Black Ambition Stretches Beyond Black Capitalism
Don’t listen to celebrity propaganda; Black people’s power shouldn’t be geared toward ascending the existing establishment — Black power is about abolishing it.
Last week, Jay-Z and Pharell hit us with another dose of neoliberal rap. The song and video for “Entrepreneur” are heavy on pathos and cues to Black solidarity but empty on self-awareness. Not only is the song cloying to an unsettling degree, with tone-deaf “Black man” chants, but it also came during a summer where we were reminded that “vertical integration,” as Jay-Z rhymed about, isn’t going to save Black people. Financial freedom is not Black liberation.
They marketed the song as an ode to Black ambition, but it sounds complacent. The idea that we’re going to “buy Black” our way to prosperity is an exhausted falsehood. Upwardly mobile Black celebrities were once beacons of aspiration when so many of us thought that buying Black was the gateway to economic equality. But in a post-BLM, post-Minnesota world, too many of us know better — they still don’t.
Jay-Z won his fortune tapping into the zeitgeist of a generation, and apparently he’s resolved to keep it by being willfully ignorant about the desires of a new generation. So many Black people spent their summer demanding that Black celebrities speak up about the pro-George Floyd/Breonna Taylor uprising — but when most opened their mouths, we realized why we shouldn’t expect anything from them.
America is an oligarchy. Sure, politicians sign the bills, but so many of their decisions are steered by lobbyists and rich friends with vested interest in exploiting the 99% for everything they have. Under their system, us regular folk need to be working as many hours a week as humanly possible and focused on consuming as much as we can when we’re not working. And whether it’s student loans or sky-high medical bills, our survival — and destruction — is a matter of paying dues to the royal class.
Nowadays, celebrities seem to know nothing better than to push the delusion that if we put “Black” in front of capitalism, everything will be alright. If a couple of us are in the king’s court, then we can all aspire to scramble for the next seat. Black celebrities’ first job is whatever their craft is; their second job is keeping poor people indoctrinated with rich aspirations.
Under capitalism, hope is all we’ll ever have as a race. In 2018, Jay-Z made, “What’s Free?” with Meek Mill and Rick Ross. It’s time for him, and so many other Black capitalists to ask themselves, “what’s wealth?”
On “Entrepreneur,” Jay-Z questioned, “Black Twitter, what's that? When Jack gets paid, do you?” His point was that because Black people have no financial stake in Twitter, the community isn’t a real thing. That gross implication is his first mistake. There are parallels between Black Twitter and hip-hop, the industry that propelled him to wealth. Both entities started as insular communities which saw it’s most notable members parlay their abilities into new career opportunities. There’s no “you’re now entering Black Twitter” notification on the site, but an untold number of Black people have benefitted from the site’s opportunity for networking and brand awareness — including the Black capitalists he was trying to rouse on “Entrepreneur.”
It’s baffling why he would shoot at his target audience to start his verse, but more damning than his hypocrisy is the implication that wealth is strictly a matter of finances. Ironically, Black Twitter is where so many young Black people gained the knowledge needed to call bullshit on his capitalist politics. It’s where we learned that Black radical theory is worth more than any delusion of ascending capitalism as a collective and that capitalism is predicated on the exploitation of poor people conditioned to consume and overwork themselves to unhealthy degrees. Capitalism is the ultimate pyramid scheme. Expecting Black people to vertically integrate as a collective is like expecting a seesaw to function with everyone on the same side.
Jay-Z once likened himself to Fred Hampton. I wonder if he ever read when Hampton said, “we say we’re not going to fight capitalism with Black capitalism, but we’re going to fight it with socialism.” Fred Hampton was a leader who understood that Black wealth wouldn’t save us — it would only stagnate us, as the false promise of representation always draws people away from the work needed to uproot capitalism.
Hampton came from the revolutionary tradition that we need to be aspiring to emulate. We owe ourselves more than settling for sporadic Black representation in white institutions or fighting an uphill battle of small victories that we hand off to the next generation. The idea that capitalism will save us is a byproduct of living in an individualist nation desperately predicated on disharmony among Black people. Hampton, the rest of the Black Panthers, and other Black radical theorists weren’t focused on accruing, they sought racial solidarity and abolition. They knew that our collective focus should be communal, not financial.
Institutional racism isn’t going away by supporting “two FUBUs” or having Kamala Harris as Vice President. The only way to get rid of systemic issues is to get rid of the system. Period. Anyone telling you otherwise is uneducated and/or trying to miseducate you.
Jay-Z and Pharell’s talents represent the vast possibility of Blackness. They both left an imprint on society and culture that wasn’t there before them. But it’s a shame that their politics aren’t as revolutionary as their musical gifts.
At our best, Black people have a resourcefulness and resilience that’s been the basis of our survival in America — we’re the basis for the entire country, actually. But we can want more than mere survival. Don’t listen to celebrity propaganda; Black people’s power shouldn’t be geared toward ascending the existing establishment — Black power is abolishing it.
Our identity is more vibrant than how we engage with America’s oppressive constructs. Our identity isn’t defined by us being slaves, it’s about the thousands of slave revolts. It’s not about us being hosed by police at demonstrations, it’s about abolishing segregation. Europeans have constantly tyrannized us with oppressive institutions, and we’ve constantly toppled them. Let’s keep that cycle going. Today, our ambition can’t be defined by ascending an exploitative system — let’s fight for a new, just one. As James Baldwin imparted on us, “the impossible is the least that one can demand.” We’ve seen what capitalism has gotten us. Let’s ask ourselves what “impossible” looks like.
Jay-Z rhymed, “if you can't buy the building at least stock the shelf / then keep on stackin' 'til you stockin' for yourself” on “Entrepreneur.” How much stackin’ will uproot white supremacy? There are millions of us not interested in building our own stores; in June we were burning them down. The capitalism commercial that is “Entrepreneur” was supposed to be uplifting after a tumultuous summer, but it was self-parody. Under capitalism, even social justice is pursued through consumerism, via celebrity activists, representational politics, BreonnaCons, and promoting the confusing praxis of helping Black entrepreneurs hoard wealth for the greater good.
Black people’s beauty can’t be contained by the scope of capitalism or white supremacy. Appreciation for who we, and who we’ve always been, goes beyond who we choose to buy from. What about what we choose to believe in together? What about the kind of world we can create together? Don’t ascribe to capitalism, read more about abolitionism. Capitalism is an exploitative, nerve-wracking, ever-compromising quandary that constantly asks “more.” Abolition is a simple resolve of “no more.”
This is a free newsletter. Those who wish to support can contribute here:
Venmo: Andre-Gee
This is tight, thank u.
A couple questions, as is this novel new trend:
1 - what should be the first act that can undermine capitalism as a system? And how can we take our education and awareness and turn it to actionable results?
2 - is the best socialist rapper Noname, Paris or Boots?
3 - how long has there been a focus more on the Black Panthers as black male supremacy than as a black socialist party, and why is one acceptable to the white power structure and one is a threat to the white power structure?
4 - what is the best Paul Robeson song/cover?
Socialism is not synonymous with Collectivism and commerce is not synonymous with capitalism. Let each group use whatever tools they may need to achieve their aim.