Jay Z brought a handful of special guests out onstage at his much-hyped “Tidal X: Jaÿ-Z B-Sides” concert at Terminal 5 in New York City last night (May 16). Among the surprise artists to make an appearance, Memphis Bleek and Beanie Sigel helped Jay with “You, Me, Him, and Her” while Jay Electronica chipped in for “We Made It” before offering fans a rendition of “Exhibit C” alongside Just Blaze. Jeezy also appeared to perform his Jay Z collaborations “Go Crazy” and “Who Dat.”
Late in the show though, Jay raised eyebrows with a new freestyle that took aim at YouTube and Spotify.
“I don’t take no checks I take my respect,” Jay rapped at one point, “Pharrell even told me go with the safest bet / Jimmy Iovine offered a safety net / Google dangled around a crazy check / I feel like Youtube is the biggest culprit / Them niggas pay you a tenth of what you supposed to get.”
Later in the freestyle he added, “Oh niggas is skeptical as their own shit / You bought 9 iPhones and Steve Jobs is rich / Phil Knight worth trillions you still bought those kicks / Spotify is 9 million they ain’t say shit / ‘Lucy you got some splaining to do.'”
Watch the whole freestyle below and stream the entirety of Jay Z’s “Tidal X” concert on Tidal.
Check out a setlist of the concert below courtesy of Jay Z Daily.
Dynasty (Intro)
Young, Gifted and Black
Pump It Up Freestyle
Streets is Watching
Friend or Foe
Where I’m From
Say Hello
Tidal Freestyle
Politics as Usual
Guess Who’s Back
Show You How
Jigga My Nigga
Hovi Baby
22 Twos
U Don’t Know
A Million and One Questions/Rhyme No More)
So Ghetto
D’evils
Murda Murda
This Can’t Be Life
Party Life
Success
Ignorant Shit
Grammy Family Freestyle
Takeover
You, Me, Him and Her (w/ Memphis Bleek, Beanie Sigel, Young Chris, and Neef)
What We Do (Freeway Cover)
Clique
We Made It (w/ Jay Electronica)
Exhibit C (Jay Electronica and Just Blaze solo)
Go Crazy (w/ Young Jeezy)
Who Dat (Young Jeezy)
Can I Live
In My Lifetime (Remix)
Feelin’ It
Imaginary Player
Dead Presidents
It’s Like That
Never Change
Blueprint (Momma Loves Me) (a capella version)
B.B. King Tribute
Allure
Star Spangled Banner (Jimi Hendrix tribute performed by Roc Boys)
Public Service Announcement
LOL HOW U GONNA DISS YOUTUBE? WHAT DID THEY DO TO YOU APART FROM BEING MORE SUCCESSFUL THAN YOUR BUNK APP
He just saying YouTube pay you a tenth of what you worth its just the truth
Jay we made you rich by buying RocaWear
You can’t guilt trip into buying that Tidal crap. You don’t care about the average man, or black people in general until you have a business venture. Barney’s treat black folks like crap, you kept your clothing in their stores. i don’t care how long you freestyle, my money stays in my pocket.
But you still gone buy somebody else shit and make them rich though
I will buy somebody’s shit, true. It just won’t be his!
you sound hella stupid. knock it off
Jay we made you rich by buying your albums
how ironic is it that the video was posted on youtube
Tidal must really be flopping lol jay is getting desperate
my thoughts exactly, gotta be desperate to bring beans back after all those disses
Holy shit Beanie Sigel? That’s a headline in itself
Jay-z talkin’ about money, we talkin’ about money, not a game, not a game, Jay-z talkin’ about money, money, not the game that I love, but money, Jay-z talking about money.
Woah!jay represents Black people,#respect
Jay-z is the corniest man alive. I could give two shits about his bank account.
Bobby in the way u got money fuck u gotta chill young bull we grown
Damn Jay is a Legend!!!
Jay is just allowing artist to get what they deserve and cut out the middle man who is robbing artist ANYWAY! Artist can also put out there OWN content, WHATEVER it may be! Dope if you ask me, get it DIRECTLY from THE SOURCE!
cut out the middle man? isnt jay the middle man? isnt jay profiting off these artists now?
Dont like Jay-z for shyt but that nigga got off on that one..Dayumm
leave jay alone
Without YouTube a lot of people would get no exposure…it’s made people rich..we/he should be greatful.