Jaÿ-Z Debuts Afro At Roots Picnic With A Possible Diss For Drake

Jaÿ-Z’s Roots Picnic performance proved to be just as eventful as expected and may mark the beginning of a new Hov era.

When the show began, it was revealed that the dreads he started growing shortly after the release of 2017’s 4:44 had been combed into an afro.

Hov lore suggests that he grows his hair when he’s working on a project—or simply in between them—and when he reemerges with a fresh low-cut Caesar, it means his latest body of work has been completed and will be released in the coming months.

While he still has long hair, fans are hoping it’s just a precursor to him shaving it down before his three sold-out Yankee Stadium shows in July and subtly let fans know that his first album in nearly a decade could be on the horizon.

Still, we didn’t have to wait that long to hear some new bars because he rapped a freestyle with some light jabs aimed at anyone talking slick lately.

Most recently? Drake, who rapped on Iceman‘s ‘Janice STFU’: “We know how you OGs rockin’ already…the jig is up.” A dig at Hov, with the wordplay of his ‘Jigga’ nickname and Roc Nation label.

Hov seemed to respond, “The jig is up, n-gga I’m up 10, wrong chart champ, n-ggas looked up to Hov, I never looked up to them.”

“Them crackers got your publishing, go talk tough to them,” Hov adds before mentioning contracts with “perpetuity” in the fine print.

Another possible target for one of his bars was fellow Roc-A-Fella Records founder Dame Dash when he rapped that “n-ggas teeth tumbling out their mouth.”

Back in 2024, during an Instagram Live, Dash’s teeth appeared to fall out of his mouth.

He later clarified that it wasn’t his dentures that popped out, explaining that, “these are my grills… I have to go get implants put in ’cause I have implants. And I got them 20 years ago, and every 20 years, you gotta switch them out,” and later calling it “hilarious.”

Tory Lanez may have also been targeted thanks to his father’s viral moment vowing that Roc Nation will crumble.

Hov rapped, “The ROC’s not crumbling, till the leprechaun magically run out of pranks, your son on a federal jail line mumbling something about having too much in his drink. You know how dumb that is?”

Between the possible disses and the new hairstyle, see social media’s reaction to Jaÿ’s Roots Picnic performance below.