U2 Manager Defends Jay-Z's Use of Antisemitic Language In 4:44

In his new song, "The Story of O.J", Jay-Z raps: "You wanna know what's more important than throwin' away money at a strip club? Credit. You ever wonder why Jewish people own all the property in America? This how they did it."

He plays off of the stereotype that the majority of the world's wealth is controlled by Jewish people, and many have criticized the artist of harbouring these antisemitic sentiments himself. However, producer Guy Oseary, who was born in Israel and is Jewish himself, asserts that Jay-Z is “attempting to use the Jewish people in an exaggerated way to showcase a community of people that are thought to have made wise business decisions. As an example of what is possible and achievable."

I've received a few messages from friends wondering why Jay-Z is putting out anti-semitic lyrics in his new song "The Story Of O.J." ... If you read the lyrics out of context I can understand why people are jumping to that conclusion.. But 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.. There are African American stereotypes throughout the song.. The music video directed by @markromanek and Jay is entirely full of exaggerated stereotype imagery of African Americans.. Jewish people do NOT "own all the property in America". Jay knows this.. But hes attempting to use the jewish people in an exaggerated way to showcase a community of people that are thought to have made wise business decisions.. As an example of what is possible and achievable.. Yes, the "rich jew" the "business jew" the "jew that owns the world" is a stereotype which has been repeatedly used with the wrong sentiment.. meant only to harm the Jewish people. Perpetuating the absurdity that jews are taking over the world.. Fact: There are 7.5 billion people in the world.. Only 14 million of them are jews.. Thats 0.2 percent of the worlds population.. In my opinion, Jay is giving the jewish community a compliment.. " Financial freedom" he mentions as being his ONLY hope.. If you had to pick a community as an example of making wise financial decisions achieving financial freedom who would you choose?.. Im not offended by these lyrics.. I hear them the way he inteded them to be heard.. Giving "credit" to a community that supposedly understands what it means to have "credit".. I'm good with that.. ??✡️

A post shared by Guy Oseary (@guyoseary) on Jul 1, 2017 at 11:43am PDT

Oseary adds, “I’m not offended by these lyrics. I hear them the way he intended them to be heard.”

According to the rapper, "The Story of O.J." is 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."

This is not the first time the rapper has been accused of antisemitism. In 2007, his song "No Hook" featured thematically similar lyrics: "Had to get some challah bread so you can holla back. My Jewish lawyer too enjoyed the fruit of letting my cash stack."

These accusations seem to be at odds with the artist's public stance on antisemitism. In 2006, Jay-Z participated in a video campaign with Russell Simmons, in which the pair spoke out against racism of all kinds, including antisemitism.