A HUGE OY VEY BY JAY
My ‘Jews’ lyric not biased
JAY-Z THINKS HE got a bad rap from those who accused him of using anti-Semitic lyrics on his latest album.
The hip-hop mogul, 47, defended his decision to include a line that “Jewish people own all the property in America” in his song “The Story of O.J.” — a lyric that the Anti-Defamation League said perpetuates stereotypes about the Jewish community.
JAY-Z addressed the backlash on a recent episode of the “Rap Radar” podcast, where he suggested it’s hypocritical to zero in on one lyric when the song and its video are filled with generalizations about African-Americans.
“As the Jewish community, if you don’t have a problem with the exaggerations of the guy eating watermelon and all the things that was happening (in the song’s music video), if you don’t have a problem with that, and that’s the only line you pick out, then you are being a hypocrite,” the rapper said. “I can’t address that in a real way. I got to leave that where it is.”
He went on to share a laugh with the podcast’s hosts, Elliott Wilson and B. Dot, as he explained the lyric was clearly meant as an exaggeration.
“Of course I know Jewish people don’t own all the property in America,” he said. “I mean, I own things!” His appearance on the podcast came six weeks after the Anti-Defamation League condemned the use of the lyrics while stating it did not believe JAY-Z actually intended to promote anti-Semitic views.
“The idea that Jews ‘own all the property’ in this country and have used credit to financially get ahead are odious and false,” an ADL statement said at the time. “Yet, such notions have lingered in society for decades, and we are concerned that this lyric could feed into preconceived notions about Jews and alleged Jewish ‘control’ of the banks and finance.”
The lyrics in their entirety say: “You wanna know what’s more important than throwin’ away money at a strip club? Credit / You ever wonder why Jewish people own all the property in America? This how they did it.”
JAY-Z’s “4:44” album, which he released June 30, was filled with headline-making lyrics, including ones where he appeared to apologize to his wife, Beyoncé, for infidelity and others where he seemingly referenced a feud with longtime collaborator Kanye West. On the “Rap Radar” podcast, however, JAY-Z said his song “Kill Jay Z” isn’t even about West, though he did open up about their fallout.
West opened up in November about losing touch with JAY-Z during a rant at his Sacramento concert. He accused Beyoncé of only agreeing to perform at the MTV Video Music Awards if she won a trophy, and he complained that JAY-Z never brings his daughter Blue Ivy over to see West and Kim Kardashian’s kids.
“We’ve gotten past bigger issues. But you brought my family into it, now it’s a problem with me,” JAY-Z said. “That’s a real, real problem. And he knows it’s a problem.”