9 days ago
3
5
Posted On: July 16th 2026, 05:13 pm
Nine years ago I wrote Jay-Z an open letter. I questioned the gospel of ownership, the romance of accumulation, the way wealth starts to sound like freedom when the country has trained all of us to confuse the two.
Last weekend I sat in Yankee Stadium and rapped along.
The morning after, a writer I love posted that no Black man sells capitalism like Jay-Z. That the shit is ugly. I couldn’t dismiss it. I’d made a version of the same argument myself.
What I couldn’t say back is that I’ve since crossed the line I drew. I have a revenue floor now. I rent. I have children. I think about what I leave them when I’m gone. I am trying to build something durable with the very tools I critique.
My 2017 letter ended: “Yeah, maybe I should be addressing this letter to me.”
Nine years later I understand that line more than I did when I wrote it.
New essay. Link in bio.
Last weekend I sat in Yankee Stadium and rapped along.
The morning after, a writer I love posted that no Black man sells capitalism like Jay-Z. That the shit is ugly. I couldn’t dismiss it. I’d made a version of the same argument myself.
What I couldn’t say back is that I’ve since crossed the line I drew. I have a revenue floor now. I rent. I have children. I think about what I leave them when I’m gone. I am trying to build something durable with the very tools I critique.
My 2017 letter ended: “Yeah, maybe I should be addressing this letter to me.”
Nine years later I understand that line more than I did when I wrote it.
New essay. Link in bio.
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