Jay-Z’s verse on “God Did” continues to generate conversations on social media. During a chat on Twitter Spaces earlier this week, Hov was asked to explain his lyrics on the track. In doing so, Jay compared being called a capitalist to the N-word and said there is no shame in success.
During a 17-minute chat session on Twitter Spaces with journalist Rob Markman, DJ Khaled and many others on Wednesday (Aug. 31), Jay-Z was asked about his aspirational line in the song in which he talks about elevating other Black entertainers like Kanye West, Rihanna and (technically) LeBron James into billionaires. The Roc Nation cofounder responded by addressing those who criticize his business moves and try to shame him for being successful.
“We’re not gonna stop,” he said at the 3:15 mark in the video below. “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,'” 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’ and things like that. We’ve been called nigger and monkeys and shit. I don’t care what words y’all come up with. Y’all gotta come with stronger words. We’re not gonna stop.”
Jay-Z went on further to explain that hip-hop will continue to generate more Black billionaires and the “eat the eat rich” rhetoric is not going to faze them.
“We’re not gonna be tricked out of our position,” he stated. “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.”
“We did our thing, you know, we hustle, we fucking killed ourselves to get to this space,” he added. “And, you know, now it’s like, you know, you know, ‘Eat the rich,’ and, man, we’re not stopping, so that evolution is, you know, from us.”
The hip-hop billionaire’s remarks did garner backlash from some people who rolled their eyes at him comparing being called capitalist to getting called a racial slur.
“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,” wrote one person.
Another commenter tweeted, “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.”
When Hov talks, people listen.
Listen to Jay-Z Break Down His “God Did” Verse With DJ Khaled and Rob Markman Below
Read More People’s Reactions to Jay-Z Comparing Being Called a Capitalist to the N-Word Below
These Rappers School You on the Best Ways to Get to the Bag
Lil Baby, Kendrick Lamar, Drake and more.
