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A common complaint about millionaire rappers is that they don’t give back to the low-income communities they came from.

Kanye and Jay Z respond to that criticism with the notion that “my presence is a present” or “my presence is charity,” meaning the mere fact that an African-American person can rise to such heights in America is an inspiration to all Americans of color – that is how they are giving back.

Jay-Z and Diddy gave $1 million to help Katrina victims in the wake of that disaster. But Jay-Z struggled with the value of his contribution later on “Minority Report”:

Silly rappers, cause we got a couple Porsches
MTV stopped by to film our fortresses
We forget the unfortunate
Sure, I ponied up a mil' but I didn’t give my time
So in reality I didn’t give a dime.

They also sometimes still rap about the struggles of inner city African-Americans. Yeezy even discusses the problems of murders in Chicago specifically.

You be the judge on whether that’s enough.

SEE MURDER TO EXCELLENCE FOR RAPS PRECISELY ABOUT DEATHS ON THE SOUTH SIDE OF CHICAGO

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What is this?

The Genius annotation is the work of the Genius Editorial project. Our editors and contributors collaborate to create the most interesting and informative explanation of any line of text. It’s also a work in progress, so leave a suggestion if this or any annotation is missing something.

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Jay wonders why George Zimmerman had a right to stand his ground under Florida’s Stand Your Ground law whereas Trayvon, who was allegedly being chased by Zimmerman, did not? Here is the text of Florida’s law

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