Mysonne sent a video letter directly to Jay-Z this week, leading with respect and ending with a pointed correction over how Hov addressed the Target boycott from the Yankee Stadium stage.
The Bronx rapper and Until Freedom co-founder opened his rhyme and credited Jay-Z’s legacy without hesitation.
“You went from a kid that pitch crack and spit facts to a rich Black mogul,” Mysonne said. “Your global impact should be studied, cuz we studied Reasonable Doubt.”
He acknowledged that Jay-Z has spent years taking shots from his own community while quietly doing the real work behind the scenes, “silently funding the movement and fitting the bill and still taking the shots from your own.”
He said he understood the frustration that led to the Yankee Stadium freestyle, adding that when the culture you fought for tries to ruin your name, “that got to hurt.”
But Mysonne drew a firm line at how Jay-Z handled it.
During the opening night of his three-night Yankee Stadium residency marking Reasonable Doubt‘s 30th anniversary, Jay-Z dropped a freestyle dismissing boycott critics by arguing they were still scrolling Instagram, ordering from Amazon, and watching YouTube, rapping that consumers were “picking and choosing” their outrage.
The Target boycott launched in February 2025 after the retailer rolled back its DEI initiatives in the early days of the second Trump administration, wiping out $12 billion in market value and forcing a change in CEO.
Black consumers held the line even after Pastor Jamal Bryant declared the boycott over in early 2026, insisting Target hadn’t reversed the policies that started the fight.
Mysonne wasn’t buying Jay-Z’s framing.
“We was the ones boycotting,” he said. “We had our people avoiding shopping at Target. They lost billions pleading with us to put them back on the market.”
He acknowledged that Meta and Google were guilty of their own DEI rollbacks, but said that’s not how economic strategy works.
“History and strategy told us that Target was our target,” Mysonne explained, “so we focused.” He said Black consumers proved exactly what Jay-Z taught them to know, adding, “We showed them what you showed us. How to move in a room full of vultures. Pay us what you owe us.”
The problem, Mysonne argued, is that Jay-Z’s “picking and choosing” framing handed ammunition straight to people who want to discredit the movement.
“They use it to discredit our movement and divide and deflate us,” he said. He made clear the letter was still rooted in love and solidarity. “Just a Black man showing love to his brother,” Mysonne said.
“Even in disagreement, it’s still love and respect because it’s Black equity, Black power, Black love to the death.”
Tamika Mallory, Mysonne’s Until Freedom co-founder and TMI podcast co-host, also addressed Jay-Z’s freestyle this week.
“His platform is so big that when he says it, it goes so far; it has the ability to influence people’s thinking, and therefore, you have to educate,” she said.
Mallory also wrote on social media: “I think accountability has to go both ways. It’s easy to ask why we’re not fighting every battle at once. The harder question is: Are we willing to unite behind one strategy long enough to make an impact?”
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