Uncle Luke Speaks On Jay-Z's NFL Deal Controversy
Roc Nation herald Jay-Z’s handshake with the NFL, which procured him a deal with the pro-football league as its live music entertainment strategist and social justice consultant, is still drawing opposition nearly a week after its announcement.
But as its racking up arguments, Hov’s hip-hop peers are entering the conversation in numbers as well. Following Freddie Gibbs, Cardi B, and DJ Khaled comes Miami’s freak tunes pioneer, Uncle Luke, who took to Instagram with his two cents on the controversy.
The former 2 Live Crew leader, an evident supporter of Jay and the new deal, began with his criticism for footballers and the lack of non-Black business team leaders. “NFL players can talk to me about social justice when they hire a Black agent [or] financial advisor,” he wrote in a post. “A lot of good ones out there.” In his caption, he added his definition of social injustice, which describes any individual deprived of an opportunity due to their skin color. “Well God d***it [it’s] a lot of NFL black players that deprive a lot of good black agents of opportunity so don’t take a knee when you’re doing that,” Luke continued. “Keep it 100 if you [gonna] keep it 100.”
In a second post, he encouraged Jay’s critics to give him a chance amid the new deal. “The JZ I know ain’t no sell out,” he wrote. “Give the man a d**n opportunity to implement his plan.”
Uncle Luke’s sentiments encompasses the universal standpoint of Jay’s advocates, despite most critics’ argument that the deal is hypocritical considering Jay’s public support of blackballed-NFL-player-turned-social-justice-martyr Colin Kaepernick in recent months.
In addition to speaking out against the league in his hit “APESH**” single, Jay also had reportedly urged Travis Scott out of his Super Bowl halftime performance in further support of Kaepernick—or so some people thought. In his press conference with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, Jay actually informed that his gripe wasn’t with Scott performing for the show. His issue was with the “Sicko Mode” rapper performing as a “second fiddle” act to Maroon 5 after having such a huge year, he stated. Still, his stance was made clear elsewhere during the NFL versus Kaepernick saga, such as during his Saturday Night Live performance in October 2017 where he sported a Kaep jersey with the former quarterback's number on the back.
While Kaepernick hasn’t spoken out about the deal just yet, he did take to Twitter to thank longtime supporter and former 49ers teammate Eric Reid for his continued support amid the deal’s public backlash. Kaep’s girlfriend and Hot 97 host Nessa Diab, however, directly shut down claims that a conversation took place between Kaep and Jay-Z and also informed that he was never included in the discussion leading up to the partnership.
We’ll keep you updated on more developments surrounding the deal as they become available.
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