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A Resurfaced Jay-Z Quote From 2010 Has Fans Debating The Lyrics From ‘Big Pimpin’

Jay-Z fans on Twitter are debating one of the rapper’s biggest hits a tweet from The Source‘s account asserted that Jay “regrets” making “Big Pimpin’,” the third single from his 1999 album Vol. 3… Life And Times Of S. Carter. The Source‘s tweet linked to an article on the magazine’s website which interpreted a quote from a 2010 Wall Street Journal interview to mean that Jay took a negative view of his old song. However, upon realizing the quote in question was over a decade old, fans quickly decried the article and the tweet as “clickbait.”

However, that didn’t stop the tweet from generating conversation, as Jay’s fans chimed in on his imagined reaction to his own lyrics, as well on The Source‘s out-of-context reporting. Some compared Jay’s older lyrics to his new ones, stating they preferred when Jay was “Big Pimpin’” alongside Bun B and Pimp C of UGK to the Jay-Z who makes deals with the NFL and raps about his big business moves like selling Tidal to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey.

Others agreed with the sentiment that Jay’s view must have changed over time. As one pointed out, since 2000, Jay has gotten married, had three kids, and changed his outlook on everything from fashion to his role in politics. Some thought “cancel culture” had finally come for him.

And while the quote in question is still difficult to put into context — after all, it’s just a written quote, and Jay’s notoriously sarcastic in interviews, besides his rapper’s penchant for using metaphorical language to describe a point of view that can get lost in translation in a different format — it’s still proof positive that Jay is still one of the most foremost figures in hip-hop. See more of the polarized responses to Jay’s old quote below, and read the full interview here.

Published by Katherina Alvarez