jay-Z and other silent partners for $30 million.

"They gave me $30 million and 75% of Team Roc. I’m real happy with the deal. I got $22.5 million in cash and the rest in companies (like State Property, Team Roc, Pro-Keds and other entities)," Dash told AllHipHop at the time.

Less than two years later Jay-Z sold the company to Iconix Brand Group for $204 million in cash. As part of the deal Jay remained a shareholder and in charge of product development, marketing and licensing.

Although he still retains an interest in the company, his contractual obligations have expired and he reportedly has refused to promote the brand as sales have steadily decreased.

“Jay-Z doesn’t do anything without getting paid a lot of money — a lot more than Rocawear is generating,” an insider told the New York Post.

The massive layoff came on January 6, one day before Jay's wife Beyonce gave birth to their first child.