BONUS: JAY-Z’s Super Bowl Endgame

0:04Dan Runcie: I'm Dan Runcie. Welcome to Trapital. We got a bonus episode for you this week. After months of speculation about who will perform at the Super Bowl halftime show and a leak that turned out to be correct, we now have our official answer. Jay-Z, the person who decides who will perform at the Super Bowl halftime show himself, will be the headline performer. This is now the eighth year that Roc Nation, Jay-Z's company that he co-founded, has led and co-produced the halftime show in their partnership with the NFL. And as expected, there's been plenty of discussion already about Jay-Z performing on that stage.

0:42Dan Runcie: But what can't be questioned is this. Jay-Z has been top of mind in 2026. We recorded an episode earlier this year with Justin Tinsley from Anscape, where we talked about what Jay-Z meant by saying that this year is all about offense. He had a performance headlining the Roots picnic. He had the three shows that he did at Yankee Stadium. He had two shows recently at SoFi Stadium, as well as a couple in Europe as well. And he has been clear to call out the haters, to call out anyone that has questioned him. and he's kept that energy all the way up to the comments that he made most recently at SoFi Stadium.

1:20Dan Runcie: And in a few short months, he will be gracing that stage, maybe by himself, maybe with a few guest performers as well, to perform what will be unquestionably one of the biggest moments of his career. And there are plenty of questions now that it's official. What will the next few months look like as Jay-Z gets ready for this big moment? Why did this announcement come one month later than it usually does. Why did it leak? These announcements usually don't leak, at least since Roc Nation has been involved with it, and what should we expect when Jay-Z actually graces that stage? We welcome back my guy, Justin Tinsley, to break it all down, so I hope you enjoy this one as much as we did.

2:00Dan Runcie: This episode of Trapital is presented by Chartmetric's new AI-powered tool called Flow. And instead of me telling you about Flow, let me give you an example so you can see how powerful this is. I asked Flo this prompt here. The artist Ash is blowing up. I want you to do some exact attribution to figure out which of her social content pieces has been delivering the most growth in terms of stream counts and engagement. Well, it took two minutes for Flo to give me a specific answers with charts and everything, but I'll give you a snippet here. What the content actually did. Two things happened in sequence.

2:38Dan Runcie: First, her own account posted the song's live debut from her hometown San Jose on August 8th, which pulled 14.2 million views and 2.9 million likes, classified by Chartmetric as a performance slash tour live show post. That was followed the next day by a straight promotional clip, quote, anyway, stream stopped the wedding, end quote, at 14.4 million views and 2 million likes. And then on August 13th, a community engagement clip aimed at daughters to think of their mothers at 8.1 million views. So you can get both the qualitative in terms of understanding which types of content do resonate and also seeing the specific ones.

3:17Dan Runcie: Ashes Stop the Wedding is a very fun song, but it's always helpful to see the attribution. And this is just one of the examples of what you can do with Flow. So check it out. When you get a chance, you can go to flow.sharpmetric.com slash Trapital or check the link in our show notes. All right. We are here with my guy, Justin Tinsley. And now it's official jay-z is the super bowl halftime show performer for 2027 thoughts i i'm i'm really glad that we have an official answer right now because you know dan as i was telling you even before we started recording i don't want to make it seem like i'm the only one that's been trying to track this story all year and i think jay really gave a performance in 2026 that he left it pretty much I don't want to say undeniable, but he put up a good case for himself.

4:11Yeah, I would agree with that. And especially when you see the moves that he's made this year and even how he's talked about past years, right? I think it was Frazier Tharp that had interviewed him and asked him about Pig and Kendrick. And he was like, the guy had a monster year, right? Yeah. That was his rationale. And even dating back to when Jay and Roger Goodell did that press conference back in 2019, when he was talking about how we felt about Maroon 5 and Travis Scott, he was like, why is Travis Scott on there performing on a stage that has an M in it? This guy had a monster year. It was his year.

