Water Company Unleashes Tidal Wave Against Jay Z

1 June 2015 | 3:01 pm | Staff Writer

Company executive sends open letter to rapper.

A water company in the US has hit back at rapper Jay Z after comparisons the hip-hop mogul made about music and water while defending his new streaming service, Tidal. 

Speaking to the New York Times last month, the 45-year-old artist said: "Water is free. Music is $6 but no one wants to pay for music. You should drink free water from the tap — it’s a beautiful thing. And if you want to hear the most beautiful song, then support the artist."

And Steve Snyder, company executive of Denver Water clearly took offence to Jay Z's comments as he wrote an open letter in response. 

Snyder started off lightly to compliment Jay Z, real name Sean Carter, who he even admits to being a big fan of: "I’ve listened to your music for years; I’ve admired how you’ve become much more than an entertainer..."

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"But recently, you made a comparison about water and music. And since water is my business, I have to say, 'Stick to your own business, man!'"

Snyder began to turn up the heat on Jay Z by revealing how much water the producer could in fact buy with the money that he makes. 

"Your last album, “Magna Carta Holy Grail,” sold 528,000 in its first week on the market. At $6 each, that’s more than $3 million. You could buy 1 billion gallons of water for that, enough to fill 1,600 olympic-sized swimming pools. Your summer home has enough room for those, right?"

"At one point, you were reported to have a net worth of $510 million. When trying to calculate how much water you could buy with that, my calculator short circuited. But I think we are getting into ocean territory with that figure. Or at least a good-sized gulf."

While Jay Z did not respond to the open letter Snyder followed it up shortly after with a second open letter to insist that he was not insulting Jay Z, but rather trying to highlight the importance of water.

"This is not about whether Jay Z thinks water is free. In fact, we commend him for speaking out about the water crisis in other countries. We understood his reference to water and music. He was talking about the value of the very thing that provides his livelihood. So were we."

This is the second time in recent weeks Jay Z's actions have come into question, as Serbian artist Marina Abramović recently blasted the rapper for claiming that he took advantage of her work in 2013.

However her institution apologised soon after upon the revelation that Jay Z had in fact given a sizeable donation to the New York Institute.