Jay-Z Fighting For Rocawear Clothing Label's Life

Man. When it rains, it pours. And when it all falls down like Kanye West told us about, a little bit hits everybody as it crumbles.

Despite marrying Beyonce, fathering a daughter by her this past year and of course collecting Grammys the way Carrie Bradshaw horded audaciously priced shoes, even the great Jay-Z hasn't had it all sunshine-and-roses. As The Huffington Post reports, for all his acumen as a restaraunteur (whoops, those New York Health Code violations aside) and being part-owner of the New Jersey Nets (whoops, looking past those pissed-off Brooklyn residents that could lose their homes so Jay and his partners could build a new arena and move the team to New York), his Rocawear clothing line's global sales fell $500 million this past fiscal year.

The the losses' wake, the line's Manhattan store laid off half its 56 employees, and the rapper, former Def Jam President and Roc A Fella Records founder is throwing Hail Mary passes that may or may not rescue that brand.

Women's Wear Daily reports via Yahoo! Entertainment blog OMG! that Jay has launched a new ad campaign dubbed "From Marcy To Madison Square," black-and-white clips echoing a lyric from his song "Encore" from The Black Album and tracking his own journey from Brooklyn's Marcy Projects to performing before a hero's welcome from hometown fans packing the World's Most Famous Arena.

Because nothing connects with people like reminding them how well you've done.

Really, Jay? The economy continues wallowing in a septic tank, and the first thing you really want to talk about is, once more, how successful you've been? The angle of going rags-to-riches through hard work and keen business sense while retaining a shred of humility because you remember where you came from works on Jay's albums. That's in part because they were released before getting by in America became exponentially more difficult amid a recession.

But to subject people to it again with commercials? Let's remember, this is the same mogul that allegedly sold "Occupy All Streets" shirts this past November, without a profit going to a certain similar-sounding social movement that inspired them.

And how was it his people once pitched this product, again? Oh, now I remember. From the Roc4Life blog:

"Holy smokes. Those 'Occupy All Streets' t-shirts sold out faster than Rick Perry can name three agencies. If you missed out on the first batch, we've got your back like scoliosis. Rocawear has already restocked the fancy black tops - available in all sizes via Rocawear.com."

Because if I had clothes to sell, I'd certainly do it by invoking a painful bone disease lightly.

Roc A Fella, y'all.

"Holy smokes. Those 'Occupy All Streets' t-shirts sold out faster than Rick Perry can name three agencies. If you missed out on the first batch, we've got your back like scoliosis," a post on the Roc4Life blog said. "Rocawear has already restocked the fancy black tops -- available in all sizes via Rocawear.com."