It's not about skin color, it's about gangsta rap stereotypes, as Mushnick has mentioned. If today only blacks can criticize their culture, we live in a very strange society.

P.S. I really like hip-hop.

Criticizing somebody who made a career out of use of the N word and the B word is now racist?

Fuck you.

Jay-Z, like most rappers, perpetuates the worst stereotypes about blacks and he's a misogynist.

It amazes me how people make generalizations on 
Hip-Hop and it usually comes down to two words bit*** and h***and most people who are the critics haven't even listen to enough of Jay-z's music too make a educated opinion.

Look how many people Johnny Cash has killed or hurt in his songs but his career doesn't get dumbed down to that. 

For the record I don't like the design of the new logo and I defintely think Jay-Z could have done better but this guy made stupid statement and that's that..

America still is a very racist place and the internet shines the light on that more, reading all the ignorant stuff on these blogs and sites..

By the way I don't hide behind fake pen names ....

Have anyone of you heard the Jay-Z feat Eminem called "Renegade."

" Do you fools. Listen to music or. Do you just skim. Through it?"

"I killed a man in Reno, just to watch him die. " 

That's one example of him singing in the first person about a prisoner doing hard time and how lonely it becomes. 

Please give us your numerous examples of where he hurt or killed someone. You won't find it. Or where he offended someone.

Do you even no Cash's music?  If you really did, you wouldn't have even made this comment

"Look at how many people Cash has killed or hurt in his songs." (Note the italics.) Do you read comments or just skim through them?

Cash shot a man in Reno just to watch him die. He also took a shot of cocaine and he shot his woman down (and called her a "bad bitch" in the same song). Later on, he tied Delia to a chair, shot her in the side, then finding "hard to watch her suffer," shot her again, and she died.

All in songs, of course, just like the people Jay-Z killed in his songs. Seems a valid argument to me.

No, the use of the term towards people of color was racist. 

Use your brain. 

Honestly, I think the black and white reference for the uniforms is kind of silly and does open him up to putting these comments in terms of black vs white but overall I can't call this racist and I do strongly criticize racism in all forms.

He's taking Jay-Z's artistic brand, which is at the center of his success and the basis for his ability to do business, and applying it to a sports team co-owned by Jay-Z.  In so doing he does a pretty straightforward job of pointing out that a whole lot of big brands are aligning themselves with an artist whose body of work is about drug dealing, killing, bragging about using women as sex toys and helping keep the N-word alive.

He just does it very artistically to expensive beats so it's all good?

When I think of The Black Album, which is one of my favorite hip hop albums up until the filler material at the end, the first thing that comes to mind are lyrics about shooting people for real cause he's not a movie director and bitches not being his problem.

This is the guy that said hip hop did more for race relations than the Civil Rights movement?

As a black woman, I feel that this statement couldn't have been more true. There is absolutely nothing inherently racist about what he said. Mishnick did a great job of throwing a staple of Jay-Z's success right back at him. Well done Mushnick!

For the record I don't like being referred to as a bitch or a hoe, and I damn sure don't like any man that continues to perpetuate the message that it is okay.  

This is all kinds of racist. It's a blatant attack. If you're going to combat the ills of a culture you don't inject a contaminated syringe. Yes, Jay Z has made a huge profit from works about misogny, heathenism, and hustling, but so has Hollywood. HIS money went towards the team, therefore he has every right to redesign the uniforms. When you bring the word nigger in to any conversation aggressively it becomes racist. And by no means am I justifying his lyrical actions, I'm simply stating that if you're going to throw rocks for wrong doing then start with the big guys first. This is absolutely ridiculous and he needs to lose his job.  

I would be willing to bet that there are quite a few team owners out there that don't want to discuss how their money (or family money) was made.  Mushnick's statement is racist.  The defense he made of his statement is not and is what mushnick should have said first and last.

straight up shameful!

Another reason not to ever read the NY Post.

Could this be considered a "teachable moment"?

Lyrics that abuse the "N" word and refer to women as "bitches & hoes" are not my favorite. But I support the right of entertainers and other business people to lawfully seek success in our free-market society.

This discussion is definitely worth pursuing.

The problem with Mushnick's statement, is that it's not clear Mushnick would not approve of the naming choices he suggests.

I agree with the point of his criticism, but as a modest proposal, this excerpt falls flat.  But then a lot of sports *cough*hacks*cough* don't seem too well-read.

Jay-Z like always is doing an outstanding job. This Bloomberg game changer has the right to his input on what he own. If you want to call , Jay's , team the New York Niggers , the Brooklyn Bed Sty streets are big and black enough to live with that. But then you have to flip the next racist card and pull out George Steinbrenner and family of the , New York Yankees , and conclude that they are the , New York Auschuwitz Sluggers ! 

If Mushnick were really making a nuanced point about Jay-Z's music and lyrics, I'd be willing to consider his point of view. But he's not. He's just pitching a hissy fit over the fact that no one consulted him before moving the team to Brooklyn and changing the team colors. I don't know if he's really a racist or just using the "N" word as a desperate cry for attention, but either way, he's an idiot.

Wow this guy is talkin out of his ASS. Smh

This just in: Some NY Post writers are fucking idiots.

...EXTREMELY Racist Jay-Z Article.

Of course they are IT'S THE POST!

in my opinion, facts were stated. Was it the right forum?

smh

Not a loaded or rhetorical question here, just genuinely curious about what the board thinks: if I am not an African-American, am I culturally allowed to use/make reference to the N word?  I never know the answer to this and it makes singing a number of hip hop tracks out loud tricky as I end sounding like the radio edit :)

Seems to me that half of the response against the NY Post comment was the fact that the comment/criticism of Jay-Z, including the reference to the N word, was made by somebody who is not African-American.  For clarity sake, I am not commenting on the validity/veracity of his comment and its subject matter, just noting that perhaps this is why there has been so much backlash against it.  

Said differently: if the same comment was made by an African-American man or woman (let's go with man to keep apples to apples), would there be the same backlash here?

Again, not commenting on the issue itself, asking about whether the context is playing a part in the response.

You lost the majority of readers when you used the word "rhetorical."

No. If a black man wrote this article, he would not be racist. He would just be disrespectful. Big difference. 

My comment addresses the bigger picture. RACE as well as RACISM is just an idea. The ideaology of both is about control and division amongst human beings. His comment was made due to his conditioning and miseducation. I do think it was disrespectful and stereotypical however, I understand why HE made it. I also understand why the New York Post ran and has yet to retract the story...controversy sells, or in this case, hope will sell their product. How can human beings end racism...stop talking about it. Only then will it truly cease to exist.

i like the logo.  Done.

wow.

only in America ...

We talking about the creative direction of a brand. As soon as a man of color makes a move this happens...You don't like the colors? Are you even from Brooklyn? Can you even own a team?

This isnt criticism. This was a publicity stunt to increase readership.....period. Can't tell me different. And honestly, of the NY post wants to steep this low for love, good riddance. 

If you are an African American and you agree with this disrespect, I will pray for you. Because this isn't coming from a good place at all. It's very sad.if things like this continue to be published as truth, we are in for a worldwind.

If you dont like jay-z's lyrics or how he made his money, attack that, you have every right. But a white man in American calling black people niggers isn't going to make a point. Whatever point he was even trying to make....I still don't know.