Jay Z has had the Midas touch with a number of amazing artists, spotting talent in artists such as Kanye West and J. Cole and turning them into megastars.
Now it appears Jay Z wants to use his magic on One Direction member Harry Styles. Jay said he sees big potential for Styles as a solo artist and said he'd love to sign the English heartthrob.
One Direction is on a one-year hiatus, allegedly to focus on individual projects. According to E! News, "They are taking a hiatus so they can work on individual projects for a while but they are not splitting up. They will remain together and plan to work together in the future."
XXL reports that Styles has registered four solo songs with the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers, signaling the possibility of a solo project in the future. This could mean that One Direction's hiatus may last longer than a year.
"Harry doesn't need any help with exposure. Everybody in the world knows who he is," Jay Z told the Daily Star. "But he does need to make the transition from being part of a group to becoming an individual artist. I can get him working with the bigger artists, the biggest producers -- and have him as the biggest artist in the world within a year.
"I would love to sign Harry," he continued. "Simon [Cowell] is going to want to carry on working with him, of course. But we could do a joint venture -- we both have big qualities we can bring to the table. And Harry can make more than enough money for everybody to get a piece of the pie."
