Jay-Z dismisses claims he sold out to NFL on new track

Jay-Z has responded to criticism of his partnership with the NFL with a rap verse.

The hip-hop mogul, whose company Roc Nation formed a social justice and entertainment partnership with the NFL last August, fired back at critics who have accused him of selling out on a track off Jay Electronica's new album, "A Written Testimony."

"Why would I sell out? I'm already rich, don't make no sense," Jay-Z raps on "Flux Capacitor." "Got more money than (NFL commissioner Roger) Goodell, a whole NFL bench / Did it one-handed like Odell (Beckham Jr.), handcuffed to a jail / I would've stayed in the sideline, if they gonna tackle, they cheat themselves."

His decision to partner with the NFL was perceived by some as a betrayal of former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, the first player to kneel during the U.S. national anthem to protest social injustice.

"No one is saying he hasn't been done wrong," Jay-Z said of Kaepernick in an interview with Katherine Rosman of The New York Times in February. "He was done wrong. I would understand if it was three months ago. But it was three years ago and someone needs to say, 'What do we do now - because people are still dying?'"

Jay-Z became the first hip-hop artist in history to reach billionaire status last year, according to Forbes.