(ThyBlackMan.com) Over the weekend, rapper Jay Z reopened New York City’s Website Hall and held a concert for his B-Sides 2. In the building, were his once former rival Nas and other New Yorkers like Killa Cam and Jimmy Jones. A great night for those who love all things within the hip hop culture. So naturally, with anything Mr. Carter does for the culture, there will be some haters or lurkers tweeting away and some tweeps took jabs at Mr. Carter during his tribute to Nipsey Hustle in a song. But before I get into the tweets, here’s the lyrics that caused the debates on Twitter:
“Gentrify your own hood before those people do it. Claim eminent domain and have your people move in. That’s a small glimpse into what Nipsey was doing. For anybody still confused about what he was doing.” – Jay Z
Now, some folks on Twitter took those lyrics meant to empower and educate our African American culture, and used them to basically say that Jay Z misunderstood the difference between gentrification and transforming our communities.
One person tweeted: “transformative community development powered by non-exploitative dynamics and gentrification aren’t the same – not even close.” – @divafeminist
To counter that tweet, another person tweeted: “people automatically assume gentrification has to be negative, and understandably so, but it’s only been negative because the doing it didn’t care about the community, they cared about the money.” – @_Vaun
No matter where you stand on your beliefs with this debate, let’s continue to applaud the legacy of Nipsey Hustle and his efforts to even get the conversation started in our hip hop culture today. Jay Z and Nipsey Hustle both have raised awareness in strengthening the economic development in our culture through their music, partnerships with stakeholders and even in our current judicial system which we all know is the new Jim Crow.
I am in agreement with what these men stand and stood for and with every great leader, who actively setting the example for us, there will be some debate about them and their messages. Look at the lives of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, Elijah Muhammad, Tupac and Huey P. Newton, was not exempt from debates about the motives behind their intellect or movements. We as a culture, need all of the motivation and education to strengthen our communities, economically.
I moved to New Orleans going on two years ago because my heart literally cried out for the black people who once lived here but after Hurricane Katrina, they couldn’t afford to move back and so therefore, it left a lot of room for Caucasians to move and gentrify the hoods that were once residences to so many black people. As a storyteller, my due diligence has been to share black stories surrounding this beautiful city through my art and gifts of writing and to help but one more black face in a space of the hood.
Regardless if you agree or disagree with Jay’s lyrics in this particular tribute, try to do your part in strengthening the economic development in our communities in some capacity. The smallest effort can and will make a huge impact over time, let’s all get started TODAY, the marathon has to continue.
Staff Writer; Felicia T. Simpson
One may also connect with this sister online over at; FTSimpson.com.