In recent months mogul Jay-Z has found himself the target of strong criticism from promising former pupils Foxy Brown and Teairra Marì.
During a recent interview with AllHipHop.com, Jay-Z replied to the accusations levied at him by both artists, whom he personally signed during his reign as CEO of Roc-A-Fella and President of Def Jam.
“As far as Foxy or Teairra Marì, these are people that I have given chances to. It’s understandable that they would be upset, but you got to look at it from my point of view as well,” Jay-Z told AllHipHop.com. “I gave Teairra Marì the same shot I gave Rihanna. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t.”
In her recent XXL cover feature, Foxy lamented over Jay’s lack of visitation and encouragement during her incarceration, emphasizing that everyone else in her circle made time beside him.
“There are times when I just really needed him and he just wasn’t there,” a disappointed Foxy disclosed. “That broke my heart more than anything. When they sent me to jail, I just knew he would be there, everyone came. But he never showed up.”
R&B upstart Tierra Marì is equally upset at Jay’s absence from her career.
In a July interview with AllHipHop.com, Marì expressed her hurt that the man she called a father figure would not even call to let her know she was being dropped from Roc-A-Fella Records.
Jay-Z defended his actions from the perspective of a businessman.
“You know that stuff is going to happen, eventually it’s going to happen,” Jay-Z told AllHipHop.com. “What I’m happy about is, that no matter what people say, no one has ever said that I am dishonest or that I have taken one dime from them…I’ve never cheated anyone out of a dime. No one’s ever said that, right?”
Jay-Z is currently completing work on his highly anticipated Blueprint 3, which is projected for release in early 2009.