4

Jay Z Gets Rejected By Every Label and Starts His Own

Jay Z is a rap institution. Hip hop royalty. And perhaps most impressively, he's married to Beyonce, despite being diagnosed as a child with a severe case of "boringface."

Larry Busacca/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images
Stare at this picture for five minutes, then stare at a wall and try to remember what Jay Z looks like.

But even though Jay Z is now a rap institution, back in '94, he couldn't get a record deal. And sure, lots of people can't get record deals, but you'd think Jay Z would have had a better shot than most. He was featured on a popular posse cut of "Show and Prove" on Big Daddy Kane's album Daddy's Home. Indeed, Jay Z was even Kane's hype man, coming out and freestyling verses during his costume changes. You'd think a guy with that kind of a hookup and so much talent would have gotten someone's attention, but no. Instead, 1994 rap was filled with the monstrous talents of the 69 Boyz, Domino, and the ever-important Craig Mack.

wheatcitymag.com
"Hi. You might know me from that one song your older bother has and doesn't play any more."

3

Unable to Find Investors, Robert Townsend Makes Hollywood Shuffle On Credit Cards

In 1980, at the age of 19, Eddie Murphy rocketed to stardom as a cast member on Saturday Night Live. His television success quickly transitioned to film stardom with 48 Hours and Beverly Hills Cop. But not every young black comic actor of the '80s had such a quick road to success. Enter stand-up/actor Robert Townsend. Indeed, he also auditioned for the 1980 season of SNL, only to lose out to Murphy. And although he scored some bit parts, Townsend struggled to find mainstream success in Hollywood. Accordingly, he wrote a comedy about his struggle called Hollywood Shuffle, but couldn't find any financing. No one was interested in funding the movie, so he was forced to do it himself. With credit cards.

In producing Hollywood Shuffle, Townsend charged $40,000 on 15 different personal credits. He bought wardrobe on his Saks card, and in lieu of salaries, he filled crew members' cars with gas on a Mobil card. And he used the last of his credit to to host a buffet at a screening to attract a distributor, which he ultimately did. Hollywood Shuffle grossed over $5 million (50 times its budget) and established Townsend as a bankable commodity.

2

Frank Zappa's Record Company Won't Release His Music, So He Starts His Own Label

Sometimes artists have to change the game even after they've been accepted by the establishment. In his 52-year life, Frank Zappa made no fewer than 60 albums of incredibly diverse music. He was a self-taught virtuoso guitarist, a composer, a rock god, a counterculture hero, an outspoken activist, and an amazing contradiction of a man. He was a composer of freak out music who didn't do drugs, but was also a lifelong smoker who was critical of both anti-tobacco campaigns and the war on drugs. There is only one Frank Zappa. And it seems he was a strange duck most of his life. Here he is at 23, playing a bicycle on The Steve Allen Show before he was famous.

Zappa started his recording career on Verve Records, releasing Freak Out. This concept album about the counterculture was only the second double album in rock history, Dylan's Blonde on Blonde beating it by a week. In 1969, Zappa signed with Warner Brothers. So back up a second -- by the time Warner Brothers signed Zappa, they already had every idea of who he was. They knew they'd signed a man known for playing strange instruments, performing extended experimental jams, and making counterculture music (and lots of it). I guess they expected Frank to keep on being Frank, right? Of course not.

Digital Vision./Digital Vision/Getty Images
"We love the weird, verbose experimental stuff you're doing. Now stop it."

1

Brian Acton Gets Turned Down for a Job At Facebook, Ultimately Sells Them an App for $16 Billion

Even thought they've only been around for a handful of years, we take smartphones for granted. And ironically, given their ability to carry so many different forms of communication apps, they've made us hate actual phone calls. Even an old bastard like me generally gets irritated if I hear my phone ring.

Jupiterimages/Stockbyte/Getty Images
"A phone call? What kind of weird phone are you?!"

Anyway, in February of last year, the developers of WhatsApp, an instant messaging app, sold it to Facebook for $16 billion. Yeah. And one of the designers of WhatsApp was Brian Acton.

Now don't get me wrong, Mr. Acton was not some ridiculed scientist, tooling away in his basement with a product that no one took seriously. He was a Stanford-educated engineer and one of Yahoo's first hires in 1998. But y'know how technology goes -- it changes. And when Acton took his Yahoo money and invested it into .coms, he lost millions in the bust of the early 2000s. Faced with this setback, Acton did what all techheads did, which was look for the next big thing, which at that time was Facebook. He applied for a job.

This was before your aunt used Facebook to post recipes.

Faced with Acton's impressive resume and credentials, Facebook did the only thing they could: They turned him down. (Twitter did the same, but it's better for the story if we focus on Facebook.) After the rejection, Acton bought an iPhone and, recognizing the potential for apps, developed WhatsApp along with Jan Koum, whom Facebook had also rejected. It would have been far cheaper for Facebook to put them on the payroll and take advantage of their talent and expertise, but sometimes the establishment needs to be shown success on your own terms before it embraces you.

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