Beyonce and Jay-Z continue to demonstrate why they are the most powerful couple! The dynamic duo continue to break the mold and set new standards in the fickle industry of entertainment.
On Sunday August 19th, Bey released her inspirational video for “I Was Here” on Humanitarian Day. The singer was joined by her peers Justin Bieber, Shakira, Gwyneth Paltrow and others. Watch below.
“World Humanitarian Day is a chance to pay tribute to the commitment and courage of those who work in some of the world’s most dangerous places. It’s fantastic that a world-acclaimed artist like Beyonce is helping to raise awareness for this important cause — she’s reminding us that we can all play a part in relieving suffering around the world.”
Beyonce’s efforts were successful on the social media platform, “The World Humanitarian Day 2012 campaign has made social media history by sharing more than one billion messages of hope,” the UN said in a statement. The message? “This World Humanitarian Day I’m doing something good, somewhere, for someone else. Join Me!”
Other ways to help included individuals making a sandwich for a homeless person, volunteering for a community service project, or donating old belongings to charity.
What did you on Humanitarian Day?
Meanwhile, her husband Jay-Z is perhaps the best example of not being defined by your environment. After more than 10 years in the rap industry, Jay-Z has successfully transcended the game into new horizons. His latest venture: the Brooklyn Nets.
When the developer Bruce Ratner set out to buy the New Jersey Nets and build an arena for them in Brooklyn, he recruited Jay-Z, the hip-hop superstar who grew up in public housing a couple of miles from the site, to join his group of investors.
Mr. Ratner may have thought he was getting little more than a limited partner with a boldface name and a youthful following that could prove useful someday. But Jay-Z’s contributions have dwarfed the $1 million he invested nine years ago. His influence on the project has been wildly disproportionate to his ownership stake — a scant one-fifteenth of one percent of the team. And so is the money he stands to make from it.
Now, with the long-delayed Barclays Center arena nearing opening night in September and the Nets bidding in earnest for Brooklyn’s loyalties, Jay-Z will perform eight sold-out shows to kick things off. But away from center stage he has put his mark on almost every facet of the enterprise, his partners say.
He helped design the team logos and choose the team’s stark black-and-white color scheme, and personally appealed to National Basketball Association officials to drop their objections to it (the N.B.A., according to a person with knowledge of the discussion, thought that African-American athletes did not look good on TV in black, an assertion that a league spokesman adamantly denied). He counseled arena executives on what kind of music to play during games. (“Less Jersey,” he urged, pushing niche artists like Santigold over old favorites like Bon Jovi.)
You can read the full write up on Jay-Z at NY Times and watch Beyonce’s “I Was Here” video below.
