Should we be worried that maybe the hottest new release this year - ‘A Written Testimony’ by Jay-Z and Jay Electronica - references and praises noted antisemitic bigot Louis Farrakhan?
Lee Harpin at the Jewish Chronicle:
A widely anticipated new hip-hop album has sparked an antisemitism storm over lyrics that refer to "synagogue of Satan" and the inclusion of a speech by Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakan.
American rapper Jay Electronica has been one of the most celebrated names in the genre for over a decade and his new album A Written Testimony features repeat appearances from superstar Jay-Z.
But on the track Ghost of Soulja Slim, he raps: “And I bet you a Rothschild I get a bang for my dollar.
"The synagogue of Satan want me to hang by my collar.”
The same track also features a sampled speech from the Nation of Islam leader Mr Farrakhan who has repeatedly been antisemitic, including referring to Jews as "satanic" and comparing them to "termites".
Another track on the same album entitled Fruits of the Spirit also includes the lyric: "Satan struck Palestine with yet another mortar."
Jay Electronica has been a long-time member of the Nation of Islam himself and has been praised by Mr Farrakhan in the past over the messages in his music.
But following the release of his latest album last week, the rapper said he stood by all the lyrics on his new release.
The album gets a good review in Pitchfork, while carefully sidestepping the Farrakhan issue:
It is a mystical, distinctive work that nearly lives up to all the lore surrounding the rapper. First and foremost, it is a prayerful offering that expresses the many spiritual and communal virtues he has internalized. But it’s also a record about the scrutiny of an insatiable public, one that leans on higher powers amid self-doubt. In just under 40 minutes, Jay Electronica erects monuments to Allah, NOI founder Elijah Muhammad, and Roc Nation overseer JAY-Z, who is at his side for nearly the entire album serving as sergeant-at-arms. “From a hard place and a rock to the Roc Nation of Islam/I emerged on the wave that Tidal made to drop bombs,” he raps on “Ghost of Soulja Slim.” From this well of deep faith, he summons rap performances that seem to defy space-time.
Armin Rosen at Tablet is generally a fan, but....yes, at a time when black antisemitism is on the rise in Brooklyn and elsewhere, we should indeed be worried:
Jay Electronica’s A Written Testimony, the most brilliant and aggravating album of 2020, presents listeners with the starkest possible choice about 30 seconds in, when the voice of Louis Farrakhan, soft at first, rises out of heavenly swells of string and synthesizer. “I don’t want to waste any time. I ask the question: Who are the real children of Israel? And I’d like to answer it right away,” begins the minister, a notorious anti-Semite and homophobe and leader of the Nation of Islam, a Southern Poverty Law Center-designated hate group. “The honorable Elijah Muhammad has said that almighty God Allah has revealed to him that the black people of America are the real children of Israel and they—we—are the choice of God.”
Deep, man. In come the pianos and choirs—the song is titled “The Overwhelming Event,” and at this point, frankly, you would be more than justified in turning the whole damn thing off, rightly insulted at the expectation that a virulent bigot’s supersessionist rhetoric be in any way dignified, or trivialized, as some kind of noxious down payment on the enjoyment of art. But Testimony is one of the most anticipated releases of the year, and few would deny Jay Elec’s genius, so you would also be more than justified in continuing to listen, as I did.
Any doubt as to whether Jay is just toying with Nation of Islam rhetoric for edginess’ sake is dispelled on the next track, “Ghost of Soulja Slim.” “Don’t you come out to defend our enemy!” Farrakhan bellows to the “scared Negroes,” by which one assumes he means the multitudes of African American opponents of the NOI, over hard beats and raucous applause. “You sit down, and you shut up, and tell your master to come on out and deal with this!” Shouts of happy children herald the end of Farrakhan’s deranged sermon as the beat drops. [...]
What makes the record a mainstream hip-hop event isn’t the skill of Jay Electronica or the constant invocation of Farrakhan, who has long been selling himself as a “peacemaker” in the rap world. Rather, it’s the tacit blessing being bestowed on both men by Jay-Z, the titan whose Roc Nation label released A Written Testimony and whose Tidal streaming service has extensively promoted the album.
Jay-Z, one of the dominant figures in hip-hop, and therefore in American life, appears on eight of the 10 tracks on A Written Testimony, and Jay Elec can hardly believe his luck. Having Jay-Z as a sidekick on his full-length debut, he raps, is like winning the lottery—and he’s right. His weird tapestry of Farrakhan acclamation is legitimated and popularized through Jay-Z’s presence. More than that, A Written Testimony has some of the best rapping of Jay-Z’s entire, nearly three-decade career. Thanks to Jay Elec, Jay-Z, now 50 years old and an elder statesman of whom little is now expected in the way of actual art, is possessed of a new sense of poetry and purpose.
A Jewish fan—or at least this Jewish fan, who has been listening to Jay-Z since he was 11 years old—can’t help but wonder whether this breakthrough was really worth it, though, and wonder at what Jay really believes in his heart. Does he buy into NOI’s rhetoric on some level, a possibility for which there is at least some evidence, or is he simply supporting a friend and artistic collaborator whose work he wants to boost? Put another way: Is Jay-Z guilty of worse sins than moral deafness? Given the depth of his participation in Testimony, the answer might not even matter much. [...]
The blame shouldn’t be Jay Elec’s alone, though. At least on paper, boosting Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam not long after an unprecedented and inevitably deadly string of attacks on Jews centered in Jay-Z’s native Brooklyn should be a legacy-defining lapse for the mogul, something that would require substantial apology and reflection in order to rectify. But both Jays are unlikely to be called to account. A Written Testimony debuted at No. 12 on the Billboard 200, and is now ahead of releases from Billie Eilish, Eminem, and Harry Styles. Pitchfork gave the album an 8.4, good for its coveted Best New Music laurel. Collaborating on an extended love letter to Louis Farrakhan is unlikely to diminish either rapper’s public stature, but it diminishes them all the same.