Jay-Z Needs 'Street Cred' Revoked, According to OWS Protesters
Jay-Z has become the unofficial face of Occupy Wall Street, as a part of the one percent that protesters are fighting against.
Artist Daniel Edwards created a totum pole sculpture with the faces of Mr. Burns from The Simpsons, Scrooge McDuck from Disney’s Christmas Carol, Richie Rich and Jay-Z at the base, wearing multiple chains around his neck complete with a money sign pendant.
The street artist explained the reason for creating the sculpture, called the Scrooge Totem Pole.
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“I think Jay-Z has made himself a face of [the] Wall Street that Occupiers are protesting against,” Edwards said. “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.”
According to Edwards, the rapper should suffer from some type of consequences for ignoring the struggles of protesters.
“Rap stars who turn ‘Scrooge’ have to suffer some damage to their street credibility,” Edwards said.
Protesters are upset with the rapper turned mogul, after Jay-Z decided to capitalize on the “Occupy Wall Street” movement by creating a T-shirt line that did not donate any profits to the national protest movement.
The shirts were created under the rapper’s Rocawear label. It features the words “Occupy All Streets” with the “w” crossed out in red. A red “s” was also placed at the end of the word “street.” The new design makes the T-shirt read: “Occupy All Streets.”
However media mogul and former record executive Russell Simmons defended his rapper friend. Simmons said there was nothing wrong with Jay-Z’s company selling the shirts.
“What’s wrong with selling goodness? There’s nothing wrong with it,” Simmons told Billboard.biz in an interview. “It’s not the most preferred. You should sell things you’re happy about. You should sell products that you’re inspired by, that promotes lasting and stable well-being.”
