Jay-Z has finally responded. The 56-year-old rap mogul, born Shawn Carter, broke six years of solo concert silence Saturday night at the Roots Picnic in Philadelphia with a four-minute freestyle aimed at Kanye West, Drake, Nicki Minaj, Dame Dash, and singer Jaguar Wright.
Hov took the stage at Belmont Plateau alongside The Roots to headline night one of the 18th annual festival. Backed by the legendary house band, he opened his set with a barrage of bars that fans quickly broke down line by line on social media.
Per Consequence, the most quoted line of the night appeared to be a direct response to Drake’s recent “Iceman” track “Janice STFU,” on which Drake rapped, “the jig is up” in reference to Jay-Z. Hov fired back: “The jig is up, n***a I’m up 10, wrong chart champ, n***as looked up to Hov, I never looked up to them.”
Jay-Z had more for Drake. “Them crackers got your publishing checks, go talk tough to them, don’t talk success to me,” he rapped. “You n***as is workers, in perpetuity is how your contract is worded.”
The Kanye West bars went straight at Ye’s past public claims about Jay and Beyoncé‘s children. “My children is some of them, have you n***as no shame? Y’all trying to get under skin, I really get under skin,” Hov rapped. “Ask Un how I’m playin. Everybody thinks they’re the ones insane. You’re no maniac.” The “Un” reference points to Lance “Un” Rivera, the music executive Jay-Z stabbed at a New York nightclub in 1999.
Of Minaj, he rapped, “That lady back on that stuff, she sounds like she’s in love with ’em. Her Ken can’t even pick they kid, enough of them.” He also called out his former Roc-A-Fella partner Dame Dash and Questlove‘s old introduction to Jaguar Wright, who has spent years publicly criticizing Hov and Beyoncé.
Following the diss-filled freestyle, Jay-Z launched into a 31-song career-spanning setlist. He brought out Meek Mill, Jazmine Sullivan, Bilal, and a reunited State Property for the medley. The performance comes ahead of three sold-out shows at Yankee Stadium.
Jay-Z has not publicly confirmed his targets. He did not have to.
