Before Kanye West had his say on Instagram, Jay-Z spoke his piece on the matter of success and shame. During a virtual get-together on a Twitter Spaces chat, Jay-Z and Genius’ Rob Markman talked about the conspiracy behind “capitalism” and its new negative meaning. Additionally, the two spoke about his influential mark in the hip-hop industry.
He adds,
“We not gone stop. Hip-hop is young. It’s still growing. We not falling for that tricknology the public puts out there now. Before, it was the American dream. ‘Pull yourself up by your bootstraps. You can make it in America.”
Before becoming an iconic figure in all of hip-hop history, HOV broke from the concrete of his overcrowded home in Brooklyn’s Marcy Houses. By 2019, he was labeled a billionaire.
As the conversation continued, the rapper shared his opinion on America’s way of doing things.
“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,” he said. “They start inventing words like ‘capitalist.’ We’ve been called ‘n—ers’ and ‘monkeys’ and s–t. I don’t care what words y’all come up with. Y’all gotta come with stronger words.”
The elite lyricist is seemingly not fond of the country’s morals.
As he spoke about his progression from selling CDs on the corners of the Big Apple to profiting off his tunes, Jay-Z also said no one should “feel ashamed” of their success “in a place that set up a system for us to be dead at 21.”
“Y’all locked us out. Y’all created a system that, you know, doesn’t include us. We said fine. Went our alternate route. Then, created this music,” Jay-Z continues. “We did our thing, you know, we hustle, we f—ing killed ourselves to get to this space. And, you know, now it’s like, you know, you know, ‘Eat the rich,’ and, man, we’re not stopping.”
Even so, a group of individuals expressed opposing views on what Jay said. One user on Twitter says,
“You make millions of dollars in America you’re a capitalist. He’s too old to not know this, in the raps talking about buying paintings, properties and reselling them and making investments, this is literally what a capitalist does.”
Do you think Jay has a point?
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By: Natalee Gilbert
