To riff off of one of Harry Belafonte’s songs, tomorrow is
a long time, but for some the past is further away than
it should be from their memory. The recent tiff between
the octogenarian singer/actor/activist and hip-hop MC/
mogul Jay-Z is far more than a mere bit of miscommunication
and slights. It’s a timely situation that illustrates a gap
between generations and their respective struggles.
To begin with, Mr.Belafonte may have erred when he
named Jay and his wife, Beyonce in his missive decrying
the lack of Black celebrities publicly working for change.
It’s not an error that is a total blunder either. Belafonte
echoed the frustrations of a great many people across
the board. He may have felt, in his own way, that calling
them out specifically could lead to them being more
involved. Jay however, got entirely too riled up. Which
led to his lyrics on MCHG calling Mr. Belafonte a ‘boy’ and
then in a recent interview with Elliott Wilson, claiming
that his ‘presence was charity’. Since then, Belafonte
has slightly walked back his statements and invited both
of the Carters to come join him in Florida to aid the
Dream Defenders in their protest over the Zimmerman
verdict.
Let’s be clear. Jay Z has handled this badly. Never mind
how it started, there is no real justification for an MC
who is intelligent as he is to call a major civil rights figure
‘boy’. It’s as if he learned nothing from Lil Wayne’s horrific
lyric referencing Emmitt Till. But that’s part of the issue
here. There seems to be this real disconnect between
the generations as to what they fought for and who it
would benefit. It’s as if the Civil Rights Era is this piece
of memorabilia on the mantlepiece in a lot of minds.
Loved, cherished but sometimes neglected and perhaps
too often unappreciated. 1965 was long ago but not
THAT long. And for Jay to call a man who essentially
was responsible for his very livelihood in some respects
‘boy’, a term Belafonte probably heard and saw applied
to him in various poisonous tones reeks of ignorance.
Ignorance that he doubled down on by claiming his
presence was charity. There’s quite a few people that
call the area now claimed by Barclays Center home
that would disagree with you. It smacks of arrogance,
one that is needed for the stage but not in a situation
like this.
That’s not to say Jay Z has not lent his time and fame
to support causes. He has been and was a main backer
of the 2008 and 2012 elections of Barack Obama as
President of The United States. He’s helped found a
group that aims to bring clean water to villages in
Africa. He probably feels that he is doing his bit. But in
an age where we are seeing other forces literally
trying to turn back the clock in this country, that may
not be enough. And his way of thinking (I’m a business,
man) does reflect both the best and worst of American
society. Some see it as a ‘I got mine, get yours’ approach
that clutters the minds of men on Wall Street. (Not
something Hov wants to be fully tied to given his
attempts at co-opting Occupy Wall Street via clothing.)
Perhaps that lies at the root of it all. Belafonte sees
a lot in Jay. More than what Jay is putting out. And
in the process of pulling his coat to things, Jay reacted
in a highly sensitive way. It’s no different than the
older heads on the block schooling the young, something
I and many others of my time grew up with. It was a
conversation probably best had face to face. Think of
what Belafonte has done just in activism alone. This
is a man who bailed Martin Luther King out of jail and
funded the Freedom Riders out of his own pocket. He
also escaped being blacklisted during the country’s
Communist-hunting years. Hell, he invigorated the
rise of hip-hop in Cuba when he met with hip-hop artists
there BEFORE meeting Fidel Castro on a visit in 1999.
So to the critics claming he has no right to criticize
Jay, he’s earned that right ten times over.
What Harry and Hov need to do is have a face to
face meeting. Two lions greeting each other. Air
out their grievances and their own egos in full. I’m
not going to be so optimistic as to say that it could
spark further collaboration and alliances like we saw
among athletes and entertainers in the 1960’s.
There isn’t enough of that spirit in some of these
artists held up as greats. Their protests go as far
as 140 characters that may be the limit of their
own on such matters. And if Jay doesn’t take this
opportunity to meet Mr. Belafonte, maybe artists
like Jasiri X, Yaasin Bey and others would be better
suited to do so. Those young lions are roaring just
like he does still. Because what this situation has
shown us is, tomorrow is a long time. And it is far
too long to not appreciate the hell others endured
to get us to a point where we could even look at
tomorrow in this country with hope. Far too long
to get caught up in small squabbles when the real
fight hangs over our heads.