NEW YORK, NY – DECEMBER 12: Jay Z speaks onstage during the Sports Illustrated Sportsperson of the Year Ceremony 2016 at Barclays Center of Brooklyn on December 12, 2016 in New York City. (Photo by Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images for Sports Illustrated)
JAY-Z just released a poignant video for “Dream. On,” a spoken-word piece where he talks about the challenges of trying to reach for something more lofty than one’s tough conditions.
In one fell swoop, the Brooklyn rapper not only reveals his own struggles as a child in Brooklyn’s Marcy housing project, but he talks about the hurdles that kids face today.
“I’m from where dreaming ain’t allowed / Especially when you’re dreaming aloud / Enough to dream your self-esteem into clouds / It takes tears, sweat, blood, 5CCs / ‘Cause I know what the kid in apartment 5C see’d / Heaven knows all I had was hella hope / Speed dating with Destiny / I couldn’t tell her nope,” recites the legendary rapper.
The well-worded and double entendre-filled poem is also to promote JAY’s annual “Made in America Festival,” sponsored by Budweiser, which he’ll headline.
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Other artists expected to hit the stage include Solange, Vic Mensa, Run the Jewels, Pusha T and many more.
Additionally, “No. Dream.” comes on the heels of the Roc Nation boss releasing a slew of thought-provoking visuals for what he calls “Footnotes,” which are video clips that explain some of the songs on his highly acclaimed “4:44” album.
To date, JAY has released footnotes for the cuts “Kill Jay-Z,” “The Story of O.J.” and for the album’s title track, where he reveals that he wasn’t all that faithful to his wife Beyoncé.
Meanwhile, as Business Insider reports, JAY and Beyoncé recently plunked down $88 million for a 2-acre, 30,000-square-foot-mansion in the Bel Air section of Los Angeles, and it turns out the purchase is the sixth-largest for a home in the city’s history. The couple took out a $52.8 million mortgage to purchase the fancy digs.
It’s been revealed that the power couple have a combined worth of $1.6 billion, so some may not be surprised that they paid so much for the L.A. mansion.
JAY signed a $200 million deal with the touring company Live Nation in May, and the couple continues to invest in various businesses, so it doesn’t look like they’ll be hurting for money anytime soon.
In addition, his streaming service, Tidal, which so many gave him a hard time for starting in the beginning, is now worth $600 million — more than 10 times more than the $56 million he paid for it in 2015.
So, the way it looks, JAY-Z overcame many of the challenges that he talked about in the “Dream. On.” piece, and it’s safe to assume that Beyoncé fulfilled a lot of her dreams as well.
You can see a clip of the spoken word piece below, before the two-day “Made in America” festival begins on Sept. 2.
