Coming from where he comes from, that’s a lot to be proud of — but not everyone is impressed by his success.
In fact, Jay has often been accused of being a capitalist, whose sole focus, a lot of the times, seems to be only on growing his own fortune — no matter the situation.
Well, he finally addressed that criticism this week on Twitter Spaces — and basically wrote it off as a way for people to stifle Black entrepreneurs.
“We not gone stop,” he began. “Hip-hop is young. It’s still growing. We not falling for that trick-nology the public puts out there now.”
“Before it was the American Dream: ‘Pull yourself up by your bootstraps. You can make it in America,'” he continued. “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.’”
Jay suggested that, to him, that’s almost like calling someone a racial slur. “We’ve been called ‘n******’ and ‘monkeys’ and shit,” he went on. “I don’t care what words y’all come up with. Y’all gotta come with stronger words. We’re not gonna stop.”
Explaining his “evolution” from a young man selling CDs in New York to now one of the most richest people in America, he stated that no one should be made to “feel ashamed to be successful in a place that set up a system for [Black people] to be dead at 21” and shared his hope that he’ll keep finding new financial opportunities.
It honestly just prompted more eye-rolls, especially the part where he compared being called a capitalist to getting called a racial slur.
“they start inventing words like ‘capitalist’” hahahahahaha okay, jay-z. https://t.co/9SH2eeNs36
@jksunjata / Twitter
You make millions of dollars in America you’re a capitalist. Jay-Z 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.
@charmdiddy / Twitter
No, Jay-Z, we didn’t make up the word capitalist to make you feel guilty.
We say capitalist to describe who owns capital and exploits our labor to get it.
It’s not guilt we want you to feel. It’s fear. We’re coming to expropriate what’s ours so we can build a socialist world.
@SpiritofHo / Twitter
love the idea that we all came up with the word “capitalist” just to describe jay-z https://t.co/RqdBvOhnW8
@judysquirrels / Twitter
@keatingssixth / Twitter / The Breakfast Club
@stawpfeenin / Twitter / VH1
this nigga Jay-Z said capitalist is an offensive word lmfao. Don’t let your blackness make you an ahistorical clown like Hov. ☠️ https://t.co/MJCCPwC3Se
@MarxIsMyNigga / Twitter
You know Jay-Z keyword searches his name and phrases like “Black Capitalists and/or Capitalism won’t save us!” it’s glaringly evident LMFAO.
@westindiedai / Twitter
I’m not even mad at Jay-Z for being a capitalist. I just wish he’d own it, stop trying to straddle the fence between that and a “revolutionary”.
@IceQuebe_ / Twitter
jay-z saying the word capitalist was basically made up to keep the black man down was the laugh i needed today, thank u jay fr
@zazz34 / Twitter
Jay-Z hasn’t responded to the subsequent backlash, but something tells me we might be hearing more about this later on a verse. We’ll see.
