Jay-Z Disses Drake, Kanye, Nicki Minaj, & More At Roots Picnic Comeback

Last night, Jay-Z reunited with The Roots at their annual festival, Roots Picnic. It was his first festival show in seven years, and he did not hold back. He played a career-spanning 35-song set and brought out a ton of special guests, including Jazmine Sullivan, who joined him to sing “Feelin’ It” and also performed her own song “Need U Bad,” Bilal for “No Church in the Wild,” and Peedi Crakk, Freeway, and Beanie Sigel for “Gotta Have It,” “Roc the Mic,” “The R.O.C,” and “What We Do.” Meek Mill joined him onstage to perform “Dreams and Nightmares,” and Young Gunz came onstage for “Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop.” The performance also opened with a thorny freestyle that took jabs at Drake, Kanye West, Nicki Minaj, among others.

There’s a lot to dissect from the freestyle. Easily notable moments include his Drake and Nicki mentions. He called out Minaj with a reference to her MAGA pivot and 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/ 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 then followed by shots toward Drake, who called out Jay-Z on his latest album Iceman that came out a couple weeks ago. Jay rapped: "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."

Jay-Z prepped for the massive set with a warm-up on Friday. The secret show took place at The Foundry at the Fillmore, with The Roots backing him. Dave Chappelle and Beyoncé were also spotted. He will continue his return to the stage with a couple of dates in July at Yankee Stadium to celebrate the 30th anniversary of his debut album Reasonable Doubt.

Check out some clips from Roots Picnic below.