Jay-Z vs. Jay-C: White House Dismisses Rapper's Cuba Song
Rapper Jay-Z's latest track is getting poor reviews from the White House.
In the song, entitled "Open Letter," Jay-Z brags that he "got White House clearance" for his recent controversial trip to Cuba with wife Beyonce.
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney today denied the White House had any involvement with their trip, saying the Treasury Department handles all clearances for travel to Cuba.
"I guess nothing rhymes with Treasury," Carney joked.
In the song, Jay-Z also recounts a conversation he had with President Obama about his trip. "Obama said, 'Chill, you, gonna get me impeached… We don't need this s-t anyway, chill with me on the beach," he raps in the nearly three-minute song.
Carney dismissed the claim. "It's a song," he said. "The president did not communicate with Jay-Z over this trip."
"I am absolutely saying that the White House, from the president on down, had nothing to do with anybody's personal - anybody's travel to Cuba. That is something that Treasury handles," he said.
Jay-Z and Beyonce's trip to Havana was government-sanctioned and allowed through a licensed program that encourages "meaningful contacts" with Cubans.
According to the new song, they "turned Havana into Atlanta" with "Guayabera shirts and bandanas," Jay-Z raps.