4:45So he's always keeping tabs on this stuff. And Jay himself, right? You and I talked about this a couple months ago. This is the year of offense. How do you capitalize on that offense?

4:55Dan Runcie: You perform on the biggest stage. And he understands that for so long, the Super Bowl halftime show was a legacy act. You didn't necessarily need to have a monster year to to grace the Super Bowl halftime stage. Now, the world is different. How we consume information, how we consume music is different. And you want you kind of want the Super Bowl halftime performer to be somebody that had a big year. And you look at the past year, especially now that we're on the other side of the official announcement, everything seems intentional, even in a way to question some of the reporting that we've seen over the past few months.

5:37I think there was something from maybe it's the Daily Mail or a few others that were talking about. Oh, there was a conflict with this artist or that artist. They talked about Miley Cyrus. They talked about Harry Styles. They talked about Justin Bieber. And I don't want to say confidently, I can't say confidently that those discussions didn't happen. But when you look at the timeframe from this, I think a lot of people wondered why didn't an announcement come at the end of September? But I think the main reason is that this was always going to be scheduled to be an announcement that comes after those two L.A.

6:08shows because the two L.A. shows were announced in the summertime. And it would be a bit awkward from a timing perspective to announce a Super Bowl halftime show performer to be doing a concert in the same venue that same Super Bowl is going to be at. So you want to wait for that. And of course, with the Super Bowl being with ABC and ESPN this year for Monday Night Football as well, they want to line up the announcements for that. We saw that happen last year. Bad Bunny's announcement, I'm pretty sure, was during Sunday Night Football. NBC, Peacock, they had the Super Bowl the year before. So a lot of this stuff does come orchestrated.

6:44orchestrated. So I know that in retrospect, it's probably easier to say that, but I understand that people had their questions about what happened the past month when we're normally been expecting to see a late September announcement, at least for the past four or five years. 1000%. You hit the nail on the head. And the only break from the norm in terms of announcement dates was the weekend. And I think his came shortly before Thanksgiving. So November announcement. Yep. It was a November announcements. And I think the one thing that Roc Nation probably didn't want, there was a lot of speculation about why this leaked a week early from the official announcement, because that had been the case in the most recent years.

7:23Roc Nation, NFL, and whoever the partner was, whether it was Pepsi or in the past four or five years, Apple Music, they owned the narrative and they were able to say, hey, we're going to make an announcement here. And I do think that given the delay in when they normally expect the timing to come in played a factor because at that point the announcement's coming a month later and there are a number of moving pieces here the nfl has to know who's performing rock nation needs to know who's performing jay-z obviously in a very meta example needs to know who's performing but apple music abc espn it's inevitable that something's going to get out when the announcement is later than that so the fact that it was what six seven days beforehand is probably a bit different than could have gone otherwise.

8:08It's not a surprise that the news got out. But at some point, you got to confirm that news, too, because this is a process that has always been historically, at least under Roc Nation and Jay-Z, has been historically secretive, historically secretive. Now, some years, it's always kind of been obvious who they were going to pick. The last two years in particular, Kendrick and Bad Bunny. but uh yeah it's just it's an example of the fervor that comes around when you make choices that really tap into a cultural vein now of course you'll see discourse on social media saying like who wants to see jay-z play who wants to do this as if this dude isn't one of the biggest artists in the world i understand the different conversations that come with him but uh it's It's a testament of the value of the announcement and the history of the announcement.

9:06There's this world that lives on social media that is so disconnected from what actually happens in real life. And sometimes it can be a bit surprising to even hear Jay-Z himself speak to some of that when he's literally at a stadium with all of these people selling out all of these shows. Right. Sometimes things can add to the narrative. And it's funny, a few days ago, I had posted on social media about the ticket prices that were on StubHub for the shows, specifically the LA shows. I think the tickets had gone down to$25,$21 for the get-in price, to be clear, up in the highest seats at SoFi Stadium.

