Shawn Carter aka Jay-Z, started off his career selling drugs in streets of New York.īut drugs and that lifestyle was never the end goal. Now that's greatness.And now you can add billionaire to his list of aliases because Jay-Z has officially become the first billionaire hip hop artist in history But all the influence he has in his wake makes him a leader in so many other ways, too.īut what's that saying about behind every great man there being a great woman? Beyoncé's Lemonade had the heft to push, nudge and necessitate that Jay-Z put his apology out front and centre, thus mapping out a new edge in his own cultural leadership. Does that make him a cultural leader? He is a leader regardless, for the artistic reasons that matter most. It's a privilege not every black man gets. (Followers of Jay-Z will recognize her voice, it's not the first time he's given Gloria Carter the mic).Īs for men who are as wealthy as he is, it's a privilege to be able to publicly admit to failings and expect to be embraced for being honest. Jay-Z also questions rap's cultural conventions, addresses his emotions and lets his mother, whom he reveals as a lesbian, get in some powerful lines on what it's like to live in the shadows as closeted. This is an album where he calls a song Moonlight, referencing a massive cultural influence in our ongoing conversation on black masculinity. Jay-Z knows the world is stacked against young men who look like him but that there's also a new conversation emerging in so many ways. In the same song, Jay-Z calls himself a "field nigga with shined cutlery." Jay-Z's outlook, or reality, is not for those too delicate to hear his truth. Simpson ("I'm not black, I'm O.J") and responds with the most laconic and laden, perfectly-delivered two syllables of doubt: "Okay." In his song, The Story of O.J., he quotes O.J. He knows his money doesn't negate the reality of anti-blackness. "Oprah Winfrey can't have a bag sold to her," he says, referring to a 2013 incident in which an assistant at a luxury goods store in Switzerland refused to show the media mogul a $38,000 handbag because it was "too expensive."īut it's not that Jay-Z doesn't know this. "That's what happens to a black billionaire," Campbell says. Dre, another rap billionaire, who was handcuffed in front of his home after a dispute in which a motorist claimed Dre had a gun. As if structural inequality is something that only exists for people in a certain tax bracket." Campbell mentions Dr. " actually reeks of this black billionaires talk as if the American Dream is real. "You know there's no escaping anti-blackness through wealth," Campbell says. "My biggest gripe with the album is that it's one long ode to black capitalism, and not only do I find it really sad, I find it really American," says Campbell, who counts himself as a Jay-Z fan. And more importantly, does capitalism truly free people? Now, he advises taking that drug money and "rinsing it" in real estate and art, or anything, regardless of whether you find that "bougie." The point is to create inter-generational wealth to pass on to your kids, an opportunity many black families, including his, never had until now.īut of course, not everyone has capital lying around waiting to be invested. He made a career of rapping about a wild youth spent selling drugs: "Hov did that so hopefully you won't have to go through that," he rapped more than 15 years ago, referring to himself by one of his nicknames. He has always rapped about seeing crack take hold of neighbourhoods and family members. And he is aware that while he's at the top, he was once at the bottom, a child gang member growing up in the projects in Brooklyn. Indeed, his family business (or multitudes of businesses, which orbit around their shared luminous personal brand at the centre) is worth $1.16-billion (U.S.) combined. What's better than one billionaire? Two."
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