If people believe in you, they will believe in what you create.

Even, or perhaps, especially, in recessionary times, amid the thousands of entertainment and lifestyle choices consumers have available to them, what separates winners from losers is a commitment to a single proposition: You are the product. But for Jay-Z, it has an urgently contemporary meaning. The notion goes back to Shakespeare's 'To thine own self be true,' and further back than that to the Greeks. Staying true to yourself might stand as a succinct summary of Jay-Z's philosophy of success. The look is studiously casual…until you glance at his left wrist and notice a diamond watch so thick it could pass for a weight band. He's wearing distressed jeans that hang loosely from the middle of his hips, black sneakers, and a long-sleeved black T-shirt that has replaced the pristine short-sleeved white one he wore before changing for his photo shoot. Slender and six feet three inches tall, Jay-Z is an imposing figure, even in relative repose. He celebrated his 39th birthday the night before with the staff of his Rocawear clothing line, so a mild fatigue has set in. He is relaxing after a typically jam-packed day that included a photo shoot, an interview, and a meeting about his potential involvement in a forthcoming video game. It's hard-earned wisdom, graced by a poet's touch. In his everyday speech, as in his raps, Jay-Z is inclined toward aphorisms, the compressed expression of complicated ideas, delivered with rhetorical flair. He's lounging on a couch in a studio at the Chelsea Piers Sports and Entertainment complex on the far west side of Manhattan and speaking between nibbles of a takeout salad in a plastic container and sips from a bottle of water. 'With education comes refinement,' Jay-Z observes late one Friday afternoon.

Jay z on to the next one dirty