September 7, 2005 12:01

Jay-Z voices support for Kanye West

The rapper is standing behind his colleague’s anti-Bush comments…

Photo Gallery: Jay-Z

JAY-Z has voiced his support for KANYE WEST in the aftermath of the latter’s anti-Bush speech during Friday’s benefit show for the victims of HURRICANE KATRINA (September 2).

During a charity telethon, West declared that “George Bush doesn’t care about black people” and that America is set up “to help the poor, the black people, the less well-off as slowly as possible”.

Speaking about his Def Jam colleague, Jay-Z said: “I'm backing Kanye 100%."

He told Billboard:"This is America. You should be able to say what you want to say. We have freedom of speech."

The rapper admits that he shares some of West’s views about the US’ slow response to the disaster.

He said: “It's really numbing. You can't believe it's happening in America. You wonder, what's going on? Why were people so slow to react? I don't understand it."

Jay-Z also revealed that, despite having not "spoken to anyone about doing a concert event" to benefit Hurricane Katrina victims, he wants to speak with [a][/a] about setting up a fund in order to exclusively aid African-Americans in times of crisis.

He explained: "Just in case anything like this happens in the future, we can do what the elder Bush and (Bill) Clinton are doing for our people specifically."