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TIDAL this, TIDAL that. TIDAL doesn’t know how to hire Black. Unless you count Jay Z?

The above photo was posted on a Beyoncé affiliate’s Instagram feed. You can see Jay, Bey and a bunch of non-Black folks smiling bright under a TIDAL logo. Could this be TIDAL’s “Black Business” staff we’re supposed to be supporting? Looks like it. As long as you’re getting your music at a higher quality pricetag, right?

MUST READ: #SorryNotSorry: We Love Jay Z & Beyonce, But We’re Just Not Here For TIDAL

What does the photo do to your soul? Burns, doesn’t it? The same man who busted out a freestyle at his recent B Sides show about people not supporting Black businesses, is pushing a business that’s not even Black. Jay’s lines about TIDAL name dropped Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown and Freddie Gray:

I feel like YouTube is the biggest culprit

Them n*ggas pay you a tenth of what you supposed to get

You know n*ggas die for equal pay right?

You know when I work I ain’t your slave right?

You know I ain’t shucking and jiving and high fiving

You know this ain’t back in the days right?

But I can’t tell, how the way they killed Freddie Gray right

Shot down Mike Brown how they did Tray right?

Let them continue choking n*ggas

We gonna turn style, I ain’t your token n*gga

You know I came in this game independent right?

Tidal, my own label, same difference

Is TIDAL really a Black business? Not only do all the artists we saw at the ostentatious press conference for TIDAL own it, but the above photo is just adding more insult to, well…insult.

Jay Z tells us we’re not supporting Black businesses, but what business is he talking about? Because it’s not TIDAL. He’s speaking from the same wealthy, White-washed mindset that labeled Iggy Azalea the queen of hip hop. What was the last Black business Jay supported?

Jay is using the race card where it’s clearly invalid. He’s wrong about TIDAL being a Black business and about people supporting Black businesses. According to reports, Black owned businesses in the United States increased 60.5 percent between 2002 and 2007. An increase like that means that we have and can support Black businesses. The tired argument that people don’t support Black businesses can’t just come from a Black man with a slew of non-Black employees. We don’t believe you Jay. You need more people. More Black people.

Last we checked, Jay’s latest business ventures were predominately luxury, often placing lower income (read: Black) holders far away from his $3000 boxers out of his fashion line at Barneys. Barneys isn’t a Black business. But you know what is? Hole in the wall shops from the Brooklyn streets that raised Jay. But you’ll never see him partner with Jimmy Jazz.

The largest most concentrated Black population in America consists of more than 900,000 African Americans living in a four mile square area in the New York Borough of Brooklyn. That’s Jay’s borough! In his words, he’s “big enough to do it.” The “it” is to support Black businesses or at least hire Black. Then, we’ll hear out his cries of non-support.

It was reported that in April, Jay Z closed the TIDAL offices in Sweden, firing about 25 employees. The people in the photo above must be the new employees? But, where’s the Black people behind this Black business Jay Z speaks of? That’s what it takes to make a business a Black business, right? Black people. One Instagram commenter said:

Yes there is black people in Norway , I am the proof, sometimes here I see black people struggle to find a job. There is huge selection.

So even if Jay wants to have TIDAL live in Sweden, there’s still more than enough talented Black people he could employ. We don’t expect him to have a complete Black-out and hire no one but Black people, but if he did the opposite already, would it be that far-fetched?

We’re just going to have to let his whining about supporting Black business fall on these deaf ears because TIDAL is not Black owned or operated.

Let’s not forget that the only reason TIDAL exists is so that artists can have more money, not so that Jay Z can have Black business guilt trips to pass around at exclusive TIDAL concerts. We will support every Black business until our wallets are empty, but prove to us that TIDAL is a Black business first.

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