Jay-Z spent his weekend at SoFi Stadium doing two things at once. On Friday he paid tribute to Nipsey Hussle in Nipsey’s own city, wearing what Complex Music says was Nipsey’s All Money In chain. On Saturday he closed the run by telling the crowd not to believe anyone who said the building was empty.

Both moments landed in the same 48 hours, and the internet has been arguing about them since.

The chain and the tribute

The first of Jay’s two JAŸ-Z30 shows at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood was Friday, Oct. 23. On Saturday afternoon, Complex Music posted a stage photo of Jay, paired with an older photo of Nipsey wearing his chain, with the caption “Jay-Z rocked Nipsey Hussle’s All Money In chain in LA last night.” No outlet’s written coverage of the show that we found mentions the chain, including Complex’s own night-one recap. Fan video from the show shows Jay in a gold chain with a round pendant, but the pendant’s face isn’t legible in the photos or video we reviewed. Nipsey’s All Money In pendant is built around his label’s logo, an A, a dollar sign and a square, according to the Smithsonian.

The music part is on the record. During “Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem),” Jay blended in Nipsey’s “Hussle & Motivate” as Nipsey’s image appeared on the stadium screens, according to USA Today, HotNewHipHop, Complex and The Source. Later he ran the “Last Time That I Checc’d” instrumental under “On to the Next One.” Fan video posted to X shows Nipsey’s face filling the screen behind Jay.

Who owns the chain Jay wore hasn’t been reported. The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History displays gold chains Nipsey wore, one of them with an All Money In pendant; its collection includes one that was a gift of the Nipsey Hussle Family Trust. Nothing reported connects the chain on stage to the museum’s collection. We found no public comment from Nipsey’s family, his brother Samiel “Blacc Sam” Asghedom, Lauren London or The Marathon Clothing.

The split

Reaction on X broke two ways fast.

The fans who loved it called it a real salute from an elder who backed Nipsey early. “Jay-Z rocking that All Money In chain. Rest in Peace Nipsey,” music journalist and photographer Andrés Tardio posted with video from the show, hours after it ended.

The critics weren’t buying it. Some on X called the move disrespectful, and others said Jay was soaking up Nipsey’s goodwill at a moment when his own needed a lift. One critic noted that Nipsey was a vocal supporter of Colin Kaepernick, a sore point given Jay’s partnership with the NFL.

The defenders have receipts, and they’re fair ones. In 2013 Nipsey sold his Crenshaw mixtape for $100 a copy, and Jay bought 100 of them, Billboard reported in 2017. Nipsey sold 1,000 copies in under a day and turned the stunt into a business model. After Nipsey was killed in 2019, Jay wrote a letter for his memorial program. In 2021, he gave his entire fee from their posthumous song “What It Feels Like” away, half to Nipsey’s estate and half to Fred Hampton’s family home, according to Rap-Up and Revolt.

So the history is real. The question is what a chain on a stadium stage is doing for Jay right now.

“You got eyes”

That question gets sharper with what happened the next night.

Before SoFi, the story around Jay’s L.A. run was cheap tickets. TMZ reported, as HotNewHipHop relayed, that resale seats for Friday’s show fell as low as $20 right before showtime, down from $284 when the show was announced. Clips claiming empty sections and given-away tickets spread across X all weekend. Complex and HotNewHipHop described the crowd as sold out or packed, and SoFi’s own event page doesn’t publish attendance. No one has released a verified number, so the turnout question is still disputed.

Jay answered it himself during Saturday’s closer, “Encore.” Variety’s account has the words:

“People will tell you that nobody was in here tonight, but you got eyes. You can see. People will tell you that the music wasn’t great, but you got ears.”

He kept going, tying the online chatter to artificial intelligence and propaganda: “They called it propaganda before. But now, the technology has caught up and people are tricked.”

Variety called it “a direct rebuttal” to posts claiming SoFi wasn’t sold out.

The take

A man who’s sure the seats are full doesn’t usually stop the show to say so. Jay is 56, hasn’t dropped a solo album since 2017, and has been reported as a possible Super Bowl halftime performer at this same stadium in February, though nothing is confirmed. Roc Nation has advised the NFL on that show since 2019. A weekend this loaded with legacy was always going to get read as positioning.

The Nipsey moment fits that pattern. Jay’s support for Nipsey is documented and long-running, and nobody needs to pretend otherwise. But Nipsey’s name carries weight in Los Angeles that money can’t buy. Putting it on the screen, and what Complex says was his chain on Jay’s chest, in the city where Nipsey built his business and died, put the city’s love for Nipsey behind Jay on a weekend when his ticket prices were the punchline.

Jay told the crowd to trust their eyes. Plenty of people did, and some of them saw a tribute while others saw a borrowed moment.

What we don’t know

  • Who owns the chain Jay wore, and whether Nipsey’s family has commented on the tribute.

  • Actual attendance for either SoFi night.

  • Whether Jay will confirm the Super Bowl halftime reports.