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Jay-Z not a 99% fan, Occupy movement sentiments escape him

By April MacIntyre Sep 10, 2012, 16:46 GMT

Jay-Z - One percenter © Landmark / PR Photos

Jay-Z may have 99 problems, but a protest over taxation and corporate regulation rules ain't one.

The entrepreneurial rapper, in a new interview, says he does not understand what the Occupy Wall Street movement stood for.

“What’s the thing on the wall, what are you fighting for?” Jay-Z told The New York Times in a wide-ranging interview.

He was opposed to fellow rapper-turned-mogul Russell Simmons, who was a noted supporter of the Occupy demonstrators.

“I’m not going to a park and picnic — I have no idea what to do,” Jay-Z said, recalling a conversation with Simmons about joining the movement.

“I don’t know what the fight is about. What do we want? Do you know?”

Jay-Z was born Shawn Carter, who went from street to kingpin, and even a co-owner of the Brooklyn Nets.

Jay-Z -like the Tea Party - feels the whole Occupy sentiment is at its essence, un-American.

“I think all those things need to really declare themselves a bit more clearly because when you just say that ‘the 1 percent is that,’ that’s not true,” he said.

“Not being an entrepreneur. This is free enterprise. This is what America is built on.”