Rap mogul Jay Z has released a new song titled
'Spiritual' in response to the recent police killings
of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile. In a strongly
worded statement, Jay Z said he wrote the song a
year ago knowing that it won't be the last time a
black person would be killed by police officers.
In a statement Jay Z said: 'I made this song a
year or so 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…. I’m saddened and disappointed in THIS
America – we should be further along. WE ARE
NOT. I trust God and know everything that
happens is for our greatest good, but man…. it’s
touch right now. Blessings to all the families that
have lost loved ones to police brutality.'
The statement ended with a quote from the 19th-
century abolitionist campaigner Frederick
Douglass: “Where justice is denied, where poverty
is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where
any one class is made to feel that society is an
organised conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade
them, neither persons nor property will be safe.”
Lyrics website genius.com describes the song as
one in which “Jay asserts his spirituality in dealing
with issues of self-worth facing young black men
in America”. The song’s hook is the most direct
section to address police violence: “Yeah, I am not
poison, no I am not poison / Just a boy from the
hood that / Got my hands in the air / In despair,
don’t shoot / I just wanna do good, ah.”
Alongside Jay Z, Swizz Beatz, Solange and Chris
Brown have also released songs after the killings.
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