Jay Z:'I knew about budgets, I was a drug dealer"

I see your point here.

To me, drug dealers have always been a pawn in help destroying the social fabric in dense populated communities. Yet, they don't bring in the drugs they sell most of the time but they help continue the disparity and violence when a drug deal goes bad.

If Jay Z decides to run for public office, he's already a well tuned sociopath, he will fit right in with all the current politicians who are serving themselves.

 

+100.

For those who lament the epidemic violence and death among young Black men in Chicago, remember those are TURF WARS over DRUG MARKETS.

Street level drug dealing is utterly corrosive to the Black community. To defend it is not to understand the impact it has on many levels of the Black family and future generations.

Let's stop pretending we'd all be okay with a 21 year old Jay Z setting up shop at a street corner where we live, or across from our local middle school.

I respect the fact he's evolved from that lifestyle, but it disgusts me he still sees the world through the frame of reference of a former drug dealer.

If you're one of those cats who's cool with making money any way you can, then selling crack to the poor and addicted won't faze you.

What burns me is Jay-Z has marketed his former life as a crack dealer into a LIFESTYLE.
How many young Black kids were inspired by his lyrics and other rap artists like him and decided dealing dope was a viable career option for themselves??

I'm not gonna rant about Jay, but so much about this dude personally disgusts me.
Mostly because I sense he believes his wealth and success justify any decisions he's made in the past to reach his current level.

 

Another excellent post. Must spread rep.

 

I think we may have had an issue with discourse in terms of the porno/condom thing Jaisee but my point was you're talking about heavily impoverished areas where people are suffering right now so I can understand why they would get into selling drugs because it helps them in the immediate. I don't see many other realistic solutions to their situations in the immediate. My comparison to the suffering they cause in comparison to CEO of big corporations like the GAP was to illustrate that we celebrate the hell out of companies that literally destroy any other way to survive and condemn those who live in the local areas of their plants to slavery. Google Honduras and the Gap to see what I'm talking about. Same goes for companies like Foxxcon or garment manufactures in Asia and Latin America. Some how dealing drugs is this unbearable obscenity but supporting everyday commerce doesn't seem to bother everyone.
And as far as Jay-z inspiring kids to deal that is an incredible gross over exaggeration if anything he does inspire them to waste their time trying to become rappers but no murdering drug dealers. That shit existed in their area far before there was a Jay-z and his music isn't going to inspire the majority of people doing that to do that.
Circumstances far beyond that of a cd is gonna cause that and I truly love how rappers are the solely hung out to dry for the entertainment they produce. No one is saying Al Pacino is responsible for anything and that shit has glorified drug selling more than any CD I've ever heard.
The truth is economic circumstances create this shit not art/entertainment. The legions of drug dealers in Latin America ain't bumpin Reasonable Doubt or the Blueprint while they cook. And in poverty stricken areas drugs is a feasible way to get the fuck away from the bad shit. Its far more realistic than telling someone who barely has an fourth grade reading level to focus and study hard so they can become a doctor or engineer.

 

You know, I keep hearing these arguments to absolve rappers of any social responsibility solely on the merits of 'but I like rap music'. Rap music delivers a message, especially to the young and impressionable minds. The music literally perpetuates and glorifies the stereotypes against blacks that blacks frequently complain about. I'm not making an excuse for anybody, but I will say that these drug dealers and this 'ghetto culture' which includes rap music do contribute to the hardships that blacks in general experience in this country. When I go to apply for a job, I know that there are biases and stereotypes against me as I walk through the door due to my skin color. Before I open my mouth to say a word... my prospective employer has an idea about who I am. When I began to mature out of that bullshit ghetto mindset and explore new things... listen to new music, get into surfing, get a job, etc.,. my friends often threw at me "that ain't black" or "you acting white". That is a very limited way of thinking about oneself.

More on topic, with that 'drugs are the only way' or whatever. Let me tell you., in my early teens I did my little dirt. I never sold drugs, but I did lookout on rooftops, I kept dealers small firearms in my apartment because they told me that I couldn't get in trouble if I was caught due to my age, I fought with them... I grew up with them. I spent some years in some of Chicago's shittiest neighborhoods. Thanks to lots of summer school, I graduated high school, barely. I had my head slammed on my first police car hood at the age of 12. I did a semester in college before dropping out because I was more interested in smoking weed and hanging out. Honestly, at one point I didn't think I'd make it past 25 years of age. And right now, I'm typing this message from a $300 /night hotel room in Vegas. My passport has plenty of stamps in it. I'm making good money, I have investments and I have retirement money. I'm no smarter or no better than any other kid who grew up in a similar environment. I just didn't limit myself. I didn't make excuses for myself. I decided that I deserved better for myself than the environment that I was living in. On the other hand, I recently came back from a Chicago trip where I visited the grave site of 2 dudes that I came up with who both were shot in the head because they preferred to embrace that life. They were in the same neighborhoods doing the same shit that we were doing 20 years ago. There are always other ways out, it just has to start with genuinely wanting to get out. Selling drugs to your own people is fucking weak bro. And, lets be real; How many people are really selling drugs to get out? Like, how many people sell drugs... make a certain amount of money and then move to a different neighborhood and live out their lives on the investments that they made from their drug money?

I swear I was born in the wrong era, I feel I should be with those black folk who wanted more for themselves. The ones who looked at each others as brothers and sisters and who wanted betterment for their communities as a whole. I cannot relate at all to this niggas and bitches mentality, black men singing nigga carols (as Chris Rock put it).

