The Occupy Wall Street movement has been growing with increasing momentum. The more the movement grows, the more celebrities are capitalizing on it's potential to be marketable. Jay-Z has become a target for criticism because of a new "Occupy All Streets" T-shirt that was released by his Roc-A-Wear line. In response, artists Daniel Edwards, who is a big occupy supporter, created a sculpture in reaction to the T-shirts. Heres what he had to say....
“I think Jay-Z has made himself a face of [the] Wall Street that Occupiers are protesting against. Maybe Jay-Z is striving to be in the one percent? Which is why I chose the composition of a totem pole because I thought it would resemble the number one. Rap stars who turn ‘Scrooge’ have to suffer some damage to their street credibility.”
The sculpture is essentially a totem pole of heads with Jay-Z's being the biggest at the base. On top of the rappers head is a variety of cartoon characters that represent greed and being money hungry. Although I agree with the criticism that Jay-Z is a bit crazy to think it would be cool to create t-shirts with the occupy logo on it and not support the movement with money. However with that said, Jay-Z and Russell Simmons have teamed up and are planning a concert to benefit the movement. At the end of the day, Jay-Z grew up in the Marcy projects in Brooklyn. He has always written music for the 99% and in no way, shape or form do I think that Jay-Z is striving to be in the one percent, because quite frankly he already is. And his track record for his whole life shows that he does support the 99%.
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