Amidst the information leaking that Jay-Z, AKA Shawn Carter, is divesting his shares in the Brooklyn Nets to begin the sports agency “Roc Nation Sports,” Jay-Z recorded a pissed-off song titled “Open Letter” addressing the sale and the reaction to it, including attacking an unnamed person — presumably a member of the Nets organization. Audio and lyrics after the jump.
Here’s the part that addresses the sale, and keeping his courtside seats:
“Would’ve brought the Nets to Brooklyn for free. Except, I made millions off of you f***ing dweeb. I still own the building, I’m still keeping my seats, you buy that bulls***, you better keep your receipts.
As with most Jay-Z disses, it’s not exactly clear who he’s talking about.
Later in the song, Jay-Z also says “the world is under new management,” a play off his tweet after November 26th’s Nets victory over the New York Knicks, in which he said “the city is under new management.”
UPDATE: As some people have noted, it’s possible that Jay-Z is saying “I made millions off it you f***ing dweeb,” not “of.” If that’s the case, the meaning changes drastically.
My take? It sounds like “of” pretty clearly to me — there’s no hard sound that would indicate for sure that it was an “it,” as opposed to “of” — but I’m willing to believe that’s incorrect. since Jay-Z is intentionally vague with so many of his lyrics in the first place while also being very calculated with his words, it wouldn’t surprise me if it were no accident that it’s unclear.
Glad to spend my morning discussing grammatical articles!
