Jay-Z Opens Roots Picnic With a Four-Minute Freestyle That Appears to Answer Drake

Jay-Z answered Drake before the first chorus. Minutes into his headlining set at Roots Picnic in Philadelphia on Saturday (May 30), right after “Hovi Baby,” he stopped the show for a four-minute a cappella freestyle, and by the end of it the internet had decided who it was about.

The set was his first headlining show in more than five years. Per Rolling Stone, he played 32 songs over 90 minutes, backed by the Roots, and, as Complex notes, he showed up with a new Afro. The guests: Meek Mill for “Dreams and Nightmares,” Jazmine Sullivan, Bilal on “No Church in the Wild,” and a reunited State Property, with Beanie Sigel, Freeway and Peedi Crakk, plus Memphis Bleek.

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The freestyle is what people will remember. It took on a line from Drake’s Iceman, “the jig is up,” from “Janice STFU,” and flipped it: “The jig is up, I’m up 10, wrong chart champ,” Hov rapped, in the version Complex transcribed. HotNewHipHop reads “wrong chart champ” as a reference to Drake’s recent Billboard milestones, and “up 10” as a net-worth line. He also went at Drake’s contract situation: “in perpetuity is how your contract is worded,” per Rolling Stone. It was the other half of a quarrel that began when Drake took a swipe at Jay-Z on the album, rapping about taking $500,000 instead of a dinner.

Jay-Z’s bars also appeared to answer Nicki Minaj and criticized Kanye West over past remarks, according to Pitchfork and Rolling Stone. Billboard adds that the freestyle took in Dame Dash.

The moment sits awkwardly with something he said just before the show. In a recent GQ interview, he argued that rap beef has gone too far.

It’s too far. It’s bringing people’s kids into it. I don’t like that. Back then, you had the battle, it was fun, and you moved on.

Jay-Z, to GQ, Pitchfork

Rolling Stone points out that he admitted his stance might be hypocritical, given his history, and that “his freestyle last night serves as a case in point.” For all the heat, the night was mostly a celebration. Billboard calls Jay-Z one of the few “event artists” left in hip-hop.

It is also a rehearsal. The show is the prelude to his hometown run at Yankee Stadium: July 10 for the 30th anniversary of Reasonable Doubt, July 11 for the 25th anniversary of The Blueprint, and a third night, “Extra Innings,” added after demand. HotNewHipHop notes it remains to be seen whether Drake answers back.

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