Diddy and Jay Z’s new app will help you find Black-owned businesses near you
The call for Black entrepreneurship has been loud in the urban and hip-hop community over the past couple of years.
You can look as far back as 2016, when Killer Mike and Solange Knowles suggested switching to Black banks, and you’ll see how far back theres been a call for Black empowerment.
And since it’s only gained momentum.
Last year G Herbo’s Humble Beast and Jay Z’s 4:44 albums reiterated the theme of Black entrepreneurship from top to bottom. Herbo came with a street point of view while Jay dropped life gems, yet they both were successful in reaching their audience.
The energy Herbo, Hov, Solange, Killer Mike, and others are on, is the same energy that pushed Marvel’s Black Panther to a billion dollars in gross sales and the same energy that makes Cardi B having the number one song in America special: Black excellence.
In a time where it feels like the Presidential administration doesn’t have our best interest at heart, the most productive and immediate action one can respond with is investing in oneself. The idea of black empowerment though collective wealth is nothing new, but thanks to 45, has the most life it’s had in recent years.
Diddy has taken this energy and has flexed his personality and money behind it to a degree only the Bad Boy CEO can.
Every morning he tweets out a motivational message, he’s changed his name to Love, and, as he revealed in his magazine cover article with GQ, he and Jay-Z are in talks of developing an app that helps users find black-owned and black-friendly businesses near them.
https://twitter.com/Diddy/status/972983251613691904
https://twitter.com/Diddy/status/971037224472072194
https://twitter.com/Diddy/status/969989542538301447
“This is not about taking away from any other community,” Combs said. “We’ll still go to Chinatown. We’ll still buy Gucci! But the application will make it possible for us to have an economic community. It’s about blacks gaining economic power.”
The app has yet to be named and we’re not clear how far in negotiations the two moguls are, but if brought to life it would simplify the task of circulating the Black dollar.
Having a rolodex of black businesses at your fingertips not only conviences navigation, but shows that there are other entrepreneurs like you, and will encourage you, and possibly others, to go out and start their own business.
“I don’t believe in passiveness,” Combs added. “At some point there has to be some kind of fight. I feel like we’ve done a lot of marching. It’s time to start charging.”
Jay- Z has been just as, if not, more busy. The news of this joint venture comes days after investing $3 million in a startup company named Promise — an alternative for non-violent offenders who can’t afford to be in prison or make bail.
Jay has always been vocal about his disdain for the justice system. He was a producer on the Netflix docuseries Time: The Kalief Browder Story, which spread light on the $9 billion dollars wasted incarcerating people who’ve not been convicted of a crime. Hov also helped bail out locked-up dads on Father’s Day, and he’s been very active in speaking out on the injustices in Meek Mill’s case.
Establishing longstanding nationwide economic stability for Blacks and POC is difficult, but is something that Jay and Diddy clearly believe they are in part responsible for given their net worth and influence.
There is no date on when the app will be released on any details on registering for the app, but at least we know a significant seed has been planted.
We all know we have a part to play to help improve the quality of life for ourselves and hopefully this app will make that responsibility a little easier.