In defense of Jay-Z's Brookly Nets identity

A lot of people are hating on the Brooklyn Nets identity that was released yesterday, apparently designed by Jay-Z himself.

I agree that it looks half-assed, but I think there's a throwback element to that. It's an uncalculated half-assedness, rather than an intentional, self-aware half-assedness. If you look at actual classic sports logos, a lot of them are out of step with the favorite design modes of their times–and riddled with a naivete that makes them compelling now. I feel like this identity taps into that, albeit (probably) unintentionally. You could almost imagine that this is a logo that Bart Starr or Johnny Unitas might have envisioned before professional sports revolved around focus-grouped brand identities designed to sell jerseys.

It's just too bad that it's so generically half-assed, doomed to blend in with thousands of other hip-hop inspired t-shirts.

At any rate, it's better than the Diamondbacks logo.