Jay Z Accused of Anti-Semitism Over ‘4:44’ Album Lyrics

Jay Z has come under fire on social media from numerous users who have accused the rap mogul of employing anti-Semitic stereotypes on a song off of his latest album, 4:44.

On the song “The Story of O.J,” the Grammy-winner raps: “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/Financial freedom my only hope/F— livin’ rich and dyin’ broke.”

Those lyrics received harsh reaction from some Twitter users.

https://twitter.com/AvantGarcia/status/880842896475336704

While the 47-year-old rapper has yet to respond to the backlash over his lyrics, music manager Guy Oseary has rushed to Jay Z’s defense.

In a lengthy Instagram post, Oseary, who works with major music acts from Madonna to U2, said “If you read the lyrics out of context I can understand why people are jumping to that conclusion.”

“But if you listen to the song in its entirety you will hear that the whole of the song is based on exaggerated stereotypes to make a point,” Oseary wrote. “There are African American stereotypes throughout the song.”

“In my opinion, Jay is giving the Jewish community a compliment,” “‘Financial freedom. He mentions as being his ONLY hope. If you had to pick a community as an example of making wise financial decisions achieving financial freedom who would you choose? I’m not offended by these lyrics,” Oseary explained. “I hear them the way he intended them to be heard. Giving ‘credit’ to a community that supposedly understands what it means to have ‘credit.’ I’m good with that.”

View this post on Instagram

I've received a few messages from friends wondering why Jay-Z is putting out anti-semitic lyrics in his new song "The Story Of O.J." … If you read the lyrics out of context I can understand why people are jumping to that conclusion.. But if you listen to the song in its entirety you will hear that the whole of the song is based on exaggerated stereotypes to make a point.. There are African American stereotypes throughout the song.. The music video directed by @markromanek and Jay is entirely full of exaggerated stereotype imagery of African Americans.. Jewish people do NOT "own all the property in America". Jay knows this.. But hes attempting to use the jewish people in an exaggerated way to showcase a community of people that are thought to have made wise business decisions.. As an example of what is possible and achievable.. Yes, the "rich jew" the "business jew" the "jew that owns the world" is a stereotype which has been repeatedly used with the wrong sentiment.. meant only to harm the Jewish people. Perpetuating the absurdity that jews are taking over the world.. Fact: There are 7.5 billion people in the world.. Only 14 million of them are jews.. Thats 0.2 percent of the worlds population.. In my opinion, Jay is giving the jewish community a compliment.. " Financial freedom" he mentions as being his ONLY hope.. If you had to pick a community as an example of making wise financial decisions achieving financial freedom who would you choose?.. Im not offended by these lyrics.. I hear them the way he inteded them to be heard.. Giving "credit" to a community that supposedly understands what it means to have "credit".. I'm good with that.. 🙌🏽✡️

A post shared by Guy Oseary (@guyoseary) on Jul 1, 2017 at 11:43am PDT

Explaining the meaning behind the lyrics on his 13th studio album, Jay Z said “The Story of O.J” is “really a song about we as a culture, having a plan, how we’re gonna push this forward. We all make money, and then we all lose money, as artists especially. But how, when you have some type of success, to transform that into something bigger.”

“The Story of OJ” wasn’t the only track on the rapper’s album to makes waves online. On the third track, “Smile,” Jay’s mother Gloria Carter came out as lesbian.

 

Follow Jerome Hudson on Twitter @jeromeehudson