9:41But it's like, hey, this happens with every artist, especially with some of the trends in ticketing. Beyonce had affordable tickets that were like around$50 before her Cowboy Carter tour. So there's so many different factors. It's a number of things, but people, they often try to find things to prove whatever narrative is out there. Yeah, that type of discussion has always existed, whether it was the barbershop or the salon at first. Then it became message boards on the Internet and then it became instant messaging. And now it's social media in a sense, you know, so it's not it's not a knock on the artist itself.

10:16It's more so an examination of the culture that surrounds it. It's definitely an amplification of the crazy takes you may hear from your barber about this man and the third that you don't want to criticize too much because you still want to have a fresh lineup when you're about to leave. Absolutely. There's definitely an example of that. One thing I do want to talk about, especially with Jay-Z and his partnership with the NFL, I found it interesting. Roger Goodell had spoken about this after the announcement and he had said that the one thing that he had asked Jay-Z back when they initially did this deal seven years ago was that Jay himself would grace that Super Bowl halftime show stage and of course in the Carter song Ape Shit Jay-Z literally has the line that everyone's repeated for years no I said no to the Super Bowl you need me I don't need you and now here we are so for all the people that have been criticizing Jay oh you picked yourself, the person that literally helped make this partnership that is paying the company that he co-founded$5 million a year for this partnership have been wanting him to do this.

11:20Yeah. Why wouldn't you want somebody like a Jay-Z? Even Jay-Z in 2019, it's like saying that I want to work with LeBron in 2019, as if LeBron wasn't already LeBron in 2019. It's just obviously things have happened in his career since then. But when I look at Roger Goodell's partnership and Jay-Z, which again, is a very polarizing chapter of Jay-Z's career. It's so influential, it's so enormous that you cannot talk about the totality of Jay-Z's career and not talk about that partnership. He's literally on the Super Bowl halftime stage. So there's no way you cannot talk about it. But if you're Roger Goodell in 2019 and understand who you're getting in partnership with, why wouldn't you want him to grace the stage at some point?

12:10But I also saw Jay-Z's response, where he basically said, if you're getting in partnership with me, hoping that I'm going to perform, then don't get in business with me. So I believe both sides. I believe Roger Goodell eventually wanted Jay to do the Super Bowl, but also Jay-Z got into it thinking that, hey, look, I don't want to do this, but I can help improve this. That's what's interesting about this and why this is so different from 2018 when he had first said that lyric. Because one thing about Jay-Z, he's always found a way to get paid and find the second customer for the underlying product that he has.

12:51He drops Magna Carta Holy Grail in 2013. He's just not selling that to the fans. He sold a part of that to Samsung. Samsung buys the albums,$5 a clip,$5 million, boom. That goes in his pocket, or I should say the record label's pocket. 2017, he gets paid by Sprint to launch 444. Sprint then invests in the company that he owns and the music is exclusive on his streaming service. And then now Jay-Z doesn't just say yes to the Super Bowl. His company that he co-founded gets paid$5 million a year. and he is headlining this show as part of that agreement. He finds a way to find this second customer that benefits from that audience and the association if the end customer is the consumer that benefits from the music.

13:41Dan Runcie: This episode of Trapital is presented by Symphonic Distribution. If you've been following the deals in music rights and catalog sales, you know that there is plenty of volume and interest in this space and it continues to grow. And that's one reason why Symphonic has launched Next. Next works with independent artists, managers, labels, and rights holders who want to explore the value of their music catalogs. They do that through offering flexible advances, partial or full catalog sales, strategic partnerships, and long-term distribution support. And all of that is backed by the infrastructure that Symphonic has to manage, grow, and optimize catalogs for a lifetime.

14:23Dan Runcie: Whether you want to fund future releases, expand your business, or plan the next phase of your career, Symphonic will offer transparent and collaborative solutions to unlock and manage your catalog value with Next. And because they're one of the leading music distribution platforms, Symphonic will offer a unique perspective on catalog performance and help you make the most informed decisions about your next step. If you want to learn more and explore your options, go to symphonic.com slash next or visit the link in our show notes. Dan, you do know that we're talking about Jay-Z here. Let's go back to his career before the corporate brand partnerships, before Beyonce.

