JAY-Z Addresses Roc Nation’s NFL Partnership On Jay Electronica’s “Flux Capacitor”

Jay Electronica finally released his long-awaited album, A Written Testimony, which features multiple appearances from his Roc Nation boss JAY-Z. One track that has fans talking is “Flux Capacitor,” which finds Jay addressing his much-criticized partnership with the NFL.

After handling the opening chorus, Jay fires back at his critics while mentioning NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. He also references Cleveland Browns wide receiver Odell Beckham:

Why would I sell out, I’m already rich, don’t make no sense
Got more money than Goodell, a whole NFL bench
Did it one-handed like Odell
Handcuffed to a jail

Many people called Jay a hypocrite after the NFL deal. The Brooklyn MC had previously shown his support for former quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who began kneeling during the National Anthem in 2016 to protest police brutality and social injustice.

He also turned down an offer to perform at the Super Bowl halftime show, which he confirmed on the Beyoncé collaboration, “APESH*T," by rapping:

I said no to the Super Bowl: you need me, I don’t need you
Every night we in the end zone, tell the NFL we in stadiums too

In 2018, Jay tried to talk Travis Scott out of performing at the Super Bowl with Maroon 5.

Prior to this year’s game, Jay spoke to The New York Times about the NFL partnership. He said the conversation needed to move on from Kaepernick to focus on issues like prison reform.

“Focusing on social justice is the nature of how we grew up,” Jay-Z said about the artists on Roc Nation. “The people we sign—75 percent of them, at least—grew up in poverty. When one of us gets signed, it doesn’t end our connection to the ’hood or the streets. Our lives are still there, our cousin still needs a lawyer, our mother still can’t make the rent. This is real life.”

Listen to the song above, and read all the lyrics to Jay Electronica’s “Flux Capacitor” on Genius now.