Actor Faizon Love’s past comments about Jay-Z being a “drug lord” puppet have seemingly been addressed by the rapper.
The business mogul, who seldom releases music, is featured on Pusha T’s latest record, “Neck & Wrist,” from his upcoming album “It’s Almost Dry.” On the track Hov appears to entertain the internet fodder surrounding his past by cleverly rapping:
“The phase I’m on, love, I wouldn’t believe it either/I’d be like, ‘Jay-Z’s a cheater,’ I wouldn’t listen to reason either/All I know is he’s a felon, how is he selling.” On first listen Love said he did not realize the lyrics were aimed at him — he can thank Hov’s word play for name dropping him without actually saying Faizon.
“I didn’t get it at first, ’cause it’s some rap thing, and it’s not clear,” Love told Vlad TV. “First of all, I’m not a rapper. I have no bars, at all. … I listened to it. He didn’t really diss me.” The actor, who is best known for his roles in “Friday” and the “Parenthood” series, went on to say he is unbothered by the lyrics despite what anyone else may think. “Back at you, Love. We all love. It’s all love now, you know what I’m saying? I think I ruffled some feathers.”
In recent years, Love has openly discussed his beliefs that Jay-Z fabricated his persona of selling drugs in New York’s Marcy Projects in order to make his music career profitable.
“I like Jay-Z. I like him as a guy, and the whole thing he created about this fake dope dealing, that’s when I stopped liking him,” Love said while appearing on the “Hip Hop Uncensored” podcast two years ago. “This n***a ain’t sold no cocaine in his life — I don’t think he’s ever won a fight.”
That same year Love doubled down on his beliefs when sitting down with Vlad TV. “When Jay-Z creates this whole ‘I’m a drug dealer, I’m a drug lord’ [persona], these kids say, ‘We gotta do it, too, to be like Jay-Z.’ Not knowing that this is all made up sh-t.”
The “4:44” emcee has never shied away from talking about his days of selling cocaine as a young man. “Most people don’t make that much money selling drugs, but everyone thinks that they could be the one that really makes it and gets successful,” he told Vanity Fair in 2013. As his music career took off, Hov said he reached a point where he had to choose which life he most wanted to lead.
“It was harder for me to just walk away. I had to really make a hard decision and say I’m going to try to make this music work. I was trying to do both. Nothing good comes when you’re dabbling in both of those worlds.”
