Ex-NFL Asante Samuel Starting Rap Label

Asante Samuel make a lot of money playing cornerback in the NFL, and now he’s ready to flip it into a successful hip hop company.

According to TMZ, Sanuel launched the Eighties Nation record company — with the intent of “making a difference in the hood.”

“I saw it as a way to help people get out of our hood and give them jobs and a way to stay out of jail.”

Samuel aspires to be like Jay Z, saying —“Jay Z, Cash Money … I study all of them and I look up to those people.”

Samuel discussed his interest in music during this 2011 interview with VIBE.

VIBE: What made you want to start your music label, Deep Side Entertainment? Asante: First it started off as a way to give back to the hood. You know the homies and the felons that are incarcerated. You just try to keep the neighborhood and the people I grew up with out of trouble and give them jobs. Once I got into it, it became a passion of mine. Alot of athletes try to dabble into music.

What separates your venture into music from other athletes? I’m a business man in the music industry and I do a lot of other businesses. So I’m very serious and I understand business. The first thing when I meet people, I talk to them and let them know I am very serious about this and I’m really into this music thing. I have a situation with a label,