By Patricia Uyeh,

United States rapper, Jay-Z described President Donald Trump’s now-infamous “shithole” remarks in an interview with CNN’s Van Jones that aired Saturday, as “disappointing” and “hurtful.”

According to ‘Empire state of mind’ rapper, Trump’s touting of the black unemployment rate doesn’t erase his treatment of the black community.

He said:
“Money doesn’t equate to happiness. It doesn’t. That’s missing the whole point.”

In a tweet, the American  president clapbacked at the hip-hop legend, saying:
“Somebody please inform Jay-Z that because of my policies, Black Unemployment has just been reported to be at the LOWEST RATE EVER RECORDED!”

You recall Trump earlier this month made a controversial statement sparking racism in an immigration meeting, referring to Haiti, El Salvador and African countries — nations populated by black and Latino people — as “shithole” countries he didn’t want immigrants from.

To which Jay-Z said the remarks were “hurtful” and “misinformed” but added that they’re a symptom of a greater problem in America.

“You are so misinformed because these places have beautiful people and beautiful everything. It’s just this is the leader of the free world speaking like this. But on the other side, this has been going on. This is how people talk. This is how they talk behind closed doors,” he said, mentioning Donald Sterling, the former Los Angeles Clippers owner who was caught on tape making racist comments. Sterling was banned from the NBA, which Jay-Z described as spraying “perfume on the trash can,” essentially sweeping the broader problem of racism in America under the rug. And that, he said, is how you arrive at Trump:

“You don’t take the trash out, you keep spraying whatever over it to make it acceptable. As those things grow, you create a superbug. And then now we have Donald Trump, the superbug.”

Adding that the president is also a human being, Jay Z said:

“Somewhere along his lineage, something happened to him. Something happened to him and he is in pain and he is expressing it in this sort of way,”

Another rapper, Eminem didn’t hold back his thoughts on the president during an interview with Billboard Thursday, describing his rhetoric as “disgusting” and “divisive.”

Eminem said:
“I know that Hillary (Clinton) had her flaws, but you know what? Anything would have been better (than Trump). A (expletive) turd would have been better as a president,”

This isn’t the first time the rapper has spoken up about Trump. In an interview with The New York Times sometime in December last year, he was quoted saying:

“I (hesitate) to say (I have) hatred in my heart for him, but it’s serious contempt. I do not like the guy,”

 

US president is yet to respond to Emimen’s remarks.

Photo credit: Macabre, USA Today