Jay Z wants the public to know yet again he's not sorry for making a clothing deal with high-end department store Barneys after the retailer was accused of racially profiling its customers.
In a new rap song with Rick Ross, titled "The Devil is a Lie," Jay Z addresses the criticism he faced for continuing with the deal. Before the line debuted in November, several African American customers filed lawsuits against the department store, saying they were stopped and questioned after making purchases.
Trayon Christian, 19, claimed he was accused of debit card fraud after he used it to buy a $349 belt in April. Kayla Phillips, 21, claimed she had just bought a $2,500 Celine bag when she was stopped by detectives in February.
Jay Z's clothing line, the "Shawn Carter Collection," debuted in Barneys on Nov. 20 and featured items that ranged from a $70 t-shirt to a $33,900 watch. Critics slammed the Brooklyn native for appearing to not care about the store's practice of social injustice.
"See what I did to the stop and frisk? Brooklyn on at Barneys like we own the b----. Give the money to the hood, now we all win. Got that Barneys floor lookin' like a VIM," Jay Z said in the song. VIM is a Brooklyn-based clothing line.
When the racial profiling scandal was first reported, the 44-year-old did not immediately show support for those who claimed to be discriminated against.
"I haven't made any comments because I am waiting on facts and the outcome of a meeting between community leaders and Barneys," Jay Z wrote on his Life + Times website in October. "Why am I being demonized, denounced and thrown on the cover of a newspaper for not speaking immediately?"
Several weeks later, Jay Z announced all of the profits from the "Shawn Carter Collection" would go to his Shawn Carter Foundation, an organization that gives scholarships to disadvantaged youth. He also demanded to have a seat on the council set up to address racial profiling, Rolling Stone reported.
"Gettin' white money but I'm still black," Jay Z said in the song.
But according to the New York Daily News, most shoppers at Barneys' Midtown location on Thursday just walked past the mogul's collection.
Listen to "The Devil is a Lie" (WARNING: Explicit Language).
