A young Harry Belafonte with Martin Luther King Jr
Legendary singer, songwriter, actor and Civil Rights activist Harry Belafonte talks about the death of Trayvon Martin, the occupation in Florida and Jay Z.
For those of you who don’t know last year Belafonte accused Jay Z and his wife Beyonce of turning their backs on social responsibility. This rattled the jigga man and he responded by calling the 86 YEAR OLD a “boy” on the track called Nickles And Dimes (featured on his new album Magna Carta Holy Grail).
Check out the lyrics below.
I’m just trying to find common ground
‘fore Mr. Belafonte come and chop a nigga down
Mr. Day O, major fail
Respect these youngins boy, it’s my time now
Hublot homie, two door homie
You don’t know all the shit I do for the homies
He later said during an interview with Rap Radar editor / Jay sycophant Elliott Wilson:
I’m offended by that because first of all, and this is going to sound arrogant, but my presence is charity. Just who I am. Just like Obama’s is. Obama provides hope. Whether he does anything, the hope that he provides for a nation, and outside of America is enough. Just being who he is. You’re the first black president. If he speaks on any issue or anything he should be left alone…I felt Belafonte he just went about it wrong. Like the way he did it in the media, and then he big’d up Bruce Springsteen or somebody. And it was like, “whoa,” you just sent the wrong message all the way around…Bruce Springsteen is a great guy. You’re this Civil Rights activist and you just big’d up the white guy against me in the white media. And I’m not saying that in a racial way. I’m just saying what it is. The fact of what it was. And that was just the wrong way to go about it.
Watch both interviews featuring Jay Z and Harry Belafonte below:
Vodpod videos no longer available.“… and this is going to sound arrogant, but my presence is charity. Just who I am. Just like Obama’s is. Obama provides hope. Whether he does anything, the hope that he provides for a nation, and outside of America is enough. Just being who he is.My presence is charity .”
LOL – Really? Who does this former waste man from Marcy Projects think he is?
Last week Jay and his wife turned up at a rally for Trayvon Martin and then posed for photographs. So I suppose Trayvon’s grieving parents should feel grateful that Jay decided to grace them with his presence.
“My presence is charity” – This remark says a lot about his character.
The man is so rattled that his response to Belafonte barely makes any sense.
Shawn Carter aka Jay Z has been put high up on a pedestal and now believes his own hype. One of these days he will be dragged off that pedestal (by an individual that he considers a close ally) and come crashing back down to earth.
Rest In Peace Trayvon Martin.
Your thoughts please….
Categories: Video
MAD NEWS UK 
LOL. His presence is charity for Obama. I don’t think he does anything for those kids in the projects. If you have direct contact with such hopelessness and hopefulness, you can never be the person that he is and does. He was embarrassed. He is used to the likes of Oprah that don’t say anything directly to him. Belafonte has aged gracefully and will die gracefully. He will never be a has been. Jay z needs to find better ways to deal and respond to critics than act as a coward gangster and end up looking like the idiot that he is.
I would rather he didn’t give anything. When you force someone to give when they don’t want to, whatever they give might not be fruitful anyway. So it’s best he doesn’t give and enjoy his wealth with his wife.
Coward minus the gangster and add pretender.
Everything about Harry Belafonte is class, at the height of his career he took a huge risk and joined the Civil Rights movement when other black people were too scared, something alot black celebs would never do now their too busy shopping for reality TV deals. Jay-Z is acting like a boy he’s a man in hiphop, which isn’t very hard, but a boy outside, he should show respect, I’ve always had a dislike for Jay-Z and now I can see why it’s coz he’s a bitch, he needs to sit down with Harry Belafonte.
Jay z is too stuck and determined to stick to his ways because that’s how he benefits financially, to change and mature. That is the choice that he has made for himself. As you can see all those under him have developed the same way. He likes making himself superior and those better than him less than. And because he reasons the way he does and responds the way he does, people like Oprah don’t bother to really engage him in a proper conversation because he will never ever take responsibility if it means that he has to change and lose some change. So there’s really no point. You can’t change him but you can change yourself if you are not caught under his spell.
God complex much, I loathe that guy and his missus. We have to remember this is coming from a man who is in his 40s. Wait in 4.3.2.1 people coming to Jay rescue claiming that Harry and everybody who agree with him are haters lol!
Oh please, what is there to really hate about this man apart from his misleading life and success values. People can start hating on that first before they hate on people who created paths for them. You got to be dumb to not see how foul and his flawed his reasoning is. I don’t expect anything meaningful coming from his supporters. They all think alike.
Looking at your camel like face is NOT charity Jay-Z!!!! Get over yourself!
He is upset that Harry Belafonte bigged up Bruce Springstein, and that he should not have done that in front of the white media. Ermm, did he ever think that its probably very telling that Harry is biggin up the white artist because he is more active and is more visible when it comes to civil rights issues than he Jay-Z is. What does that say about your lack off action Jigga? Jay-Z is talking about being “seen” in certain place, with certain people, as being enough of an “effort”, which is idiotic if you have as much influence as he does. Your suppose to use your influence, rather than standing next to the President of The United States of America every once in a while, and smiling like a friggin jack ass! Who is that helping? How is that charity??
I agree with all of you, I think he has got used to people kissing his arse for doing nothing and was shocked that Harry Belafonte came at him, it’s funny how Jay-Z is always claiming it’s not about race now, but look how quick he plays the race card here. Harry Belafonte is talking truth and Jay-Z knows it.
Not forgetting how he constantly degrades black people and other rappers in his songs by saying he is better than them and he makes more money than them, calling them niggers, bitches and hos. According to his common sense, that is not sending out the wrong message to everyone in the white media. Even if he knows his main audience is white and they are going to be singing and rapping along to these lyrics that are insulting his fellow black men who are usually trying to educate or uplift other black men and women. Does he even care about their reputation and how they are going to be looked down on and seen as nothing because of the way he has chosen to make them into nothings in his songs? It’s no wonder that people don’t care about anything else about rap other than the type he has to offer. He has managed to bully his way to the top and silence anyone just incase they got blackballed or written about in a derogatory way in his songs. He is a very stupid man and let’s not blame it on the ghetto. Some people just live in the ghetto others choose to be the ghetto.
The man is so powerful and has managed to scare everyone into writing apology songs to him(Keri), worshiping his wife in their songs(Kelly), fighting at awards to get his wife recognized as the best( kanye), which is ridiculous.
It’s on record that he chose to dumb himself down to make million dollars. I don’t know why he thinks that we believe that he would take on any social responsibilities and that he really gives to charity. I don’t know how it works to stand for greed and exploitation and charity at the same time especially if you have no shame in your game. What does he think he is? Robinhood? Pft He needs to relax and enjoy his wealth in peace without feeling the pressure to give, because tbh he doesn’t have to, the only reason he gives is because he wants to be seen a certain way. It’s not for genuine reasons. He loves the idea of people begging and being at his mercy Marcy. Pft I pity the people he helps. They will choke on that help and probably never develop.