Although Jay-Z has enjoyed the last 25 years as a very high brow one-percenter, unlike Drake, he actually did start from the bottom. He grew up in the Bed-Stuy projects where he started trapping and wielding firearms. And it was all for the hustle. And a black man has to hustle to stay alive in America. I can’t speak for black Americans beyond that, but here we are during the ‘week of America’s birthday’ and there has only been tragedy. We have lost the lives of Baton Rouge man, Alton Sterling and less than a day later, Philando Castille was gunned down during a traffic stop in Minnesota. Both events were live streamed via Facebook.
Since so many people are out here saying the dumbest s**t they can think of, let’s hand the mic over to Mr. Carter. Let’s hand the mic over to a black man who has experience with law enforcement and growing up poor. Let’s hand the mic over to Jay-Z. In the wake of these tragedies that have become all too plenty, HOV dropped Spiritual. He prefaced its drop on social media:
I made this song a while ago, I never got to finish it. Punch (TDE) told me I should drop it when Mike Brown died, sadly I told him, ‘This issue will always be relevant.’ I’m hurt that I knew his death wouldn’t be the last.
And hold onto each other during this folks because the following lyrics are as movie as they are graphic. It’s 2016 and we still have to remind people that #BlackLivesMatter.
Just a boy from the hood that/ Got my hands in the air/ In despair don’t shoot/ I just wanna do good.
Referencing ‘Hands Up Don’t Shoot’–the heart breaking words associated with the loss of Mike Brown–we’re continuing to have a very powerful conversation here. But we can’t talk this s**t to death any longer. People are dying and we have to act like they matter.
Check out Spiritual on HOV’s streaming service, Tidal.