Jay-Z returned to the stage for a rare solo performance on Saturday night (May 30), playing a career-spanning set laced with barbs at Nicki Minaj, Drake, and more.
Hip-hop collective The Roots shocked fans earlier this year by announcing the rapper as one of this year’s headliners for Roots Picnic, and went on to join him on stage as he stormed through some of his biggest hits.
He played a mammoth 35-song set, and brought out a series of special guests for the occasion, including Jazmine Sullivan, who joined him on ‘Feelin’ It’, Bilal for ‘No Church In The Wild’, as well as Peedi Crakk, Freeway, Beanie Sigel, Meek Mill, and Young Gunz.
It was his first festival show in seven years, but Saturday’s performance at Philadelphia’s Belmont Plateau drew more attention for the disses aimed at his previous collaborators in the opening freestyle.
Not only did his freestyle see Jay-Z take aim at West, who now goes by Ye, Minaj, and Drake, but also his Roc-A-Fella Records co-founder, Damon ‘Dame’ Dash, and Tory Lanez.
He called out Minaj with a nod to her recent efforts to cosy up to Republican politicians, as well as the rape allegations against her husband, Kenneth Petty. “That lady back on the stuff, she sound like she in love with him/ Her Ken can’t even pick they kids, enough of them,” he rapped.
“That lady back on that stuff, she sounds like she’s in love with ‘em / Her Ken can’t even… pick they kid…..enough of them / A rapper can’t be my opp, I got maga republicans”
— Jay-Z shades Nicki Minaj at his Roots Picnic show tonight. pic.twitter.com/PfFa6T3QRw
— Pop Tingz (@PopTingz) May 31, 2026
Jay-Z sent shots at YE during his new freestyle
“You ever heard of wonder-kin? My children are some of them, Have you n*ggas have no shame? You really wanna get under my skin? I’ll really get under ya skin(stab), ask Un how I’m playing”
“Y’all thugs with y’all thumb again,… pic.twitter.com/cl67wr64qc
— Ahmed/The Ears/IG: BigBizTheGod 🇸🇴 (@big_business_) May 31, 2026
“A rapper can’t be my opp, I got MAGA Republicans/ Them shots came from the very top of the government, good luck with them/ I’m governed by God, you tried to break the covenant.”
This was followed by shots toward Drake, who called out Jay-Z on his recently shared album ‘Iceman’. “My next update, the jig is up/ N***a, I’m up ten/ Wrong chart, champ, you gotta look up again/ N***as look up to Hov, I never looked up to them/ Them crackers got your publishin’, gangster, go talk tough to them.”
As for Ye, Jay-Z responded to his previous unfounded and offensive remarks in which he publicly questioned the mental capacity of the rapper and Beyoncé’s youngest children, as well as nodding to the controversial rapper’s erratic behaviour. “You ever heard of wonder-kin? /My children is some of them, have you n**** no shame?”
Back in April, Ye sent a real-life social media apology to his former mentor for the insults to their children, with Jay-Z’s rap continuing: “Y’all thugs with y’all thumb again / Everybody thinks they’re the ones insane / You’re no maniac, watch how he sane he acts in my presence.”
JAŸ-Z responds to Drake’s ‘The Jig Is Up’ diss from ‘ICEMAN’ during a freestyle at the Roots Picnic in Philadelphia 👀
“A rapper can’t be my opp”
“The jig is up, n**** I’m up 10, wrong chart champ, n****s looked up to Hov, I never looked up to them”pic.twitter.com/MLuUss5Wke
— Kurrco (@Kurrco) May 31, 2026
Jazmine Sullivan singing “Need U Bad” for her guest turn during Jay-Z’s @rootspicnic performance pic.twitter.com/Yntzv9ZnfX
— Variety (@Variety) May 31, 2026
Jay-Z brought out Jazmine Sullivan to sing the hook on “Feelin’ It” at the @rootspicnic pic.twitter.com/qm0TGS0hZL
— Variety (@Variety) May 31, 2026
Jay-Z’s Roots Picnic setlist was:
‘Hovi Baby’
Freestyle
‘U Don’t Know’
‘FucskWithMeYouKnowIGotIt’
‘N*gga What, N*gga Who (Originator 99)’
‘Run This Town’
‘Jigga My N*gga’
‘No Church in the Wild’ (with Bilal)
‘Where I’m From/Marcy Me’
‘Empire State of Mind’
‘Dirt Off My Shoulders’
‘I Know’
‘Never Change’
‘Feelin’ It’ (with Jazmine Sullivan)
‘Need U Bad’ (Jazmine Sullivan solo)
‘Can I Live’
‘The Story of OJ’
‘Dead Presidents I & II’
‘Excuse Me Miss/La La La’
‘You, Me, Him and Her’ (with Memphis Bleek and Beanie Sigel)
‘Gotta Have It’ (Beanie Sigel and Peedi Crakk)
‘Roc the Mic’ (Freeway and Beanie Sigel)
‘Flipside’ (Freeway and Peedi Crakk)
‘Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop’ (Young Gunz)
‘What We Do’ (with Freeway and Beanie Sigel)
‘N*ggas in Paris’
‘Dreams and Nightmares ‘(with Meek Mill)
‘Roc Boys (And the Winner Is)…’
‘I Just Wanna Love U (Give It 2 Me)/Big Pimpin’
‘Public Service Announcement’
The freestyle appears at odds with comments he made earlier this year, when he weighed in on the Kendrick Lamar and Drake beef while speaking to GQ, and said he didn’t know if “battling needs to be a part of the culture anymore”.
The high-profile duel dominated headlines in 2024 and 2025, spinning out from a back-and-forth trade of diss tracks to become a heated defamation lawsuit and a complex feud that impacted their personal lives.
Jay-Z had a remote part to play in the beef as it is his Roc Nation company that ultimately selects the Super Bowl halftime show headliners and Lamar’s show in 2025 saw him lead a singalong of the contentious lines in ‘Not Like Us’.
“Now, people that like Kendrick hate Drake, no matter what he makes. It’s like an attack on his character. I don’t know if I love that. I don’t know if it’s helpful to our growth where the fallout lands, especially on social media,” he said.
“It’s too far. It’s bringing people’s kids in it. I don’t like that. I sound like the old guy wagging his finger, but I think we can achieve the same thing, as far as sparring with music, with collaborations more so than breaking the whole thing apart.
“It could stand it before because there was no social media. You had the battle and it was fun and then you moved on. Right now, I don’t know if it could stand it with the technology that we have.”
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