After taking some shots from Republicans over his vacation in Cuba, Jay-Z is now punching back as only he knows how, with the release of a sly and stinging new track that fillets his detractors.
The song is called “Open Letter.” And, to Florida Republicans Sen. Marco Rubio, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, it offers this response from the rapper-entrepreneur:
They wanna give me jail time and a fine./Fine. Let me commit a real crime.
The song also seems to offer what sounds like a view into Jay-Z’s own conversations with President Obama about the Cuba kerfuffle:
Obama said, Chill. You’re gonna get me impeached./You don’t need this s— anyway, chill with me on the beach.
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney denied any involvement—by the president and the White House—in planning of or giving clearance to Jay-Z and Beyonce’s Cuban retreat. He jokingly added, “OFAC, treasury these are tough words to rhyme. It’s a song. The president did not communicate with Jay-Z over this trip.”
“I am absolutely saying that the White House, from the president on down, had nothing to do with anybody’s personal — anybody’s travel to Cuba,” Carney said. “That is something that Treasury handles.”
Jay-Z also takes some shots at critics of his move into a new career as a sports agent. You can hear the entirety of “Open Letter” here.
Noel Hartman