Hot new playa in the hip-hop boardroom

Like the rest of us working stiffs, Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter will be keen to get hold of his paycheck this month. January can be a shocking month altogether, with every bill imaginable plopping onto the doormat after the December excess, and Jay-Z's December was probably slightly more fabulous than yours, even if he's not that big into the mulled wine and mince pies scene.

As he only started his new job on January 3rd, Jigga will probably be a little anxious that his tax allowances have been properly allocated and that the numbers add up. But, seeing as the only retired rapper in the game is now the president and Chief Executive Officer of Def Jam, it's fair to say that Beyoncé's bo' will be trousering a much bigger paycheck than any of us. Put it this way, he can expect to see lots of zeros. Lots and lots of them.

Jay-Z's arrival as bossman at hip-hop's grandest label is a sign of the times. While he has already proven he knows his way around a label with Roc-A-Fella, this really is the corporate takeover, the biggest music company in the world handing Jigga the keys to the executive washroom.

Labels fronted by artists and vanity projects disguised as tax-efficient joint ventures are common occurrences, but bringing in an artist at a boardroom level like this is a relatively new development.

Yet it's fair to say that Vivendi Universal know what they're doing and particularly what they're getting. The ink was just drying on Jay-Z's contract when the Grammy Award nominations came in and showed Roc-A-Fella artist and Jay-Z producer Kanye West up for 10 possible gongs. Besides having an ear for talent, Jay-Z's business acumen is also well established, thanks to the Roc-A-Fella corporation (including clothes, films, a sports bar and vodka distribution the last time we looked), his Reebok hook-ups and involvement with the New Jersey Jets basketball team.

When he released The Black Album and announced his retirement in 2003, Jay-Z talked about his desire to become a boardroom player. Now, following an exceptionally busy year for someone who wanted to just hang out in a hammock and swat mosquitoes, he has the chance to do just that.

It will be interesting to see the reaction of Def Jam acts (including Ludacris, LL Cool J, Ja Rule and DMX) to their new president. Given hip-hop's penchant for niggles, rows and slagging matches, there are many possibilities if anyone gets the hump with the CEO over a cut in their promo budgets or being dropped from the label. "That I'm the president of the company may take some getting used to for some artists," Jigga admitted.

"But I don't want to say I'm their boss, I'd rather say I'm their consigliere." Vivendi Universal must be hoping that Jay-Z will act as a magnet for new hip-hop talent, but he's certainly not the only artist-turned-A&R game in town. As soon as a rapper goes platinum, they call in the lawyers and start to negotiate their own label deal. Eminem's Shady Records, Dr Dre's Aftermath family, 50 Cent's G-Unit imprint and Puff Daddy's Bad Boy set-up (all, incidentally, part of the Universal behemoth) are proof of hip-hop's smarts when it comes to marketing and branding.

These labels are also quite good at making cash. An enterprise like G-Unit is said to have amassed around $30 million in revenue in 2004 on the back of some admittedly weak album releases. An impressive feat, especially when you consider that corporate balance sheets are littered with well-meaning but unsuccessful artist-fronted labels such as U2's Mother (come in Cactus World News) and Madonna's Maverick (running up a remarkable $60 million loss in five years).

Jay-Z, though, is now executive class and there's the difference. While those other acts had very little to do with running their vanity record labels - U2 have to worry about Bono and Madonna had to do a small spot of reinvention every couple of days ­ the Def Jam buck now stops with Jigga. He may still have 99 problems, but they're all corporate ones from now on.