Jay-Z Draws Big Attention While Comparing ‘Capitalist’ To The N-Word

Jay-Z is widely regarded as one of hip-hop’s most influential musicians of all time. Jay-Z is also one of the world’s best-selling musicians, with over 140 million records sold worldwide. Jay recently responded to fans who labeled him a capitalist for his verse on Khaled’s God Did.

JAY-Z’s verse on the title track from DJ Khaled’s GOD DID album prompted some fans to refer to the billionaire mogul as a “capitalist,” a term he feels is synonymous with the N-word. Hov was asked about the line during a Twitter Spaces conversation with journalist Rob Markman, Khaled, and others.

The lyrics read, “Please, Lord forgive me for what the stove did/Nobody touched the billi’ until Hov did/How many billionaires can come from Hov crib? Huh/I count three, me, Ye and Rih/Bron’s a Roc boy, so four, technically (Woo)” in which he essentially takes credit for making Rihanna, Kanye West and LeBron James billionaires, too. Jay-Z responded by addressing his critics who want to shame him for amassing an inordinate amount of wealth over the course of his career.

We’re not gonna stop,” he said at the 3:15 mark. Hip Hop is young. We’re still growing. We not falling for that trick-nology, whatever the public puts out there now. Before it was the American Dream: ‘Pull yourself up by your bootstraps. You can make it in America.

Advertising

Advertising

All these lies that America told us our whole life and then when we start getting it, they try to lock us out of it. They start inventing words like ‘capitalist’ and things like that. We’ve been called n-gger and monkeys and sh*t. I don’t care what words y’all come up with. Y’all gotta come with stronger words. We’re not gonna stop.

We’re not gonna be tricked out of our position. Y’all locked us out. Y’all created a system that, you know, doesn’t include us. We said fine. We went our alternate route. We created this music.

Hov’s words drew immediate criticism, with some writing, “Jay Z really was on that Space crying about us calling him a capitalist (he is). Then tried to say that calling Black rich folks capitalists is similar to the n-word. LMAOOO.” JAY-Z’s “GOD DID” contribution caused MSNBC’s Ari Melber to spend an entire segment on The Beat to break down the verse. Melber’s meticulous dissection of Hov’s verse focused on American corruption and how JAY-Z overcame the odds to become Hip Hop’s first billionaire.

You can check out the MSNBC video and Twitter Spaces conversation below. To get the latest updates, keep an eye on Thirsty.

What do you think of the comparison? Let us know in the comments!