JAY-Z Slammed By Ex-Roc-A-Fella Rapper For Betraying Beanie Sigel
JAY-Z has been criticized by former Roc-A-Fella rapper Oschino for turning his back on Beanie Sigel in his attempted murder case in the mid 2000s.
In an interview with Say Cheese, the State Property alum aired his grievances with his former label boss for refusing to vouch for Beans in the course of the trial.
“I came to court for Beanie when he allegedly shot somebody,” Oschino recalled. “JAY-Z got on the stand and they said, ‘Are you gonna be responsible for him if we let him go?’ JAY-Z said, ‘No.’ I was there. This ain’t hearsay; this was me in the courtroom.”
He added: “I was just pondering, ‘What did he come to court for then?’ If I got a homie and all I gotta say is, ‘I’m accountable for him for him to get out,’ I’m saying it each and every time […] The judge was attempting to give him an out. He stated, ‘No.’
“And no one didn’t say absolutely nothing, no one flinched. Mind you, I’m a jail n-gga so I’m seeking about like, ‘Nobody not saying nothing?!’ Like it was regular […] Maybe I’m also street in my pondering and possibly he was getting far more accountable, but I was pondering, ‘Man, these boys is different.’”
Watch his comments at the 13:15 mark below.
Beanie Sigel was charged with attempted murder in July 2003 for allegedly firing six shots at a man during an argument outside of a Philadelphia bar. One of the bullets struck the victim in the foot and another in the stomach.
The first trial ended in a mistrial after the jury were deadlocked after five days of deliberating. It was during this trial that JAY-Z appeared on the witness stand.
The “Feel it in the Air” rapper was retried in 2005 and walked free after being acquitted of all charges.
“I think the jury flat-out didn’t think the victim and the eyewitness,” Sigel’s lawyer Fortunato N. Perri Jr. stated of the verdict. “They thought they were lying, that they put a story together, to ultimately end up in a payday for themselves.”
Beanie Sigel Didn’t Want JAY-Z To Hear ‘Roc The Mic’
Beans himself addressed Hov’s actions in the course of the trial on Drink Champs in 2021, admitting it fractured their partnership and left him feeling hurt.
“I’ve never been crushed like that ever in my life,” he stated. “‘Cause I’m like, ‘Damn, this is my man’ […] That fucked me up. That took away a lot of shit that I thought we had. Like, that’s big bro.”
He also acknowledged that, in hindsight, Hov had his factors: “I believe at that time, Jay was thinking that I was unpredictable. I was bugging. I know I was out of pocket. I was uncontrollable.”
