Usually known for his subliminal shots instead of addressing “beef” directly, rapper Jay-Z has finally taken the direct approach to the latest claims of him being a devil worshipper. He responds to the widely viewed video  that suggests he goes against Jesus. This most recent attack is on the verse in  his song ” Empire State of Mind”  featuring Alicia Keys where he says:

“Jesus can’t save you, life starts when the church ends”

Watch the video to see what a young minister is saying about the rapper

He talked to radio host Egypt and addressed the claims:

Jay-Z  responds:

“He should be arrested, seriously. My position is not unlike anyone else who ascends to the top of their field. That comes with the game. But that’s crazy. That might be the craziest one I’ve had.”

Egypt asked: “But do you go to church?”

Jay-Z: 

“Nah, I’m more spiritual than [having] organized religion. I have a personal relationship with God…I believe in karma, I believe in cause and effect…but religion, I have my opinions about religion.”

sources: Talk of the Town  and All Hip Hop.com

My 2 cents:

As a former, DIE HARD Jay-Z fan this a subject that I feel strongly about. I’ve strayed away from speaking about it until now.  For my readers who aren’t familiar; when I say I was a die hard fan I really was. I liked his music but my fan status was confirmed after attending the Hard Knock Life concert in 10th grade. I will never forget that concert. I went with a group of my closest high school friends. Looking back, we were sort of like a stand out group of smart, witty, middle class kids in the Midwest who had east coast lovers written all over us. Attending an inner city school, wearing Abercrombie& Fitch, listening to Jay-Z, and making straight A’s wasn’t very typical. Anyway, after that concert I was hooked. It was all about Jay from that point on. Every album, every concert, every interview, and every website that had anything to do with Jay I was on. Bored one day in my dorm freshmen year, my creative juices were flowing and I made a small 8 x 11 inch collage with pics of him from my recent urban magazine subscriptions. New college friends (mainly dudes) were impressed and surprised that a girl like me actually liked  loved Jay-Z.  I knew it was a problem when I found myself quoting Jay-Z rhymes when asked for advice. His music really made me feel like I knew him.  By senior year, that collage turned into a full out 18 x 24 inch size poster.  In addition to his music I respected his business savvy. I used to tell my BF I just wanna sit down and talk to him. #TrueStory I secretly believed that on one of my trips to New York I was going to meet him and my girl crush Beyonce. #dontjudgeme

My personal conviction didn’t come until years later in 2007 when I read a scripture in Genesis 22:

¹⁴And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah Jireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen.

Some might read this and not understand so let me break it down for you.

JEHOVAH JIREH  translated means THE GOD THAT PROVIDES. The name is literally, The Lord Who Sees, or The Lord Who Will See To It. This is what we long for when we have a personal need that can only come from GOD. JEHOVAH can also be translated to mean GOD, Creator, Savior, or even Jesus. For me it means The Lord Who will see to it that my every need is met at the right time just as He did for Abraham.

Jay-Z calls himself  Hova, J. Hov, Hov, which are all shortened versions of JEHOVAH because he believes he’s the “savior” of the rap game and as he likes to call himself,  a ”god MC”.

Now some might not be offended by that but I am! What gives this man the audacity to call himself a shortened version of JEHOVAH?  There is power in that name. That name is what I believe in for wisdom, healing, deliverance, prosperity, and peace. What do I look like chanting “hova, hova, hova” to some rapper who can’t do ANYTHING for me in the time of trouble? Once that was revealed to me I had to stop being a fan.

He said he believes in God but he DOES NOT ADDRESS the name of Jesus. If he does believe in Jesus why didn’t he say yes, I believe in Jesus? There is a big difference between believing in God (or a higher power) and having faith in JESUS. This is where the religion aspect comes in. Some people that are against organized religion believe Jesus is just a character of the Christian “religion” and there are many Jesus- like figures in every religion. I’ve said in times past that’s it not about religion but it’s about relationship. I don’t have the authority to judge his relationship with God but what I do know is: No one comes to the Father except through Jesus (John 14:6)

AS A CHRISTIAN, I BELIEVE IN GOD THE FATHER, THE SON JESUS, AND THE HOLY SPIRIT.

How does a believer say: “Jesus can’t save you”? If Jesus can’t save you then who can? Whether this is metaphorically speaking or not I view it as blasphemous. If  its just word play find another metaphor! At some point during your Christian walk you will have to make tough choices that go against what the world views as “acceptable” and this was a choice I made to stop listening to his music. Not because I believe he is a devil worshipper that is apart of the Illuminati but because I was convicted when I sang/rapped along to his music.  I’m not suggesting that people stop listening to his music but these are just my thoughts. If I could, I would like to sit down and talk to him about his life, his beliefs, his lyrics, his “nick name”, and what he meant by “Jesus can’t save you”. Since this is the Internet, if someone knows Jay pass this link and my info along to him (LOL-I’m jokingly serious) I’d be interested to see what comes from our conversation because the current interviewers ARE NOT asking him the right questions!

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