15:05He made a living off hustling. He didn't have to like how he did it. He didn't have to like the fact that he did it or why he did it. so he's been built to understand how to make this work for him in the best possible manner that wasn't always going to make people happy but he never steered away from his uh you know original intention that is true we're 30 years in on that being the north star 100 and it makes me think of this as he enters year 31 next year he already had a monster 2026 you and i know that that when an artist performs on this stage, the commercial opportunities that come for them only expand from there.

15:50They go on these massive tours. They're able to have revenue heights that they didn't reach beforehand. And we've literally seen that from everyone, especially in the past six, seven years. I wonder for Jay-Z, how do you top this 2026? That's a really good question. I've been thinking about that a lot in terms of like, all right, what does 2027 look like? What does an even more enormous 2027 look like for him? Now, it could easily say, hey, I want to go on a world tour. I'll drop a new album. I can do this or whatever. With him and the way that he's made his decisions over the years, and not just him, but that family, the Carters, and how they never waste an opportunity to put a moment in a stranglehold in terms of, hey, let's make this work for us.

16:40Again, not everybody's going to agree with it, but I can't remember when they've wasted a moment. If I'm wrong, you tell me. And if anybody out there is wrong, feel free to tell Dan and myself. But I just don't see them wasting a moment. So whether it's something for Jay that we can't even see in 2027, that's going to be enormous. There's always been talks about Beyonce and Act Three and what could this look like? And so they quite literally have an open runway to make this moment even bigger than what it already is. They're the first married couple to do the Super Bowl. Not saying together, Beyonce's already done it twice.

17:25Jay has curated the Super Bowl for almost the last decade, and now he's performing in it. That in and of itself is a story. You mentioned Act 3. we got the Super Bowl on Valentine's Day, February 14th, 2027. Probably going to see Beyonce on that stage. I expect them to be on tour again because Beyonce did sign that large touring contract just a couple of years ago. The first one was Renaissance. The second one is Cowboy Carter. Then you got this one potentially coming up as well. She then releases the album. Maybe he has his release as well. They go on tour and maybe it's similar to that model where she did in the the Cowboy Carter tour where she didn't go to 40 different cities in North America.

18:08She said, hey, I'm going to like seven, eight cities. You're going to come to me. And then does she take that model? The two of them take that model and go elsewhere. Now, when you mentioned that, I can see that happening. Will it happen? Who knows? But we have actual historical evidence to support that. I do think, and I think it would be amazing if it did happen. I do think Blue Ivy will be involved in the Super Bowl and somehow. Because has she been the only recurring guest out of all these shows? Because obviously Beyonce showed up in New York. Yeah, I think it's just her. Yeah, that's what I'm saying.

18:49And he's always said in interviews how proud he is of her and how proud he is that she has such a dedication to the craft. And she showed up in New York. She showed up in L.A. quite literally everybody else from what I can remember has been a one-time guest not saying that's a confirmation or not but I could see all of that being introduced you know Beyonce Act 3 Jay-Z if he does have a new album in the works a tour yeah we saw so many memorable artists that have performed with him on stage over the past 30 years be guest primarily at those three Yankee Stadium shows, but even at some of the other ones as well.

19:34How do you top that? Right. Even if he doesn't need to, quote unquote, top it and just has elements of that Yankee Stadium show, I'm sure it'll be well received. But where do you go from here? Is there anything that wasn't done at some of those Yankee Stadium shows or some of the other ones that he could still do that would feel even more fresh that we haven't seen in the past few months? Yeah, I think the thing with Jay is that with the Super Bowl halftime show, you don't have to recreate LA or New York or the Roots picnic because realistically, you're only going to get 12 to 15 minutes on stage.

