Why I Wrote an Unauthorized Biography of Jay-Z

Empire State of Mind: How Jay-Z Went From Street Corner to Corner Office (Penguin/Portfolio, 2011)

It's been four months since I put the finishing touches on Empire State of Mind: How Jay-Z Went From Street Corner to Corner Office (due out March 17, 2011). But weeks before I clattered out a single sentence of a manuscript, I got a firsthand taste of Jay-Z's business philosophy when I met up with a man named John Meneilly.

Though Meneilly is essentially a manager, Jay-Z refers to him as his...