Jay-Z Is Puma Basketball's New Creative Director
Celebrity

Jay-Z Is Puma Basketball's New Creative Director

It's been a busy few days for Jay-Z. After dropping a collaborative album with Beyoncé, he has been named the Creative Director of Puma Basketball.

Jay-Z will work on marketing strategies, designing products, and deciding which basketball players Puma should sign. The brand recently signed three players, Deandre Ayton, Marvin Bagley III, and Zhaire Smith, as part of their first endorsement deal since signing Vince Carter in 1998.

The decision to name Jay-Z as Creative Director is not surprising — the brand provided the rapper and businessman with shoes and clothing for his tour supporting last year's 4:44. Puma has also worked with Jay-Z's company Roc Nation since 2013.

Related | Beyoncé and Jay Z Release New Album 'Everything Is Love'

Adam Petrick, Puma's global director of brand and marketing, said that it is important to Jay-Z that Puma is "making a serious push with players like Bagley and Ayton and Smith. We're making a serious statement about the entry of the category, that we want to be a performance brand, but then also very culturally focused. It's clear that we're looking at basketball through the lens of culture, and thinking about the fashion of basketball, the music of basketball, all the aspects of culture around basketball as much as the on court presence that we will have."

In the past, Puma has also collaborated with other celebrities including Selena Gomez, Solange Knowles, Kylie Jenner, Rihanna, The Weeknd, and Big Sean.

Photo via BFA