Jay-Z vs. Jay-C: White House Dismisses Rapper's Cuba Song

Jay-Z vs. Jay-C: White House Dismisses Rapper's Cuba Song
By Mary Bruce
@marykbruce
Apr 11, 2013 3:09pm

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.

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2013/04/white-house-pans-jay-zs-cuba-rap-song/