It was proven that Jay-Z keeps an eye on the underground hip hop scene when Roc Nation penned a deal with Griselda Records. Griselda is composed founder-CEO Westside Gunn, his brother Conway and their first cousin Benny the Butcher. The Buffalo-bred rappers formed a partnership with Jay-Z's entertainment company to facilitate their rise in the industry. Regarding this move, Derrick Johnson (known as D-Jack) at Griselda said, it "gives us infrastructure and mentorship to grow scale in this business. Jay-Z is interested in reaching back for the future leaders of this culture" to thrive.
The next underground artist on HOV's radar for him to lend his wisdom and services might be Mach-Hommy. Jay was photographed with the elusive and prolific Newark emcee over the weekend and, while the reason for this encounter is unknown, one could speculate that a potential deal was on the table. However, Mach-Hommy has been known to be fiercely protective of his work, even requesting for Genius to remove his lyrics from their website because they didn't have the rights to them. An artist like this seems like he could be committed to the independent route, but chatting with Jay over lunch and getting some advice is never a bad idea.