Michael Eric Dyson recently shared that Jay-Z didn’t agree with his comparison of Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” to Donald Trump’s political identity.
As a respected academic and author, Dyson often offers thoughtful commentary on hip-hop and its cultural moments. After his take on the Kendrick Lamar and Drake battle went viral, he later issued an apology for revealing details about a private conversation he had with Jay-Z regarding the situation.
For context, Dyson had previously mentioned that Jay privately disagreed with his comparison between Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” and the xenophobic political identity tied to Donald Trump. Earlier this week, Dyson took to Instagram to apologize to Hov for bringing up their private discussion. He also expanded on his views about the Kendrick Lamar and Drake feud while preparing to attend Jesse Jackson’s funeral.
“I remember once when Kanye [West] posted publicly a text exchange between us,” the author said. “It was private. And I was hurt by that. I’m thinking about that because I’ve done the same thing to Jay-Z. No, I didn’t publicly post a text. But I talked about a private exchange between us that should’ve remained between us, as it has for the last 20-some-odd years. So I want to apologize to him here. Why am I doing it here and not to him directly? Because the old Black people said, ‘Where you get it is where you get it. Where you messed up is where you fess up.’ And that’s what I’m doing here.”
Michael Eric Dyson went on to explain that he and the Roc Nation boss usually communicate through text rather than phone calls, discussing topics ranging from The Godfather to geopolitics and more. He also elaborated on Jay-Z’s disagreement with his take on Kendrick Lamar. According to Dyson, Jay’s main point was that Trump is a politician while the Compton rapper is an artist, making it difficult to directly compare the impact or intention behind their words. “He said this is what rappers do,” Dyson noted, even pointing to Jay-Z’s past feud with Nas as an example.
“I mischaracterized him,” he continued. “He said it ain’t that serious. He wasn’t vigorously disagreeing with me… So I want to apologize to him. And the reason I clarified my position in the first place is because he made the distinction between Trump and Kendrick that I wanted to make clear that I completely understood and did not intend. So God bless you all on this morning. Rest in peace Reverend Jesse Jackson. Jay-Z, my sincerest apologies. Much love to you, my dear brother.”
