It looks like Jay Z is leveling up on his business grind once again. News has it that the rap great is in the process of building his own venture capital firm with the assistance of Roc Nation President Jay Brown.

According to Dan Primack of Axios, the R.O.C. tandem is currently seeking a third party to help them seed the initiative, and reports point to Sherpa Capital as the front runner to help them give the ambitious start-up its birth.

The new firm will be just another that the music mogul adds to his portfolio, with he and Brown having invested in Uber, luggage manufacturer Away, Private-Jet startup JetSmarter, and nail-polish company Julep up until this point.

Jay Z's legacy in expanding outside of the recording booth goes back to his being one of the first rappers to release DVD visuals to go along with his album drops. He'd eventually get into fashion with the creation of Rocawear, but by the mid-2000's the Marcy Projects native was evolving into more affluent circles. He'd go on to hold a small stake in the Brooklyn Nets and bring his brand into the world of sports free agency, signing such talents as Victor Cruz, Robinson Cano, Yoenis Cespedes, Dez Bryant, Ndamukong Suh, Todd Gurley, Jaelen Strong, and Devin Durant.

Of all of his creative ventures, though, Jay-Z's landmark project has struggled to meet the potential it set out as almost certain it would enjoy, on the merits of all the talent that joined around it. That was music streaming platform Tidal, which Jay was finally able to sell a portion of when Sprint agreed to purchase 33% of its stocks for a cool $200 million. Still, Tidal faces harsh competition in music streaming with Apple Music, Spotify, and Pandora all levying for the bulk of listeners.

Source: businessinsider.com