Last night during Game 5 of the NBA Finals, rap mogul Jay-Z made an announcement that made both hip-hop fans and Samsung cellphone owners incredibly happy.
In a three-minute commercial aired during the halftime of the game between the Miami Heat and San Antonio Spurs, Jay-Z revealed that he will release a new album in less than a month: "Magna Carta Holy Grail." The official release date for the Brooklyn rapper's 12th studio album is July 7, however one million Samsung cell customers will have the option to download it for free through a mobile app on July 4.
The ad shows the 43-year-old rap legend working in the studio with stellar music producers Rick Rubin, Pharrell Williams, Swizz Beatz and Timbaland while musing on making art in the modern world.
"We don't have any rules, everybody is trying to figure it out," he says. "That's why the internet is like the Wild West. The Wild Wild West. We need to write the new rules."
Jay-Z hinted about the announcement on Friday by posting a photo on his Life + Times website of a Samsung phone displaying the words "NBA Finals Game Five - Tune In - Turn Up the Volume," reports Rolling Stone. Samsung will offer "Magna Carta Holy Grail" free to a million Galaxy users 72 hours before its general release through a customized app on their devices.
"The album is about this duality of how do you navigate your way through this whole thing, through success and through failures, and remain yourself?" Jay-Z says in the ad.
The only reference to Samsung is some text on a black screen at the end plugging Samsung's Galaxy phone and directing people to a Web site that explains the download.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the phone company had paid Jay-Z $5 for each of the one million albums it will give away as part of the promotion.
Watch the ad below.