Rap superstar JAY-Z has hit back at criticism from those who fear hip-hop degrades the African-American community, insisting they are simply using the topic for “publicity purposes”.
The genre has come under fire from prominent black celebrities, including Oprah Winfrey and Bill Cosby, for its apparent misogyny and frequent use of the ‘N’ word in songs.
Cosby was so incensed by the language used in modern urban music, he released a hip-hop album that was “without the profanity, misogyny, violence and braggadocio”.
But Jay-Z dismisses their comments as nothing more than a public relations exercise, insisting they are not considering that the topics in rap songs are serious issues for the artists producing them.
He says, “Put it like this; everything is birthed from somewhere real, right? These emotions and this anger and this angst in rap is coming from a real place.
“People in those circles try to dismiss it, buy you can’t because it’s part of culture. They only attack hip-hop because, and I hate to sound like a cynic, but this is all done for publicity purposes, right? You don’t attack the real issue –
you attack the thing that’s popular.”
Team DainikDisha