But Jay Z has obviously not forfeited any of his popularity after sales of his luxury clothing raised more than $1 million for charity.
The rapper has made the huge amount for his
Shawn Carter Foundation charity, which helps underprivileged children go to
college in the US, despite calls for him to back out from the deal after some black shoppers claimed they were racially profiled by retail giant Barney's.
Season to be jolly: Jay Z's luxury label's Christmas run at Barneys raised more than $1 million for his charity
Controversy: But he was urged to back out of the deal after black shoppers claimed they were racially profiled
The mammoth total was amassed due to a six-week limited run at the department store
in his hometown New York.
Although
reports of holiday sales are still being tallied, The New York Daily
News states that The Blueprint singer's luxury clothing line has
surpassed the $1 million mark as of Friday.
All profits from the sale of the goods went to the
foundation, and Barneys also pledged 10% of its entire store's profits
from the first day the items went on sale.
The designer A New York Holiday collection went on sale at Barneys on November 3 through January 3
at stores in New York, Beverly Hills, San Francisco, Boston
and Chicago, as well as online.
But it was hit by controversy, with
calling on him to back out of the deal after two incidents of
black shoppers claiming they were racially profiled by the store and detained,
despite having legitimately purchased goods.
Resisting pressure: He refused to back out as he said he would be 'committing the same sin' as profilers
Jay said he wouldn't 'prematurely pull out' of
the collaboration until he knew all of the facts, writing on his blog: 'I
am against discrimination of any kind, but if I make snap judgements, no matter
who it's towards, aren't I committing the same sin as someone who
profiles?'
In
response to the backlash, the musician replied to critics with a
collaboration with Rick Ross titled Devil Is A Lie, which will be
featured on the album Mastermind.
'See what I did to the stop and frisk/ Brooklyn on at Barneys like we own
the b****/ Give the money to the hood now we all win/Got that Barneys
floor lookin’ like a VIM,' states the lyrics of the song.
Big heart: All of the proceeds of the sale went
to the Shawn Carter Foundation, which helps underprivileged children go
to college in the US
In
addition to the rapper's musical musings, Mr Z also reconfigured his
deal with the department story so that 100 per cent of the profits will
go to his charity rather than the initial 25 per cent originally agreed
upon.
The artist also helped created a council at Barney's 'specifically convened to deal with the issue of racial profiling.'
Goods offered in the collection ranged from a $70 cotton
T-shirt to a $33,900 watch by Hublot with alligator skin straps.
Explaining
why he got rid of his old name styling of Jay-Z, in August he said:
'The hyphen was really big back in the day. It's not useful anymore. I
had umlauts over one of the letters, I removed that too.'
Golden goose: The music star's line included items like this $12,500 New York City Ring
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