20:13So it's not like you got to recreate that entire moment. You just have to be able to bring in elements of whether it's your own personal records or whether it's something that people don't see coming. Yeah, I still think back to the last time the Super Bowl was in L.A. and how he had had Dr. J, Snoop Dogg, 50 Cent, Eminem, Kendrick, Mary J. Blige, Anderson.Paak, the whole crew. And I think for that, a lot of people were like, whoa, OK, this is something that we hadn't seen in the same way. And from everyone I talked to, that was all him making that happen. So I feel like even thinking about each of these Super Bowls leading up to this point, okay, the J-Lo and Shakira one made complete sense.

20:56Let's put that out there. This is a package deal. See where it goes. Weekend had a monster year in the pandemic. And that third one was really like the, okay, this is what I've always wanted to do. I've arrived. And then I think since then, they've been able to just fine tune and have different elements of it in different ways. So the expectations are high, but I do think that this is someone that has shown that they can deliver on that. Yeah, Shakira and J-Lo in the weekend were, I don't want to call them test runs because those are three massive artists throughout the course of the world. You know what I mean?

21:28So like that was amazing. But yes, the Snoop and Dre and Englewood Super Bowl was the Bengals and Rams. that was the one that really kick-started what I believe is the greatest five-year stretch in Super Bowl halftime history. You go Snoop and Dre and you list everybody else who was on that ticket. The next year, you have Rihanna. Nobody saw Rihanna coming because she hadn't released any new music since 2016. And we know how she felt about the music industry, or at least we heard the rumors of how she felt about the music industry. And then after that, you have Usher in Vegas. That makes sense.

22:07He put on one of the great residencies that we've seen in this generation. Kendrick Lamar is next. We know what his year was like in 2024. Dude was the unequivocal winner in the biggest rap battle of all time. And then you have Bad Bunny, who you can make an argument about him if you want, but you cannot make an argument about his popularity and his influence. When you look at that, that is the greatest five-year stretch in Super Bowl halftime history we've ever seen. And a lot of people will credit that to Jay-Z. So I think he's at least earned that opportunity to have that moment for himself because if it's not now, then it'll never be.

22:51Agreed. And like you and I talked about as well, this is definitely one of those heavy is the head that wears the crown. There is so much discourse that now happens about these 15 minutes on stage that was not happening years ago, eight years ago, when the process was unfortunate in a lot of ways. That is not to discredit a lot of the artists that came through because there were some strong, memorable performances, but we didn't have that five-year stretch. There'd be like, oh, this one wasn't done. This one wasn't as strong. This one felt as random, but then this artist came through and then elevated it, right?

23:24There was always a few different things, but now there's a bit more cohesion, a bit more rhyme and reason to a lot of this. So next steps here. We know we'll probably get a Zane Lowe or an Apple Music sit down interview with Jay-Z talking about this and everything there at some point. It'll be fun to see how all this plays out. It's going to be really fun because this is a different show than any of which we've seen, even in the Roc Nation Jay-Z era. It's just that the quarterback is quite literally calling the plays here. And this is a guy that's always been credited for the success of the halftime show in recent years.

24:00Yeah, no, I can't wait. Justin, appreciate you as always, my brother. Thank you for coming on. Always, brother. Thank you for having me.

24:08Dan Runcie: And that is a wrap. Thank you again to Justin Tinsley for joining us. Thank you to G and Eric, our video and audio producers, for everything you do to help make Trapital possible. And most importantly, thank you for listening. If there's one person you know that would really enjoy this episode on Jay-Z, the Super Bowl, Roc Nation, or any of the conversations we have, then send them a link to the show. Word of mouth is still the best way to grow. And if you haven't already, leave a comment, leave a review. That helps make sure that the algorithm does its thing and that Trapital reaches the right people.

24:40Dan Runcie: Make sure you tap that follow button, tap the subscribe button so you get the next episode when it drops. Thanks again. Talk to you next time.