“It’s almost like a cop-out,” he said. “You get to demonize this group of folks without fixing the actual system that exists, that’s in play.”
For Jay-Z, who may have 99 problems, his net worth isn’t one. He rejected the idea that being wealthy corrupts one’s character. “[Money] may enhance it or may cause you to act in a way,” he said. “But you was going to act like that anyway.”
Ditto for it having an impact on one’s ethics. “Morality is not defined by a dollar amount,” he said, before asking, “If so, what is that dollar amount? When does it start? If it’s a cutoff like, ‘All millionaires are bad.’ At $999,000, I’m good? It can’t be that way.”
The rapper was blunt about his own upbringing and how long it took him to reach the top. “I got successful the hard way, in spite of the way the system is set up,” he said.
Despite the chaos and uncertainty of his early years, he channeled those experiences into relentless drive. “My talent pushed against all the headwinds, and I got successful that way,” he said during the GQ interview.