As far as the scrutiny that rap music gets... tell me, what was the last movie that you saw that promoted the black gangster lifestyle? I DO remember having to get patted down going to see New Jack City, Boyz in da Hood and Juice. I also DO remember the shootings that took place in black neighborhoods at the theaters showing these movies. Rap music is currently the predominate modern day blaxploitation form of entertainment available so obviously it will get more attention.

 

Jay-z is a coon

 

So are we that weak minded as a group that we can't determine our own destiny apart from entertainment? What keeps white, hispanics, and Asians from exemplifying the worst their groups have to offer? I think we give entirely way too much credit to the negative impact of hip hop and not the real problems of poor employment to no employment options as well as poor education systems. Kids in the Bronx still use textbooks from the fucking 80s, they aren't being prepared for this world and their parents who want to work can't find work but let's blame the hip hop boogymen.

 

He's a business man the way Jobs was a business man, the way Trump is a businessman, the way Murdock is a business man. I wonder what the difference is here?

 

Jobs never sold crack and he did everything legally. Trump has had his companies go bankrupt. If it weren't for being born rich, he wouldn't be where he is today. Murdock also never sold crack.

The difference is that this man is selling crack to people. He is ruining people's lives. The responsibility is that it is against the law.

 

You think selling drugs is as bad as sweatshops. Just because something is legal doesn't make it right. Alcohol and cigarettes do far more damage but they're legal.

 

I think both are bad. Do you think selling crack is good?
Are you stating that just because selling crack illegal doesn't mean that selling crack is bad?
Both alcohol and cigarettes are illegal at certain ages. The only reason Cigarettes are not illegal is because of the money in it. You are right. They do damage. My argument is not that they don't do damage but that I don't want any damage to be done to the society.

It is like this. This is like arguing that being tazed is better than being stabbed and me saying How about we don't do either!!!!! you dig

 

I agree but that's not reality fam. The way I see it is calling out someone for being a drug dealer turned CEO is ridiculous since most people who make it that far do it by doing harm to the population yet we only call it out in one arena. I think drugs should be legal and regulated because apparently outlawing it doesn't work but I digress. Jay-z isn't anymore evil than most people of his wealth in fact I think there are many who are far worst yet never get criticized for it.

 

His latest album is probably his weakest effort to date. He sounds like his past caught up with him artistically. He's been rapping about dope his whole career. And nobody knows he's too old for that more than him. But his stature at this point leaves him with virtually no frame of reference.

 

Bruh...you seriously equating smoking cigs and drinking alcohol to smoking rocks? I've never heard of anybody pawning all the furniture in their house or sucking dick for a puff of a newport or a shot of tequila.

 

DAMN so pissed... had typed up a response to your earlier post and the forum managed to lose it when I went to log in to submit it. Anyways, it's probably for the better. I realize that you love rap so much that there is no way that you will ever look at it critically. I mentioned how Jay Z himself mentioned that he dumbed down his music so that you would like it. I mentioned how text books from the 80's is no excuse for the lack of emphasis on education in our communities. I mentioned how it's easier now than it ever was for blacks to get in Ivy League schools as they are dying to promote their diversity numbers, and how they'd love for the next W.E.B. Dubois to come from their system. I mentioned how it is easier now than it has ever been for people to acquire information if they really wanted to. It really doesn't matter though, the people around here who do feel that blacks are capable of more than selling drugs and are not making excuses for why that is our only avenue out already know that.

Lets talk about the business men that you mentioned though. Jay Z, as you mentioned is a business man just as Jobs, Trump and Murdock were (not really, but lets go with it for the sake of argument). Yet, you speak so critically of Jobs, Trump and Murdock but you'll kiss the ground that Jay Z walks on. If he's the same, lets be just as critical of him as we are of them. It's only fair, no?

 

It's more than obvious some of y'all ain't never been a d-boy....

 

I think that shit is grossly over exaggerated. It's media hype because if it were that crazy there would be no need for other drugs like meth. In real numbers alcohol and cigarettes cause more death and illness by a mile and those manufactured and distributed legally and the CEOs of those companies aren't credited with bringing down the black community even though blacks are dying from more alcohol and cigarette related diseases than crack. Look it up

 

I will admit to being a fan in the past but since the Cuba thing I no longer consider myself a fan. Can't support anyone who spends money in a repressive regime like Cuba. I don't see how he's any different than the others. All made money in various ventures and I consider them all evil even Jay-z I just don't get the singling out. Makes no sense to me, he's part of the oppressive oligarchy now no better but definitely no worst than these other people.
I really don't love rap so much, not to the point where I ignore obvious information and slants but I do have to be honest when I think about these things. Does rap contain provocative and destructive lyrics? Yeah it has and still does but so do a lot of tv shows and movies yet rap carries the entire burden of shaping young black minds.
What is it about us as a culture that listens to a 50 cent cd and wants to emulate that as you say yet no white kids are trying to emulate negative things from entertainment with people who look like them. Is it possible it has far less to do with the music and a lot more to do with the circumstances of that particular area?
Blacks are not the only ones who emphasize education less its an American culture thing. We have become completely anti intellectual and even it were just us, what do you propose to change that?

 

Less about his dope boy past and the 'business skills' it taught him,more about him being damn near 44 still trying to glorify selling poison and destroying lives.

 

exaggerated? taking 1 hit on a cigarette or drinking a glass of alcohol isn't addicting.Crack is 100% addictive,and it does more damage to your health than cigs and liquor.