Jay-Z‘s “Story of O.J.” featured an animated figure that appeared to be snatched directly from the minstrel show era with an uncanny resemblance to the Brooklyn rapper. Jaybo, whose image has been used in memes popularized via social media, will now appear on merchandise coming soon after Hov trademarked the character officially.
TMZ reports:
Hova’s company, S. Carter Enterprises, just filed docs to trademark the animated character, “Jaybo.” The plan is to plaster the little guy on T-shirts, sweaters, hats, blankets, shams, dinnerware, mugs, cocktail shakers and thermal containers.
Interesting move to commercialize Jaybo, since it’s a playoff of Sambo — the main character from an 1899 children’s book that’s widely held to be racist due to the illustrations.
Savvy move from the man born Shawn Carter, no?
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Photo: Getty
