The Story of O.J.

"The song starts off with JAY-Z rapping, "Light n****, dark n****, faux n****, real n**** Rich n****, poor n****, house n****, field n**** Still n****, still n****." This line (and the first line in the first verse) is seemingly intended as a callout to black people who attempt to distance themselves from the black community. JAY-Z uses O.J. Simpson as a prime example of this by starting off the first verse of the song by saying, "O.J. like, 'I'm not black, I'm O.J.' …OK."



This is a reference to a quote ESPN Robert Lipsyte said (...). Lipsyte revealed in the special that Simpson once said he was happy a white woman apparently thought he "wasn't black." Lipsyte said,

He overheard a white woman at the next table saying, 'Look, there's O.J. sitting with all those n***ers.' I remember in my naiveté, saying to O.J., 'Gee, wow, that must have been terrible for you.' And he said, 'No. it was great don't you understand? She knew that I wasn't black. She saw me as O.J.'"  (literally via)

His video shows the derogatory style used in the "Censored Eleven" cartoons and has Nina Simone playing and singing "Four Women" in the background. It was ranked best music video by Rolling Stone Magazine.