American rapper Jay-Z has claimed that “capitalist” is a disparaging word contrived to shoot down the black community and recently he was subjected to constant condemnation on Twitter for that.
Last Wednesday, the 52-year-old rapper participated in Twitter Space which was hosted by journalist Rob Markman to promote his recent song “God Did” with DJ Khaled. The Young Forever singer tried to narrate a rag-to-riches story which took an abrupt turn, during the interview of 17 minutes.
At the same time, speaking about strengthening fellow Black billionaire entertainers like Kanye West, Rihanna, and LeBron James, Jay Z highlighted that they were “not gonna stop.” Further he said that society had tried to “lock” them out of the “American dream” and discovered the word “capitalist” as they rose towards success:
“Before was the American dream, ‘Pull yourself by the bootstraps, and you can make yourself…you can make it in America,’ all these lies that America told us our whole life.”
The thing he said next earned him a lot of criticism from the cybercitizens as the rapper compared being called a “capitalist” to racist slurs:
“And then when we start getting in, they tried to lock us out of it. They start inventing words like you know, ‘capitalist,’ you know, things like that. I mean, you know, we’ve been called ‘n**ger’ and ‘monkeys’ and shit. I don’t care; those words y’all come up with. Y’all gotta come up with stronger words.”
Confusion was created among the users of Internet on hearing the singer and entrepreneur, who is estimated to be worth $1.3 billion, compared “capitalist” to the N-word. Several of them marked that the Song Cry singer is a capitalist too, given that he has gathered fame collecting millions of dollars.
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.
— Chelsea, duh. (@charmdiddy) September 1, 2022
Jay Z is a billionaire. You don't get any more capitalist than that.
— Claire McDaniel (@222Solidarity) September 1, 2022
jay z comparing calling him a capitalist to calling him the n word is insane i need to log off that man ain't touched grass in a minute
— professional therapy avoider (@veefcake) September 1, 2022
Jay-Z is a hardcore capitalist. And to be a successful capitalist as a back man in the white man's world- you have to be a "sellout."There's no way around it. Empathy and fairness can't survive the the onslaught of capitalist realism
— Paul the Anti-natal Guy (@KeizyZulu) September 2, 2022
Jay Z just said y’all made up the word capitalist bec we are jealous of a Black man getting money 💀 Like sir, people are literally dying & he is really trying to play woe is me.
— His Silly Rabbit ✨ (@tsvarakad3nga) September 1, 2022
Jay Z is so disappointing because he’s the he’s turned into the ppl that he hated nd doesn’t even see it. like u can blame his upbringing but there’s rlly a deeper moral issue when someone compares the word capitalist to nig*er.
— ike (@419kiddd) September 1, 2022
Some fans also noted that Jay Z is deservedly being called a capitalist because he entered a multiyear partnership with the NFL, which would be adding more money to the bank without any doubt. The league has been heavily criticised for the treatment of San Franciso 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick. Kaepernick declared that he was powerfully expelled from the league after he called attention to racial injustice and police brutality.
jay z whining about people bullying him for being a capitalist while having a NFT avi is SNL level scripting
— Justin Davis (D4C) (@OGJOHNNY5) September 1, 2022
Jay z comments is why certain celebrities should remain silent. I thought the veil had fallen when he teamed up w the NFL and y’all thought he was boutta do sumn for the ppl and NOTHING came of it except him lining his pockets. Y’all shoulda knew then the timing he was on. 🥴
— Nyatoofly 💅🏽 (@nybbyxo) September 1, 2022
Jay Z can rap. But we didn't forget fam tap dancing in the NFL offices talking bout "we past kneeling."
— Quincy Avery (@QuincyAvery) September 2, 2022
In an attempt to prove the rapper’s capitalistic tendencies, netizens kept on listing endless instances of the rapper obtaining millions of dollars in America. In an interview last month, Jay-Z slammed the popular anticapitalism slogan “Eat the rich” notion, pointing out that it’s unfair to bash successful Black creators.
“We’re not gonna be tricked out of our position,” said Jay-Z, “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 f**king killed ourselves to get to this space. And, you know, now it’s like, you know, you know, ‘Eat the rich.’” [H/T Sportskeeda]
