The real reason Jay-Z has always stayed off social media: “This is too much”
Brooklyn emcee Jay-Z is one of the world’s most renowned hip-hop artists and achieved fame well before the rise of social media. The lyricist first emerged in the mid-1990s and, by the turn of the millennium, was one of New York’s biggest stars.
Still, as the businessman who founded Rocawear, launched the 40/40 club, created his own brand of champagne and runs Roc Nation, Jay-Z has a lot of ventures to promote. However, strangely, the ‘Marcy Me’ rhymer has never used social media as a marketing tool for himself or his brands.
Although he has an Instagram profile, the rapper doesn’t post on the site regularly and is definitely not present on a daily basis. Despite his legions of fans, the lyricist doesn’t interact with them on the internet like other celebrities do and doesn’t have any intention to.
The Black Album creator joined Instagram briefly in 2015, where he merely shared a post paying tribute to the late Michael Jackson on what would have been the King of Pop’s 57th birthday. Still, although he did start an account in 2015, he never used it again and then deleted it. Following this, he remained off the platform but unexpectedly rejoined in 2021.
During his discussion with Kevin Hart on his Peacock Network show Hart To Heart, Hov admitted that his return to social media was prompted by his friend Lenny Santiago. Recalling the event, the emcee stated, “I let Lenny gas me. We was drinking at J Cole’s concert.”
During that period, Jay-Z was using the platform to promote the film The Harder They Fall, which he produced alongside Lawrence Bender and James Lassiter. However, the account only amassed 800,000 followers before he deleted it the next day.
While on Hart To Heart, the Brooklyn native explained why he doesn’t like using social media, unveiling, “It’s not for me. It’s not for me to engage. I didn’t grow up in that space.” He also explained that it attracted too much attention. In 2015, after he launched his first page, a media firestorm started.
Recalling how uncomfortable it made him, Jay told Hart, “It went crazy, and it was on TIME magazine the next morning. I was like, this is too much.” Although Jay-Z isn’t a fan of Instagram, he has a social media team for his Twitter. Still, it is mostly dormant and, although it was created in 2008, it has barely any posts and around 3 million people follow the account.
Jay-Z’s wife, on the other hand, is highly active on social media and is one of the most followed celebrities. Beyoncé joined X (formerly Twitter) in 2009 and has more than 15 million followers. She follows a select few people, including her sister Solange Knowles, Mariah Carey, and former Destiny’s Child bandmates Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams. Strangely, she doesn’t even follow Jay-Z.
The Houston vocalist is also on Instagram and has an unbelievable 320 million followers and counting. However, her husband is simply from a different generation.