A post shared by champagnepapi (@champagnepapi) on Jul 22, 2017 at 7:43pm PDT
Money talks, but if you’re smart you won’t put a wad of it to your ear on Instagram. This was the message Jay-Z relayed to the rap game on 4:44 stand out The Story of O.J., calling out the (admittedly pretty silly) “money phone” pose where rappers hold stacks of record label advance money to their ears.
“Y’all out here still takin’ advances, huh? / Me and my niggas takin’ real chances, uh / Y’all on the ‘Gram holdin’ money to your ear / There’s a disconnect, we don’t call that money over here, yeah” Jay raps on the track, referencing his ownership of his business — so he isn’t beholden to a record label — and calling out the fickle nature of advance money. It’s not really like being given stacks of money… artists have to make it back in sales.
Drake has followed Future in responding to the apparently quite controversial dig from Jay, appearing (with actor Kwame Boateng) in a short video holding the proverbial money phone, and saying “What they say? Don’t put money to your ear? Oh, I didn’t hear that.” It isn’t the first time the artists have been thought to be firing shots at each other, as the geniuses on Genius point out.
A post shared by The Shade Room (@theshaderoom) on Jul 22, 2017 at 10:06am PDT
Speaking to iHeartRadio when 4:44 was released, Hov described “The Story of O.J.” as being “a song about we as a culture, having a plan, how we’re gonna push this forward. We all make money, and then we all lose money, as artists especially. But how, when you have some type of success, to transform that into something bigger.”
To be fair, Drake also flaunted hisDegrassi royalty check for $8.25 too, so maybe he’s just very happy about all money, big or small, real or fake.
Read: Frank Ocean covers an 80s disco banger, serenades Brad Pitt, wears Balenciaga.
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Text Charlotte Gush