JAY Z & THE NEW YORK TIMES: “THE WAR ON DRUGS IS AN EPIC FAIL” [VIDEO]

Jay Z narrates this video featuring Molly Crabapple’s drawings and produced by Dream Hampton that explains the epic failure of the war on drugs for the New York Times.

The film “…takes us from the Nixon administration and the Rockefeller drug laws — the draconian 1973 statutes enacted in New York that exploded the state’s prison population and ushered in a period of similar sentencing schemes for other states — through the extraordinary growth in our nation’s prison population to the emerging above ground marijuana market of today. We learn how African-Americans can make up around 13 percent of the United States population — yet 31 percent of those arrested for drug law violations, even though they use and sell drugs at the same rate as whites.”

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JAY Z – SPIRITUAL

Jay Z has often been criticized for not making his voice felt in the face of social injustice. With all the tragedy surrounding us, Hov drops “Spiritual.” The emcee originally recorded this song during the Mike Brown tragedy but it went unreleased. Unfortunately, he always knew it would be relevant and held it until it needed to drop. That time is now.

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SKYZOO – FRIEND OR FOE PT. 3

In celebration of the 20th anniversary of Jay Z’s seminal debut Reasonable Doubt, Skyzoo was approached by Genius to add a revenge chapter to Jay’s “Friend Or Foe.” Let Skyzoo tell it and then hit play.

So last week, the good folks at Genius came to me with an idea to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Jay-Z’s classic debut “Reasonable Doubt.” The seminal piece by one of our generation’s most important and heralded emcees, it’s celebration is nothing short of well deserved. In light of that, Genius.com approached me with a concept based on the project:

“Hey Sky, what would happen if you wrote a song based on ‘Friend or Foe,’ where you’re the son of the hustler who Jay-Z killed in the story? What if the out-of-town hustler who was killed in the hotel room had an infant son back home, and now after 20 years he’s seeking vengeance on his father’s murderer: Jay-Z. What if you told the story, not as Skyzoo, but as the 20 year old son”?

I thought it was brilliant. Needless to say, I picked up the pen and got right to it. And thus, here’s “Friend or Foe pt 3”. For the record, this is not a Jay-Z diss by any means. We all know Jay is one of my favorite emcees of all time. This is a creative take on a fictional story told from the point of view of a fictional character. Enjoy it in the essence of what it is. And happy anni’ to “Reasonable Doubt,” a timeless piece for the ages.