Jay-Z’s Purist Form of Giving

Monday night in Brooklyn, the Nets hosted the Cavs in what would become a magical occasion for everything except basketball. Like many Brooklyn Nets home games Jay-Z and Beyonce were in attendance, but this time Prince William and Kate were also in attendance — which was magical itself seeing our Jay and our Queen Bey who come from the blood of the slaves who built this country only to build an empire of their own conversing with a couple who come from the blood line our forefathers revolted against—magical, but I digress.

“This shit weird. We ain’t even supposed to be here.”

Outside Barclay’s on Atlantic Avenue a large crowd was growing to protest police brutality as a result of the non-indictment of the police officer who choked and killed Eric Garner and the non-indictment of the police officer who shot and killed Michael Brown. Like all protests, mantras are shouted and hashtags trend i.e. #HandsUpDontShoot and #ICantBreathe. In times of protest, celebs walk a fine line of participating and showing support without looking disingenuous.

Saturday, before the Chicago Bulls game against my Golden State Warriors, Derrick Rose wore a black shirt with the words “I CAN’T BREATHE” screen printed in white across his chest, the mantra that has become synonymous with protests against police brutality in New York City as they were Mr. Garner’s last three words, which he repeated eleven times before he died.

In showing support for the Garner Family and solidarity with the protests across the world, Rose also defied NBA rule that players must wear designated team gear during pre-game warm ups. Two days later in Brooklyn, Jay-Z was photographed in the now viral photo—originally posted on dream hampton’s Instagram account—with four Brooklyn Nets players wearing the “I CAN’T BREATHE” shirts, only Jay is not wearing one.

I began seeing the photo itself circulate social media with comments trashing Jay-Z as being too good or too famous to support the cause although hampton comments, “thank you Jigga for hand delivering to the locker room” below her photo. On Tuesday, the New York Times debunked all notions that Jay-Z merely posed for the photo-op and that he played an intricate role in actually hand delivering the shirts to the locker room. The New York Times piece details—in short—how Michael Skolnik called dream hampton who called Jay to make it all happen with the help of Justice League NYC and a brave security guard who brought the box of shirts into the arena for Jay-Z to hand deliver to the locker room so the players could wear them at the behest of NBA’s pregame attire rule to show support.

The fact that people were on social media trashing Jay as someone of extreme fame and fortune who is not supporting the cause really bothered me because it shows how viciously social media can spin a magical moment. Trolls cropped the Instagram photo from an involved someone who clearly states what took place and spun it to express their distaste of a celebrity who they feel should support the cause even though dream hampton and Michael Skolnik are both quoted saying the shirts were too big for Jay-Z as they were printed on shirts big enough to fit NBA players.

“You don’t know all the shit I do for my homies.”

And whether the shirt was too big or not, I’d argue that Jay’s choice not to wear it is a silent expression of his humble self awareness. The moment, which was made happen in part by him, could have been an opportunity to invite cameras and press to show what he was doing and make it about Jay-Z, but he didn’t. He chose to do it silently because it’s not about him. It’s the same reason you rarely see him or Beyoncé at protests because it turns into an, “OMG Jay-Z and Bey are here!” spectacle, but that’s not to say they don’t show up.

Throughout Jay-Z’s extensive catalogue you can find clever homages to specific times that he has chosen to donate his money such as, “I put dollars on mine, ask Columbine,” or “Shawn Carter, Sean Bell, what’s the difference? Do tell, 50 shots or 50 mill’ ain’t no difference go to hell.” And if you do your research, you will find that Jay and DMX donated the proceeds of the Denver stop of the Hard Knock Life Tour to the families effected in the Columbine school shooting and that Jay has set up educational trust funds for the two children of Sean Bell. And these are just two times we know of because he says it in a song. Jay also uses his influence to meet with politicians to move the needle on justice reform as he did Wednesday in New York with Governor Andrew Cuomo.

Those with money are not obligated to donate portions their fortunes to charity, but with fame comes power and with power comes change. Yes, it is my strong opinion that someone like Jay-Z who sold drugs on the streets of New York and then earned a fortune by rapping about it does have an obligation to rebuild those streets, but it doesn’t mean he had to donate proceeds of a major tour date to a predominately white school in Colorado.

I challenge those who question how much money celebs should donate to charity to figure out an arbitrary acceptable amount and calculate that arbitrary acceptable amount as a percentage of said celebrity’s income and then calculate that same percentage of their own income and donate it to charity.

“The purist form of giving is anonymous to anonymous.”