Is Jay-Z promoting a divisive message?
Jay-Z: White men are so privileged in the U.S. Celebrity calls for talks on 'white privilege.'
Jay-Z hinted at his displeasure with Donald Trump and one-time best friend Kanye West's politics — and the media storm surrounding them — in a new song.
In a verse on Meek Mill's "What's Free," released late Thursday, Jay-Z, whose real name is Shawn Carter, raps, "No red hat, don't Michael and Prince me and Ye / They separate you when you got Michael and Prince's DNA / I ain't one of these house n-----s you bought / My house like a resort, my house bigger than yours / My spo — c'mon, man — my route better of course."
He later referenced West's remarks that slavery was a choice, spitting, "My hair free, care-free. N-----s ain't near free. Enjoy your chains, what's your employer name? With the hairpiece?”
Jay-Z, 48, has distanced himself from West, 41, ever since West lashed out at him, his wife Beyoncé and Hillary Clinton in an onstage rant in November 2016.
"It's a new world, Hillary Clinton, it's a new world ... Feelings matter. Because guess what? Everybody in Middle America felt a way and they showed you how they felt," the New York Times reported West told the crowd in 2016.
He then turned on 37-year-old Beyoncé and the MTV Video Music Awards.
"Beyoncé, I was hurt because I heard that you said you wouldn't perform unless you won Video of the Year over me and over 'Hotline Bling,' " he shouted. "Sometimes we be playing the politics too much and forget who we are just to win. I've been sitting here to give y'all my truth even at the risk of my own life — even at the risk of my own success, my own career."
He also lamented that their kids never played together.
In 2013, West ranted onstage about Jay-Z's "Suit & Tie" collaboration with Justin Timberlake as well as about Beyoncé's endorsement deal with Pepsi.
Last year, Jay-Z explained to Rap Radar of the feud, "What really hurt me was, you can’t bring my wife and my kids into it … Like, Kanye is my little brother. He's talked about me a hundred times. He even made a song called 'Big Brother.' We’ve gotten past bigger issues. But you brought my family into it, now it’s a problem. You know it’s a problem because me and him would have been talked about it, been resolved our issues. And he knows he crossed the line. He knows. And I know he knows," he said. "'Cause we've never let this much space go between one of our disagreements and we’ve had many. That's part of who we are."
Despite their checkered history, not everyone interpreted Jay-Z's remarks on "What's Free" as a diss to West.
"He's not taking shots. Michael [Jackson] and Prince weren't cool and wants to avoid that, that's why he made the reference," one Twitter user pointed out.
Another wrote, "Maybe in the minority here, but I don't think Jay is taking a shot at Ye, he's saying he won't be manipulated into being used by MAGA, Media & others as a prop vs. YE because he is smarter than that."
If it was a diss, chances are Meek Mill would've supported it.
The Philadelphia native, who was released from prison in April, previously expressed frustration with West's stances on prison reform.
"I don’t think [Kanye] addressed anything that had to do with what was tough on justice reform," Mill, 31, told Vulture earlier this week. "He wasn't prepared for it, and he shouldn't have done it. I had phone calls with Kanye for hours. He was trying to get me to go to things like that."
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