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More recent years have seen Jay-Z donating money to Black Lives Matter and campaigning for Hillary Clinton.
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Jay-Z's initial response: "I'm offended by that because first of all, and this is going to sound arrogant, but my presence is charity." But since then, he's made his private charity a public affair. “But they have turned their back on social responsibility." For Belafonte, black wealth isn't about ego, it's about supporting your community. "They have not told the history of our people, nothing of who we are… I think one of the great abuses of this modern time is that we should have had such high-profile artists, powerful celebrities,” Belafonte said. When Jay-Z was accused by Harry Belafonte of not providing a respectable image of himself to black Americans, there's no denying it influenced him. He's rapped about them with pleasure since Reasonable Doubt, but now he's ashamed of them and the hubris they've produced. It's why the video for "The Story of O.J." is peppered with images of lynching and redlining of black Americans throughout history.īlack wealth often comes with a caveat: it belongs to rappers who have sold drugs to get their start or athletes who perform at the pleasure of white businessmen to provide for their families. Not an unearned inheritance, mind you, but an actual magic bullet that could cure most of our community's ailments. Whereas most wealthy people want their names plastered on buildings so their name is spoken in reverence and never forgotten when they're gone, Jay-Z more than anything wants to provide for his children. Existing as billionaire, an entrepreneur, without acknowledging that he's accomplished it as a black man would be futile. He called himself a black Republican for a reason.
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Jay-Z doesn't want success so he can deny where he came from. and white people to pictures with black people. For O.J., success meant he got to leave his blackness behind-during his murder trial, his lawyers famously redecorated his home to replace pictures of O.J. Simpson's infamous "I'm not black, I'm O.J." quote, it's met with a condescending ".okay," as a means to remind you that Jay-Z won't forget where he came from. It comes from a place of joy-his ability to leave that wealth to his children, to start his family on a history of generational wealth. But now he speaks methodically, sharing a lesson of how he's amassed his wealth: "I bought some artwork for 1 million / 2 years later, that shit worth 2 million / Few years later, that shit worth 8 million." But he doesn't share this condescendingly like he's Cliff Huxtable. In his youth, Jay-Z rapped about owning Basquiats just to brag about them. On that track, Nas posed the question: "Could it be the forces of darkness against hood angels of good that forms street politics?" 4:44 answers with a resounding yes-a testament to the almighty dollar.Įxisting as billionaire, an entrepreneur, without acknowledging that he's accomplished it as a black man would be futile. The rapper who once rapped back and forth with Nas about being a "Black Republican" is, according to Forbes, third in line to becoming our country's first hip-hop billionaire (behind Diddy and Dr. After listening to Jay-Z's 4:44, you can be sure the latter incenses him, because as much as his latest album is a response to his wife Beyoncé's Lemonade (where he addresses his infidelity and role in Met Gala fight with Solange) it is also an ode to capitalism. Even Barack Obama was chastised for collecting large sums of money for speaking fees. Benevolent billionaires were vilified for connections to Wall Street during the election. The reality show that introduced millions of Americans to Donald Trump had the O'Jays "For the Love of Money" as a theme song, which was playful and tongue in cheek in 2004 but now feels like a twisted omen.