How Is Oj Simpson Different From African American Culture

Jay-Z’s emphatic return to the rap game with his critically-acclaimed album “4:44” made waves not only throughout the hip-hop culture, but also all throughout America as an album with a lot of racial undertones. In one of his songs, “The Story of O.J.”, Jay-Z raps “O.J. like, ‘I’m not black, I’m O.J.’ … okay.” In a song that takes direct aim at O.J. Simpson for trying to escape the black community, Jay-Z comments on how certain people try to believe that they are higher than the culture they were brought up in, and there is no more of a quintessential example of this than O.J. Simpson.
O.J. Simpson was one of the most bankable athletes in American culture and media, and was often called the first black athlete to become a media superstar.

With a voice and personality as smooth as his running-style that led to his induction in the National Football League’s Hall of Fame, Simpson was a spokesman for Hertz, Chevrolet, and other high-profile companies. Of course, after the “Trial of the Century” that saw him acquitted of a double-homicide, and after his conviction of robbery in Las Vegas, Simpson sharply fell from stardom, and is now considered one of the most controversial and notorious figures in all of the United States by the majority of the population, with people still trying to determine whether he did or did not commit the murders.
O.J.’s legacy has already been decimated by the multiple criminal trials that he has undergone; however, what is noteworthy is the lack of support that has developed over the years from the black community. It was easy for the white population to discard O.J. as another failed athlete whose tarnished reputation made it impossible for him to like, but in terms of the black population, things were rather dicey, for a number of reasons. While black people everywhere rejoiced after O.J. was proclaimed innocent, in the back of their heads, they were not completely sure if O.J. was still ingrained within the black community. After all, O.J. had refused to comment on the 1968 Olympics protests by Tommie Smith and John Carlos, stating that “I’m not too enlightened on the situation. I don’t know exactly what they’re trying to do.” While athletes such as Muhammed Ali and Jim Brown were speaking out on racial inequality, Simpson was acting so disinterested in race that people claimed he was trying to avoid the color of his skin and the ingrained problems that came along with being black in American society.
And in an odd way, he succeeded.

In acting as if his skin color was “O.J.’s skin color” instead of black, he allowed white America to believe that he transcended race, while leaving the black community in the dust. There is no better example of this than the shift in his language, from what can be inferred was predominantly African American English to Standard American English. Simpson grew up in the projects of San Francisco’s Petrero Hill, which at the time housed mostly blacks, and where African American English was the standard dialect for the locals there. Simpson’s upbringing was set up perfectly for AAE to have been present in every part of his life. While there is no direct evidence to link Simpson’s childhood to AAE, as in tapes or recordings of Simpson as a child, it can be suggested that Simpson negative attitude towards being called “black” and having to identify with parts of black culture was created in part because of how he wanted to escape his childhood and his roots in San

Francisco.
As a spokesperson who appeared in many different commercials, Simpson exclusively spoke in SAE within those commercials, which were exclusively written and directed by white people, as AAE was seen in a negative light as improper English, and is still unfortunately stigmatized as an illegitimate way of properly speaking to this very day. This is not to necessarily say that Simpson should have been forced to speak in AAE all the time; this is merely stating that his work in the limelight of mainstream American culture, while simultaneously gaining the attention and approval of white America, made Simpson believe that he could escape his roots, and all that came with it, particularly the language that he spoke. This is especially evident in the interviews that he was a part of after the trial, where he speaks only in SAE, without any presence of AAE. Considering the culture and the neighborhood he was raised in, it is difficult to imagine Simpson speaking anything other than AAE, unless he was trying to escape that lifestyle, and put himself on a pedestal. Hence, why Jay-Z sarcastically remarks “… okay” after he states, “O.J. like, ‘I’m not black, I’m O.J.’” Even in that line, Jay-Z utilizes AAE, when he raps “O.J. like” rather than “O.J.’s like,” signifying an absence of a copula/auxiliary is.
O.J.’s attempt to escape, per se, the black community, did not go unnoticed.

Ralph Wiley, who was a famed journalist for ESPN, once wrote that “O.J. tried and almost succeeded at being everything but a black guy – and, more importantly, his own guy.” Wiley’s point in this statement was that O.J.’s confusion pertaining to his identity clearly had to do with his insecurity as a black man trying to pave his way into the white community while leaving the black community behind. Wiley went on to state that “He (Simpson) fooled himself. He fooled white people. But he didn’t fool many black people. Not the ones who knew him well, anyways.” Wiley’s bluntness serves as a reminder to Simpson supporters that Simpson himself did not understand how obvious it was to many people from the black community how clearly his disingenuousness shone through his persona. The story that Jay-Z tries to tell in his song is one of loyalty and allegiance to one’s roots. In the chorus of the song, he raps: “Light n*gga, dark n*gga, faux n*gga, real n*gga, rich n*gga, poor n*gga, house n*gga, field n*gga, still n*gga, still n*gga.” To Jay-Z, it is important for everyone in the black community to remember where they originally came from, and he chastises Simpson for trying to erase and avoid the reality that he is still black. There is no avoiding the color of one’s skin, and while it is not necessary to embody every single individual trait of being a certain skin color, the extent to which Simpson

tried to escape his skin was inappropriate and shameful, in Jay-Z’s eyes.
In the end, O.J. Simpson’s general legacy will be that of a suspected murderer, and a confirmed criminal. It is sad to see how far one of the greatest athletes to grace this earth has fallen. And yet, people seem unsympathetic, from all backgrounds and all races. With the changes that Simpson had made to his character and to his linguistic personality, he lost the support of the majority of the black community. With his subsequent criminal activity, he lost the support of the white community he had supposedly fooled; the black community that had seen right through him all of those years simply felt both disgust and sadness towards what had become of Simpson. The Juice, as he is commonly referred to, will always live on as one of the greatest football players ever. But in the eyes of Jay-Z, Simpson will simply be remembered for trying to escape his own skin, and simply be O.J.