On Jay-Z’s latest single, the hip-hop superstar makes what some took to be an anti-Semitic comment, rapping that Jewish people “own all the property in America.”
Wasnt really expecting Jay-Z to go anti-semitic when I started the new 4:44 album this morning. https://t.co/WugWbMpNue pic.twitter.com/zNiM72Lh72
— Jerry Gamblin (@JGamblin) June 30, 2017
In a song titled “The Story of O.J.,” Jay-Z appears to admonish black Americans for “throwing away” their money — and advises them to follow the lead of Jews, who “own all the property.”
“You ever wonder why Jewish people own all the property in America? This how they did it,” he raps before launching into a lesson about the importance of “financial freedom.”
Zachary Braiterman, a professor of religion at Syracuse University, described the line as a mixture of philo-Semitism and anti-Semitism.
“Jay-Z seems to think it’s actually a good thing that Jews ‘own all the property,’ recommending capital as a model of financial independence to the African American community,” Braiterman wrote on his blog. “On the other hand, Jay-Z repeats the mantra that Jews own all the property.”
