Jay Z Responds To Harrry Belafonte with “My Presence is Charity”

Jay Z responds to Harry Belafonte’s rant inference to him calling him “Mr. Day O Major Fail” in his lyrics!

The lyrics from Nickels and Dimes

I’m just trying to find common ground/‘fore Mr. Belafonte come and chop a ni**a down/Mr. Day O, major fail/Respect these youngins boy, it’s my time now/Hublot homie, two door homie/You don’t know all the s**t I do for the homies”

Mr. Belafonte wasn’t to impress with the Roc Nation mogul’s description. He took the the media and let his feelings be known by saying:

They have not told the history of our people, nothing of who we are. We are still looking. We are not determinated. We are not driven by some technology that says you can kill Afghanistans, the Iraquis or the Spanish. It is all – excuse my French – s**t. It is sad. And I think one of the great abuses of this modern time is that we should have had such high-profile artists, powerful celebrities. But they have turned their back on social responsibility. That goes for Jay-Z and Beyoncé, for example. Give me Bruce Springsteen, and now you’re talking. I really think he is black.

I think Jay Z needs to leave our African-American icons alone. It goes back to the respect we should have for our elders. Belafonte wasn’t even thinking about Jay Z nor Beyonce prior to this song coming out so his response was warranted. He shouldn’t have said anything disrespectful to such a prominent figure in the African American community.  Jay Z did respond to Belafonte in an interview by saying this:

“I’m offended by that because first of all, this is going to sound arrogant, but my presence is charity. Just who I am, just like Obama is. Obama provides hope. Whether he does anything, that hope that he provides for a nation and outside of America is enough. Just being who he is. You’re the first black president. If he speaks on any issue or anything, he should be left alone. Of course we want to challenge [Obama] to do better, but I felt like Belafonte just went about it wrong. The way he did it, within the media, and then he bigged up Bruce Springsteen. It was like, ‘Whoa, you just sent the wrong message all around. You just bigged up the white guy against me in the white media.’ I’m not saying that in a racial way. I’m saying what it was just the wrong way to go about it.  My presence is charity! Just this guy who came from Marcy projects apartment 530C, to these places of me playing in Yankee stadium tonight.”

Jay Z seems to think he is a charity because of the humble beginnings he came from and now that he is rich and has power he should be noticed. I must agree with Belafonte in reference to Jay or Bey not being socially conscientious or charitable. I know that years ago Jay Z was handing out turkeys in Marcy projects for Thanksgiving and gave toys for Christmas.

Oh yes he also gave to the Hurricane Katrina rescue efforts the sum of million dollars. Then made a song called the “minority report” and got it all back. As for Beyonce I am not aware of any of her charities. Maybe they support the kind of charities that don’t warrant awareness. Hey it could happen right?

Jay Z also responded to the Zimmerman Not Guilty Verdict in reference to the Trayvon Martin Case:

“I was really angry, I didn’t sleep for two days. I was really angry about it. We all knew there was still a bit of racism in America but for it to be so blatant… Ask yourself the question, ‘Didn’t Travyon have a right to stand his ground?’ He was being chased, he fought back. He may have won. That doesn’t mean he’s a criminal. He won. If you chase me and you try to attack me and I defend myself, how can I be in the wrong? How is that right? This guy went to get some skittles and go back to watch the All-Star game. He had plans. He had no intentions of robbing anyone’s home. It’s a thing where it’s like a reminder of, ‘We still got a long way to go.’ It’s beautiful because this generation right now, they don’t see color in that way. They’re funding George Zimmerman because they want to hold on to their guns. We all know it was wrong.” 

Last but not least Jay Z seems to think he has a lot in common with Shakespeare. This is what he said:

“Shakespeare was a man who wrote poetry. I’m a man who writes poetry. Why not compare yourself to the best? I’m supposed to be here to be second best? I’m not doing this for that. If other people are cool with settling or not putting themselves in that light, that’s their personal preference. If you don’t want to be in that light, that’s fine. I’m not mad at you! I don’t have an opinion on what you want to do, if you want to be second, that’s cool, so don’t have an opinion on me wanting to be Jean Michel [Basquiat] or Shakespeare. People don’t realize, I put a lot of my life into what I am doing right now. I didn’t just have a hit record and get lucky, I put a lot of my life into it so the things that come out of it, is not due to this bravado and arrogance, I have confidence because of the work I put in. I put in so much work! I’m claiming four classics.” 

What I have learned from this interview is that the “Carter’s” do their charitable efforts in silence. Jay Z’s very existence is a charity and he see’s himself as an old playwright who they are still trying to prove whether he wrote his plays or not. When you explain it that way maybe Jay is Shakespeare he borrowed all of Biggie’s old rhymes so I can see the favoring.