Look Out Gwyneth: Jay-Z Launches Lifestyle Website

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Life + Times

Dads beware: If Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop newsletter makes mothers feel slightly inadequate about themselves, will Jay-Z’s new website have the same impact upon fathers? We’ve already got 99 problems (and this wasn’t one).

Life + Times is a modern male manifesto (for the record, that was coined by NewsFeed, but we’re willing to listen to offers, Mr. Z) and deals in areas such as fashion, technology, sports and music. “I want to make the extraordinary, ordinary,” Jay said on the site. Well, of course you do.

(More on TIME.com: Watch TIME’s interview with Jay-Z)

And the musician has clearly poured a substantial amount of money into the project, as not only does the site look visually rich but it also has quality content, which would explain the fact that several editorial staff members are on board. For now, though, Jay-Z’s only contribution has been these clouds. So whether he lets others do the talking (or should that be writing?) will be somewhat interesting to follow.

And if the tone of the editorial material keeps focusing on interviews with chefs such as Daniel Boulud, it’s hard to see the rapper’s main demographic relating all too easily. Sample quote: “Chef Boulud sits with us in the Yabu Pushelberg-designed lounge of db Bistro Moderne Miami, downing coffee after coffee and telling multiple callers on his BlackBerry that he’ll have to get back to them.” A Yabu Pushelberg-designed lounge? NewsFeed was so shocked by seeing a phrase as unlikely as that on a Jay-Z site that when we looked out of the window just now, cats were chasing dogs.

And will he even be in it for the long run? Not only does he have a rather spotty track record when it comes to an online presence (if you didn’t know better, you’d think this was a Kanye West production), but Life + Times is also doubling as a promotional tool for the rapper’s forthcoming album. The takeaway? You don’t get to be worth half a billion dollars on good looks and charm alone, you know.

(More on TIME.com: See the top 10 albums of 2010)