Lance 'Un' Rivera Pens Open Letter to Jaÿ-Z After Roots Picnic Mention

It was never just a name-drop. At the 2026 Roots Picnic in May, Jaÿ-Z flashed a line that landed with history attached, and this July the man at the center of that moment—Lance “Un” Rivera—answered back not with a diss but with a carefully measured public letter and a sit-down interview.

Speaking to The Art of Dialogue on Sunday, July 5, Un said he was appreciative of Jaÿ-Z’s role in hip-hop and the broader cultural arc he represents, even as he pressed the superstar on how and when his name gets used.

Before unpacking the Roots Picnic freestyle—where Hov rapped, “Have you n**gas no shame? Y’all tryna get under skin?/I really get under skin, ask Un how I’m playing,” a line that alludes to the 1999 stabbing that left Un with a misdemeanor third-degree assault charge—Un read aloud an open letter he’d written to his former friend.

“You understand what it feels like to come from environments where people have to fight mentally, emotionally, spiritually and financially just to survive,” Un wrote. “You understand the weight people carry when they feel trapped between who they are, and who the world expects them to become. Your story evolved beyond survival. You showed people growth.”

The tone of the letter was unexpectedly conciliatory—part recognition of Jaÿ-Z’s influence, part insistence on being treated as a person rather than a prop. Un told The Art of Dialogue that when Hov brought him into a verse to flex an image of danger and marketability, it crossed a line.

“If you want to send the message to your brand and your partnerships that you’re dangerous, using me as an example of how dangerous you are just to sell products, then that’s up to him,” Un said in the interview. “Find another way to make you a tough guy, a bad guy. Stop using me to do it. Unless you’re going to pay me. Send me a check [and] I’ll be a part of your marketing strategy.”

Un clearly remembers the moment Hov invoked him on stage; he remembers the context that made those bars land. His ask is simple and blunt: stop weaponizing a past incident for clout, or at least compensate the person it involves.

That exchange sits at an odd intersection of celebrity, accountability, and commerce. Jaÿ-Z, who performed at the Roots Picnic earlier this year, has long been read as a figure who translates survival into strategy—Un’s letter praises that trajectory while also reclaiming his own place in the story.

Speaking to The Art of Dialogue, Un highlighted how Jaÿ’s narrative has offered people a template for growth. But he also framed the Roots Picnic line as a moment where personal history was repurposed as a marketing shorthand, and he pushed back publicly.

Below are Un’s letter and the interview clip with The Art of Dialogue where he lays out his perspective.