Jay-Z hopes his name will be up there with “Bob Marley and all the greats”.
The 51-year-old megastar has admitted he’s “not beyond ego” and would like to think he will have a place in history like the late reggae icon when he’s left this world.
He told The Sunday Times’ Style magazine: “I’m not beyond ego, right? Hopefully they speak of me [with] the names of Bob Marley and all the greats. But that’s not for me to say.”
Elsewhere, the ’99 Problems’ hitmaker also spoke about how “frustrating” it is that racial injustice is still an issue in 2021.
He said: “As a human race we’re still on basic things. We’re still on Stop Asian Hate.
“We can’t sit and cry over spilt milk, but we do have to acknowledge that there’s milk, right? But yes, to answer your question, it’s very frustrating … Are we here today? No. Are we further than 50 years ago? Yes.”
Last summer, Jay took out several newspaper advertisements in honour of George Floyd.
The hip-hop veteran and his label Roc Nation had the full-page ads published in the likes of the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, The Denver Post, and the Philadelphia Enquirer.
The black and white advertisement included a passage from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s 1965 Selma address.
It read: “Only way we can really achieve freedom is to somehow hunker the fear of death. But if a man has not discovered something that he will die for, he isn’t fit to live.
“Deep down in our nonviolent creed is the conviction — that there are some things so dear, so things so precious, so things so eternally true, that they are worth dying for.
“A man dies when he refuses to stand up for that which is right. A man dies when he refuses to stand up for justice. A man dies when he refuses to take a stand for that which is true.
“So we’re going to stand up amid horses. We’re going to stand up right here, amid the billy-clubs. We’re going to stand up right here amid police dogs, if they have them. We’re going to stand up amid tear gas!”
The advert was signed by Jay, the parents of Botham Jean, DJ Henry and Antwon Rose II – three young black men all killed by police – as well as Van Jones, Charlamagne tha God, and organisations including The Innocence Project and Until Freedom.
Floyd died in May 2020 when fired cop Derek Chauvin, who was convicted for his murder, knelt on his neck for several minutes, sparking global protests.