Jay Z hits back at Tidal critics in angry rap comparing other streaming services to slavery
The artist may have taken a leaf out of Kanye West's self-proselytizing book
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Your support makes all the difference.In his most searing defence of Tidal to date, Jay Z has likened other streaming services to slavery in at attack against his critics.
In a rap referencing everything from Spotify to Steve Jobs and the killings of Freddie Gray, Mike Brown and Trayvon Martin, the rapper went all out at a concert of his B-Sides at New York’s Terminal 5 venue.
In a freestyle rap, he defended comments that his prime motivation in launching Tidal was to earn more money, berating other music streaming services whose business models turn artists into “slaves”.
“I don’t take no checks, I take respect / Pharrell even told me go with the safest bet,” he said.
“Jimmy Iovine offered a safety net / Google dangles around a crazy cheque / I feel like YouTube is the biggest culprit / Them n***as pay you a tenth of what you supposed to get.
“You know n***as die for equal pay right? You know when I work I ain’t your slave right?”
He went on to hit back at fans that criticised him for launching Tidal to make more money, while never questioning the motives of Steve Jobs or Nike owner Phil Knight.
“Oh, n***as are sceptical ‘cause they own s*it / You bought nine iPhone and Steve Jobs is rich / Phil Knight worth trillions you still bought those kicks / Spotify is 9 billion they ain’t say sh*t.”
The rapper also appeared to pacify fans that have criticised Jay Z for not speaking out publicly against racially-charged police brutality in the US.
“You know I ain’t shucking and jiving and high fiving / You know this ain’t back in the days right?
“But I can’t tell how the way they killed Freddie Gray right / Show down Mike Brown, how they did Tray Right?”
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