Jay Z Releases Song About Police Brutality After Philando Castile and Alton Sterling Shootings

9:31 PM PDT 7/7/2016

by

Billboard Staff


Billboard Staff

The song is the first new material from him as a lead artist since 2013’s ‘Magna Carta… Holy Grail.’

Jay Z released a new song addressing police shootings against black Americans on Thursday, following the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile.

The song — the first new material from Jay as a lead artist since 2013’s Magna Carta… Holy Grail — was released via Tidal and is available to subscribers and non-subscribers alike. 

Listen to it on Tidal here and below.

Earlier on Thursday, Jay Z’s wife Beyonce addressed the police brutality by posting a call to action on her website and asking for a moment of silence at her Glasgow show, while projecting dozens of victims’ names onstage. Alton Sterling, 37, and Philando Castile, 32, were fatally shot by police officers in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Falcon Heights, Minnesota, respectively, this week.

In a statement accompanying the new release, Jay Z revealed the song was made at least a year ago. “I’m saddened and disappointed in THIS America — we should be further along. WE ARE NOT,” he writes. Read his full statement — which includes a quote from Frederick Douglass — below.

This article originally appeared on Billboard.com.