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Alec Feinman

Professor Margaret Su

English 1001

3 October 2017

The Story of O.J.

Early July of 2017, Jay-Z released his music video for the new song The Story of O.J.

which was featured on his latest album. The video itself is filmed in black and white, and uses a

cartoon style to portray the message of the song. Jay-Z references a lot of cartoons throughout

the video, such as the Loony Tunes introduction at the beginning of his film. The music video

includes many racial stereotypes within both the video and the lyrics of this most recent hit. The

song itself tells Jay-Zs progression through life and how he earned his successes and ways that

other African Americans can do the same regardless of the stigma that society has placed on

them. How does the views of Jay Z in the video "The Story of O.J." reflecting his opinion on

African American stigma affecting individual growth, compared to America's view on culture

and success?

Jay-Zs video for The Story of O.J. showing racial stereotypes and using racist

language to portray the negative impact on African Americans lives plays a role in the outcome

of advancement opportunities for African Americans according to Luksytes article, Held to a

different standard: Racial differences in the impact of lateness on advancement opportunity.

The racial differences are costly to the promotion of an individual belonging to a different

culture (Luksyte par. 1). He says, Stereotypes are one of the major barriers to the advancement

of racial minorities in organizations (Luksyte Par 2). People tend to hold stereotypes for those
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belonging to a minority culture that can be easily recognized and creates a negative effect. In

Jay-Zs video, Luksyte would say that the stereotypes that are mentioned in the video impact a

culture in a poor manor because people recognize these opinions and tend to believe them about

themselves. In the video clip, a scene is shown where a group of African Americans are standing

around a corner store in a bad neighborhood. In the view of this article, this would be said to

have an impact on African Americans because it is showing what people stereotype, causing

them to think that they belong on the streets.

Jay-Zs video containing racial stereotypes and language can be viewed as a reason for a

lack of advancement in the community due to the psychological idea it has on an individual

according to Luksyte. The video, The Story of O.J., can also be said to be iconic because of the

historical events that are shown during the film cause a pursuing negative impact on the outlook

of the culture as a whole, mentioned by Winters in his article, Rac(e)Ing from Death. He

mentions in his article that majority of society does not acknowledge what has happened in the

past which creates a barrier that halts the culture from moving forward with certain historical

events (Winters Par 3). American racial innocence misunderstands the relationship between the

past and the present; even if certain events in the past are un-remembered, this does not mean

that they do not unconsciously influence, shape, and haunt the present (Winters Par 5). In

relationship to Jay-Zs video, Winters would say that the use of slavery in the video and also the

scene of the man being hung from a tree are both two examples of historical events that still have

an overwhelming effect on African American culture and creates a barrier that refrains some

individuals from moving forward. Luksyte would agree with Winters that the past history of

African Americans puts a negative outlook on advancement within society because stereotypes

are derived from historical understandings that people believed in the past.
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The Story of O.J. shows the impact that historical events and racial stereotypes has on

the advancement of African American culture and individuals within it, and it also shows how

these views can disrupt binary thinking, making the stereotypical opinion seem like the right

way of thinking in comparison to Cohens writing. Cohens article, Monster Theory: Reading

Culture, mentions that the monster, which in this scenario is racism, can seem to be more than it

is, especially at a time of confusion. In relationship to, The Story of O.J., Cohen would say that

the historical events and other stereotypes perceived in the video have disrupted the thinking of

individuals belonging to that culture to create a false belief that these stereotypes and ideas are

real and true. Cohens work agrees with Luksyte because both mention the negative impact that

racial stereotypes have on the impact and advancement of these individuals futures.

Jay-Zs video for The Story of O.J. showing racial stereotypes and using racist

language to portray the negative impact on African Americans lives, shows relationship to the

views of America on different cultures because the video contains racist cartoons that are some

of the most popular in history, as Crowley mentioned in his article, Exploring the Hidden Racist

Past of the Looney Toons. Throughout the article, a few of the most popular cartoon shows are

shown with the connection to the racial stereotype it portrays. Matt Crowley would say that Jay-

Z used the use of Looney Tunes to show to connection between racism within the cartoons to

racism in present day. Crowleys idea can be used within both Luksyte and Winters beliefs

because the cartoons dating back in history were perceived as racist and hurtful towards African

Americans and that would have a lasting effect on the opportunity for individuals to advance.

The cartoons themselves had popularity and were watched by many who may have picked up on

the racist stereotypes, which are still relevant today.

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Altogher, Jay-Zs video can be used and interpreted in many different ways, all in which

are related to the different racial features in the video that depict racism back in history to present

day. These ideas that people have on race can create a barrier for those of that culture to advance

within society. As Luksyte mentioned in his article, the negative stigma that is placed on African

Americans and on any other minority culture can create a false belief that those behaviors are in

fact how one should be. This causes the lack of advancement within the work place and other

successes. This idea also goes along with Cohens work stating that these stereotypes disrupt an

individuals binary thinking, causing the belief that these things are true. The historical events of

a culture can often be overlooked by the majority, but can cause the minority culture involved to

still be hindered by the oppressing past as Winters mentioned. Jay-Zs video is important

because it uses historical events and racial cartoons to show that they create a mental and

physical roadblock for advancement within many people in his culture especially, creating many

to think that what is just stereotypical may be real to them. The story of O.J. shows how Jay-Z

advanced past these issues and wants others to do the same because everyone is capable if they

do not think of themselves the way some people in society perceive them.