Jun. 20, 2026, 6:00 AM EDT<\/time><\/p>\n

By<\/span>Darryl Robertson<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

From the start, Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter<\/a> has been consistent that his primary concern in life is making even more money. “I’d rather die enormous than live dormant,” he raps on “Can I Live?” That’s one of the songs on his 1996 debut masterpiece, “Reasonable Doubt,” which is mostly about him making the transition from drug dealer to musical artist. And “Can’t Knock the Hustle,” the first song on that album, is his declaration that no one can criticize him for how he accumulates wealth.<\/p>\n

But 30 years later, people are<\/em> knocking Jay-Z’s hustle<\/a>. The hip-hop legend and media mogul is partnering with Target to push out a new collector’s item: a 30th-anniversary edition of “Reasonable Doubt” on vinyl. When Target ended its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives during the first days of the second Trump administration, Levy Armstrong to some<\/a>Monique Cullars-Doty<\/a> and Jaylani Hussein, stood outside Target’s headquarters in Minneapolis and announced that a nationwide boycott would begin on Feb. 1, 2025. Later, the Rev. Jamal Bryant, a prominent Black pastor in Atlanta, also called for a boycott. Target suffered declining store traffic<\/a> and significantly fewer sales<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\n
\n
“Can’t Knock the Hustle” is his declaration that no one can criticize him for how he accumulates wealth.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n
In March, when Bryant announced an end to the boycott, Levy Armstrong wrote in an op-ed for MS NOW<\/a> that Bryant had “no authority” to end the boycott and that it continues. “Why should we end the boycott now when Target hasn’t changed any of the policies<\/a> that caused us to launch the boycott?”<\/p>\n
This isn’t the first time Jay-Z has seen an opportunity for himself with an institution catching the brunt of Black people’s anger. As many Black people were boycotting the NFL for its mistreatment of quarterback Colin Kaepernick after he kneeled during the national anthem, Jay-Z’s Roc Nation brand<\/a> announced a partnership with the NFL<\/a> to plan its Super Bowl halftime shows. “I think we’ve moved past kneeling<\/a>,” Jay-Z said then. “I think it’s time to go into actionable items. I don’t want people to stop protesting at all. Kneeling is a form of protest. I support protests across the board. We need to shed light on the issue, and I think everyone knows what the issue is.”<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Jay-Z has consistently shown that he will choose partnership over principles, as “Point of View” host Natalya Somers<\/a> recently noted: “We’ve seen when Colin Kaepernick was going through it with the NFL, and ended up being blackballed, and didn’t come to his defense. And now, right in the middle of his very own people being in the middle of a Target boycott, he is partnering with Target.”<\/p>\n
Minneapolis-based Target has not only been criticized for abandoning its DEI initiatives but also has been accused of not standing up for immigrant communities<\/a> during the ramped-up ICE raids in Minnesota earlier this year.<\/p>\n
As impressive as Jay-Z’s ability to rap is, and as powerful as his story is about his rise from drug dealer to billionaire, he is a prime example of why we shouldn’t treat entertainers as political leaders, especially not an entertainer who candidly rapped, “I’m not a businessman, I’m a business, man<\/a>.”<\/p>\n
Jay-Z isn’t the only Black music artist to partner with Target. J.Cole partnered with the retail giant to exclusively sell vinyl copies of his latest album, “The Fall-Off”<\/a> and to sell the 10th anniversary of 2014’s “Forest Hill Drive.”<\/a> Kendrick Lamar’s 2024 album “GNX” is also being sold on vinyl exclusively at Target<\/a>. But Jay-Z has enough money and clout to play by his own rules. He could have chosen another retailer if he had wanted to.<\/p>\n
Jay-Z made a guest appearance on a 2006 song by Nas called “Black Republican.” In the chorus, we hear him say, “I feel like a Black Republican, money I got comin’ in \/ Can’t turn my back on the hood, I got love for them.”<\/p>\n
The part about money coming in is obviously still true. But some of his decisions should make us question his claim that he can’t turn his back on the hood.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
<\/figure>\n
Darryl Robertson<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Darryl Robertson is a freelance writer, a research assistant for The New York Times, a section editor for Souls and a student at Columbia University. His research interests include hip-hop and understanding how the Black Power movement services its communities. He is also interested in understanding how social, geographical and historical factors contribute to hip-hop.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n
Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Jun. 20, 2026, 6:00 AM EDT ByDarryl Robertson From the start, Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter has been consistent that his primary concern in life is making even more money. “I’d rather die enormous than live dormant,” he raps on “Can I Live?” That’s one of the songs on his 1996 debut masterpiece, “Reasonable Doubt,” which is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24586","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-trump"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24586","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24586"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24586\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24586"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24586"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24586"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}