Hov did not waste any time addressing multiple elephants in the room. He opened the set with “Hovi Baby” and then immediately went full a capella to address Tory Lanez, the incarcerated rapper’s father Sonstar Peterson, Dame Dash, Ye (formerly Kanye West), Oschino Vasquez, Jaguar Wright, Nicki Minaj, and Drake.
The quality of the freestyle falls into the ear of the beholder; still, there is something to say about the fact that he is jabbing yet again at his longtime rival and co-founder of Roc-A-Fella while also addressing newer opposition such as Lanez’s father. “The Roc’s not crumbling/ Leprechauns have run out of pranks/ Your son in a federal jail mumbling something ‘bout having too much in his drink,” he rapped.
Minaj may have caught the most scathing bars, which says a lot because he quite literally held himself back. “That lady back on that stuff/ She like she in love with ‘em/ Her Ken can’t even… / Take they kid….. / Enough of them,” Jay spat as if he wanted to go further but knew he had said enough.
Of course, what people were most interested in was whether the Roc Nation leader would respond to Drizzy’s disses from multiple records on ICEMAN, namely the Billboard Hot 100 chart-topper “Janice STFU.” Well, his name isn’t Janice, so he did not shut up.
Jigga declared no rapper could be his “opp” when the government is run by MAGA Republicans —noteworthy considering he seemed to have positive interactions with Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, members of that side — before attempting to put Drake in his “little brother” place again.
“The jig is up, n—a I’m up 10, wrong chart champ, n—as looked up to Hov, I never looked up to them,” he rapped emphatically. Jay-Z is either finally feeling the weight of all who hold disdain for him and getting riled up, is unfazed and looking to shut the door on any possible future beefs before they begin, or somewhere in between those two extremes. Needless to say, he sees and hears it all, and won’t go silently.
