Headlining Saturday night at the Roots’ annual Roots Picnic festival, Jay-Z made a major return to the big stage in Philadelphia. Aside from marking his first proper live performance in years, the New York rapper caught everyone’s attention by debuting a brand-new Afro.
The set featured several surprises, including an acapella freestyle where Jigga seemingly targets his detractors, spitting lines like:
“I ain’t much for meetings no how, canceled the brunches, I remember the hunger pains…the price of the bricks is going up, it’s gonna cost a B to ‘Say My Name’.”
He followed it up with another sharp jab: “The jig is up, I’m up 10, wrong chart champ, n***as looked up to Hov, I never looked up to them.”
This freestyle appears to serve as a partial response to Drake’s recent disses across ICEMAN—specifically targeting the line, “You boys got big on my name, that’s big enough/ We know how you OGs rocking already my n***a, the jig is up,” on “Janice STFU.”
“My children is some of them, have you n–gas no shame? Y’all trying to get under skin, I really get under skin. Ask Un how I’m playin. Y’all thoughts with your thumbs again. Everybody thinks they’re the ones insane. You’re no maniac,” he said in response to Kanye West asserting JAY and Beyonce‘s children have mental disabilities.
“Teeth fumbling out they mouth,” was said in response to Damon Dash.
“Questlove introduced me to Jaguar. I dunno why I still f**k wit him,” was a shot at Jaguar Wright for years of publicly accusing JAY of sexually abusing other women.
“The price of the bricks going up. It’s gon cost you a B to even say my name,” he said in response to a dismissed sexual assault lawsuit lifted by lawyer Tony Buzbee.
“That lady back on that stuff, she like she in love with em. Her Ken can’t even… take they kid…..enough of them,” he said in response to Nicki Minaj‘s headline-grabbing rants against him over the years.
JAŸ-Z seemingly sends shots at Ye during his freestyle at the Roots Picnic
“You ever heard of wonder-kin? My children are some of them, have you n****s have no shame? You really wanna get under my skin? I’ll really get under ya skin, ask Un how I’m playing”
“Y’all thugs with… pic.twitter.com/wTIKdvIw8U
— Kurrco (@Kurrco) May 31, 2026