Jay Z reminds us who runs this town.
It seems like eons ago since folks tuned in weekly to Kanye West’s GOOD Fridays, where rap heads were once again blessed with a Jay-Z/Ye collab and the birth of Nicki Minaj on the track ‘Monster’.
Over the weekend, we were reminded that those days are nothing more than a mere memory.
After seven years in the shadows, Jay Z finally hit the festival scene with a 35-song set at the Roots Picnic on May 30th.
He performed all the hits you’d expect from his two decade spanning career, including ‘Run This Town’, ‘Never Change’ and ‘The Story of OJ’.
But what you wouldn’t expect was a four-minute freestyle that took jabs at former collaborators such as Kanye West, Drake and Nicki Minaj.
JAY-Z’s full freestyle at Roots Picnic pic.twitter.com/FEeEMuNUqc
— Complex Music (@ComplexMusic) May 31, 2026
The most bombastic roast of the evening involved shots at Nicki Minaj, alluding to the rape allegations against her husband, Kenneth Petty, and her right wing allignment to MAGA.
Jay Z rapped, “That lady back on the stuff, she sound like she in love with him/ Her Ken can’t even pick they kids, enough of them, rapper can’t be my opp, I got MAGA republicans.”
Shawn Corey Carter made it known that he’s caught up to speed, by responding directly to Drake’s recent Jay Z diss on ‘Janice STFU’, “We know how you OGs rocking already my n*a, the jig is up.”
Jay Z reaffirmed his position in rap culture by dismissing this shot by stating, “The jig is up/We got up 10/wrong chart champ/You gotta look up again/N—-s look up to Hov/I never looked up to them.”
Despite playing iconic tracks created in tandem with Kanye West back in 2011, like ‘No Church In The Wild’ and ‘N—-s In Paris’, Hova brought up Kanye’s recent shots at Beyoncé and her ‘mentally disabled’ children.
Jay Z stunned the audience with “You ever heard of wonder-kin? My children are some of them/ Have you n—-s have no shame? You trying to get under skin? I’ll really get under skin.”
Fans and rap decoders are still deciphering the cryptic bars and triple entendres of the rap icon.
Who knows what deeper meanings and shots will be uncovered in the next coming days.
View this post on Instagram
