JAY-Z was an “influencer” long before the term was coined, and he recently utilized his celebrity to assist a new soul food restaurant in Chicago achieve a big increase in revenue.
When his wife, Beyoncé, was in town performing, Hov had a craving for short ribs and pound cake. He’d heard about the Bronzeville Soul eatery through word of mouth and decided to swing by, surprising owner Mario Coleman.
“I couldn’t believe he was there.” Actually, I didn’t recognize him when I first saw him. “I thought it was someone else impersonating JAY-Z,” he explained.
JAY-Z supposedly appreciated the dinner even more after learning that Bronzeville Soul was Black-owned, so he gave the restaurant his own mark of approval.
“His actual words to me were that once he looked us up and saw it was a Black business, he did tell me he wanted to support Black businesses, and he said, that’s why I’m here,” Coleman explained. “He said the food is good.”
The restaurant reported a great uptick in sales as a consequence of Jigga’s visit, which the business evidently needed following a rough “up and down” year.
“We went through a lot of changes, but everything worked out well for everyone,” Coleman said. “We’re pleased. We want it to be better, of course, but we’re content that it’s not killing us to the point where we’re thinking, ‘We ain’t gonna make it,” Coleman told Block Chicago Club.
JAY-Z may be popular in Chicago, but Boosie Badazz recently said that he is more respected in the South than the Hip Hop mogul.
On Tuesday (July 25), Boosie created a social media firestorm by uploading a screenshot of a tweet that said, “Nobody from the South has Jay-Z ahead of Boosie on their All-Time list.”
The brazen allegation was co-signed by Boosie, who wrote in his Instagram caption,
“I FUCK WITH JIGGA BUT THESE FACTS!! DON’T PUT HOV OVER BADAZZ STREET N-GGAS N DA SOUTH.”
Boosie’s tweet elicited passionate comments from supporters on both sides of the debate. “Neva have neva will,” fellow Louisiana rapper Hurricane Chris agreed in the comments section.
“If you’re from the south, you’ve never hit the road and heard a nigga bumping no dam.” Cut it out, JayZ! “Let’s be honest,” another Southern rap enthusiast countered.
“In the south.. ‘Set it off’ and ‘WIPE ME DOWN’ LIGHT THE CROWD ON FIRE waaay more than ANY JIGGA SONG [shrug emoji] that’s just southern facts.”
Others, however, found it difficult to accept the notion that Boosie Badazz rates higher than JAY-Z among the best rappers of all time, notably those from the South.
“Yeah, you’re trippin. “There is definitely a southern bias,” one individual remarked. “If we’re talking ALL TIME, Boosie isn’t even in the top 15 in my opinion.” There is no Top 5 in the world. Jay-Z is certainly one of the best five rappers of all time, especially lyrically, and I’m from the deep nasty south.”
“I fw hatch, but Jay comes down south and sells out arena shows, and boo ain’t selling out arenas in the south.” “Not even BR,” said another.
Someone person joked, “Boosie sold 500 copies of his last album.” Apparently, nobody in the south is playing with Boosie like that.
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