According to the song biography included with the album, the track is “really a song about we as a culture, having a plan, how we’re gonna push this forward.
“We all make money, and then we all lose money, as artists, especially. But how, when you have some type of success, to transform that into something bigger.”
Twitter users said the lyrics could be seen as using antisemitic tropes.
But it appears Jay-Z intended for the reference to be taken positively, implying that Jews invest and build credit rather than wasting money in strip clubs.
However, the lines invoke two different stereotypes – the idea that Jews are all wealthy, and the idea that Jews own all property.
Last month, there were calls for Thomas Lopez-Pierre, a Brooklyn politician, to be thrown out of the Democratic Party after he ran a campaign against a Jewish incumbent councilman, Mark Levine, in which he focused on “greedy Jewish landlords”, whom he accused of being “at the forefront of ethnic cleansing/pushing Black/Hispanic tenants out of their apartments”.
“I don't take one dollar in campaign contributions from these greedy Jewish landlords, and Mark Levine has taken over $100,000 in campaign contributions from these greedy Jewish landlords,” Mr Lopez-Pierre said.
In 2006, Jay-Z appeared with fellow music mogul Russell Simmons in a “public service announcement” to condemn racism and antisemitism.
“What’s not hot is hating people because of their colour or religion,” Simmons says in the short video clip.
“What’s not cool is antisemitism. It’s a long word for racism. Antisemitism and racism are the same thing. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.
“Speak out against anything racist, any kind of bigotry the minute you hear it. Let’s fight all types of racism and antisemitism together.”
Jay-Z then said: “Don’t be silent, remember, we are one. One voice.”
