Hot 97’s Nessa “Nitty” Diab isn’t one to hold her tongue if something feels off to her, especially when it comes to her longtime partner, Colin Kaepernick, or murky dealings in the music and sports industries. And this week, she’s not staying silent either, aiming, again, at none other than JAY-Z and Roc Nation about Kaepernick’s exile from the NFL, comparing that to what she alleges are the same behind-the-scenes moves they made in the Nicki Minaj saga.
The fire was fueled on Instagram on July 16 after Nessa responded directly to a post from Nicki Minaj, who still maintains that JAY-Z-led Roc Nation and his CEO, Desiree Perez, are behind the smear campaign being waged against her.
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“@NICKIMINAJ exposing the smear campaign on our people that the Cabal behind Jay-Z, Roc Nation, Desiree Perez, did behind Colin Kaepernick the scenes, is WAY too the OPEN!” she wrote. “Jay still refuses to discuss the entire employment of Colin, and how he and his criminal enterprise banned Colin to begin with,” Reid wrote in an email to The Associated Press. “You & @nflnetwork continue to hide behind ‘sources’ like cowards.” “Jay-Z knowingly made a money move with the very people who’ve actively worked against Colin and [sic] other organizations within the movement,” she added.
This is not the first time he has aimed at the 2019 NFL deal with Roc Nation, worth up to $25 million, intended to enhance the league’s entertainment and social justice outreach. For others, however, it was an awkward turn in the road. Especially not when JAY-Z said at the time, “I think we’ve moved past kneeling,” effectively closing the book on the protest that led to Kaepernick being exiled from the league.
Diab has long believed that JAY-Z’s involvement served to protect the NFL from further backlash and mute Kaepernick’s influence. Now, with Minaj claiming similar image-burnishing attempts, Nessa smells a rat.
Her critique wasn’t limited to Hov. She also hit out at Desiree Perez, who was granted a pardon by Donald Trump for a 1994 drug crime, a fact Diab wasn’t going to let lie. “She received a pardon from Trump- no coincidence the NFL owners are his friends + donors,” she wrote. “I still don’t watch that league or whoever is playing at whatever game they are playing.”
But not everyone is so convinced by the comparison. Although some praised Diab for speaking out, others bristled at the implication that comparing Minaj’s music industry beef to Kaepernick’s systemic blackballing was in any way comparable. “Right message but wrong messenger,” wrote one user. “Nicki ain’t it.”
Yet Diab held her ground: “It does not change the message. Behind-the-scenes smear campaigns against people’s lives are not OK.”
Even actor Faizon Love asked: “What the connection between that and this right here?” But Nessa refused to be silenced: “Oh yes, two different things with the alleged same smear campaign against them off the court.”
So far, JAY-Z, Roc Nation, and Perez have not publicly commented in response. But they have injected new fuel into a yearslong debate about power, influence, and what happens when you speak out, whether on a football field or a concert stage.
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