As an accomplished academic and author, it's very interesting to hear Michael Eric Dyson comment on what's going on with hip-hop today. Following his viral take on the Kendrick Lamar battle with Drake, he chose to apologize for spilling details about his conversation with Jay-Z about his perspective.
For those unaware, Dyson revealed that Jay privately disagreed with his comparison between Kendrick's "Not Like Us" and the xenophobic political identity of Donald Trump. He took to Instagram this week to apologize to Hov for speaking on this private conversation, elaborating on his Kendrick Lamar and Drake take before attending Jesse Jackson's funeral.
"I remember once when Kanye [West] posted publicly a text exchange between us," the author remarked. "It was private. And I was hurt by that. I'm thinking about that because I've done the same thing to Jay-Z. No, I didn't publicly post a text. But I talked about a private exchange between us that should've remained between us, as it has for the last 20-some-odd years. So I want to apologize to him here. Why am I doing it here and not to him directly? Because the old Black people said, 'Where you get it is where you get it. Where you messed up is where you fess up.' And that's what I'm doing here."
Jay-Z's Take On Kendrick Lamar & Drake Beef
From there, Michael Eric Dyson said he and the Roc Nation mogul text (and don't call) about The Godfather, geopolitics, and much more, going deeper into Jay-Z's disagreement with his K.Dot take. His main retort was that Trump is a politician and the Compton lyricist is a rapper, making the impact and intent behind their statements difficult to compare or conflate. "He said this is what rappers do," Dyson said, bringing up Jay's Nas beef as proof of his knowledge.
"I mischaracterized him," he continued. "He said it ain't that serious. He wasn't vigorously disagreeing with me... So I want to apologize to him. And the reason I clarified my position in the first place is because he made the distinction between Trump and Kendrick that I wanted to make clear that I completely understood and did not intend. So God bless you all on this morning. Rest in peace Reverend Jesse Jackson. Jay-Z, my sincerest apologies. Much love to you, my dear brother."
