American rapper Jay-Z's new album 4:44 is causing an uproar in the media thanks to a song titled "The story of O.J." The provocative song describes various types of labor placed upon black people who were subjected to slavery in America before asking: "You ever wonder why Jewish people own all the property in America? This how they did it."The idea that Jewish people own all the property in America, even if intended as a compliment, closely resembles antisemitic stereotypes of Jewish people controlling the economy and somehow exploiting the common man.
Yet, Israeli-American music manager Guy Oseary has defended Jay-Z. "If you listen to the song in its entirety you will hear that the whole of the song is based on exaggerated stereotypes to make a point," said the manager of Madonna and U2, "Jay is giving the Jewish community a compliment." Oseary freely admits that negative Jewish images like the 'rich Jew,' 'the business Jew,' and 'the Jew who owns the world,' had been used with the wrong sentiment in the past - but not by Jay-Z, who is using the stereotype of the very wealthy Jewish community as a positive example of how wealth can be kept by a specific people. In an interview to iHeart Radio, Jay-Z said that the song is about "we as a culture, having a plan, how we're gonna push this forward.""We all make money," said the rapper, "and then we all lose money, as artists especially."