Jay-Z accomplished some extraordinary feats in his career. He summed up a good majority of it last Friday with the release of DJ Khaled's God Did. The nearly 4-minute long verse finds Jay reflecting on his come-up from the streets to becoming hip-hop's first billionaire, and producing two others (three, if you count LeBron).
Unfortunately, not everyone finds Jay's wealth impressive. The rapper frequently finds himself facing backlash for accumulating an absurd amount of wealth throughout his career with the criticism of being a capitalist often at the forefront of the dialogue.
As Hov continued to do press for Khaled's album, he appeared on Twitter Spaces last night with the Miami DJ and other individuals where he discussed the verse, among other things. At one point, he redirected his attention to the online chatter about his wealth, slamming the terms "eat the rich" and "capitalist."
"Before it was the American dream. Pull yourself by the bootstraps and you can make it in America. All these that America told us our whole life and then when we start gettin' it, they try to lock us out it. They start inventing words like 'capitalist' and you know, things like that. I mean, We've been called n***** and monkeys and shit," he explained. "Those words y'all come up with, you gotta come up with stronger words."
Jay reiterated that he won't be "tricked out of this position" or locked out from any opportunities that previously weren't available to Black Americans. "We went our alternative route, we made this music, we did our thing. You know, we hustled, we fucking killed ourselves to get to this space and now, it's like, eat the rich. Man, we're not stopping," he continued. "We came from selling seven records and selling records out of our trunk. No radioplay."
Jay went on to explain that he's grown from living in his grandmother's house with his entire family when he was a child to now, being one of the richest men in America.
Jay's explanation draws different reactions from the public. Check out a few below.
