Jay-Z responded to the controversy surrounding his recent trip to Cuba with wife Beyonce in a song released today on his website.
"Open Letter" is a searing rebuttal of the implications that his vacation might be cause for legal action.
While lyrics address the political and economic nature of the sanctions, they also project clearly the way Jay-Z sees the accusations.
"Politicians never done [expletive] for me, except lie to me, distort history/ Wanna give me jail time, fine, let me commit a real crime," he wrote. "I'm in Cuba, I love Cubans. This communist talk is so confusing./ When it's from China this very mike that I'm using."
Following their much publicized visit to Havana last week, Beyonce and Jay-Z came under question regarding the legitimacy of the license they received to visit Cuba. As part of a long standing trade embargo and tenuous diplomatic relations, American citizens cannot travel to Cuba without a license from the Treasury Department unless it is for academic, religious or cultural exchanges.
In a letter written Friday, U.S. Representatives Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Mario Diaz-Balart said, "Despite the clear prohibition against tourism in Cuba, numerous press reports described the couple's trip as tourism, and the Castro regime treated it as such in its propaganda."
"We represent a community of many who have been deeply and personally harmed by the Castro regime's atrocities, including former political prisoners and the families of murdered innocents," the letter continued.
The couple had not commented on the matter until today.
"I am absolutely saying that the White House and president on down has not had anything to do with anyone's travel to Cuba, that is something Treasury handles," President Obama's press secretary Jay Carney said Thursday.
In response to the song's claims that Jay-Z had spoken to the president.
"It's a song, the president did not communicate with Jay-Z over his trip," Carney said.
