Hello Brooklyn: Jay-Z Designs Brooklyn Nets Logo

The New Jersey Nets have pretty much stunk for a few years now. The last time the team had an actual winning record was way back in 2005-'06.

Since May of 2010, they’ve had a new majority owner, Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov, the first foreign owner of any NBA team and the recent loser of the Russian presidential race to Vladimir Putin. And next season, they will have a new home and a new look. The team is moving to Brooklyn to a brand-spanking-new arena and the team took two measures to celebrate the change now that their New Jersey days are over.

The Brookyn Nets also unveiled a video, entitled “Hello Brooklyn,” to celebrate the transition to the team's new home and stadium as well as the new logo — which was designed, by the way, by Nets minority owner Jay-Z.

The video's title is taken from the hip-hop legend's American Gangster album. Nets CEO Brett Yormark called the new logos “the new badge of Brooklyn,” Yahoo! Sports reports, though it is hard to imagine that the images are going to immediately sweep throughout New York City’s most populated borough.

As Yahoo! points out, a number of the products that the Nets have put up for sale have rap and hip-hop related references emblazoned on them in an attempt to tie them to Brooklyn’s part in those fine musical traditions.

Of course, that’s all well and good, but the Nets might want to remember that the only basketball fans in Brooklyn aren’t all going to be hip-hop aficionados. Or perhaps, with the way NBA ticket prices are these days, they must be expecting that there are enough high-end hip-hop fans to make things work.