Jay Z’s New Single Proves He Can Still Bring It When It Matters
Jay Z hasn’t exactly had the smoothest start to 2016. He got bodied by his own wife on Lemonade, and then turned in a string of less-than-stellar guest spots — on Fat Joe’s “All The Way Up,” Pusha T’s “Drug Dealers Anonymous” and DJ Khaled’s “I Got the Keys” — that had some heads wondering if he’s completely lost his touch. Turns out, all Hov needed was the right motivation.
Late last night, he dropped a new single entitled “spiritual.” The song comes in direct response to the horrifying deaths of Alton Sterling in Louisiana and Philando Castile in Minnesota, two black men who were shot and killed by police within 24 hours of each other. It’s a cogent examination of police brutality and what it means to be black in America, and easily Jay’s most moving work in half a decade.
Along with the song, Hov released the following statement:
It’s unfortunate that it took such unsettling tragedies to snap our greatest living rapper back into form, but it’s times like these that we need voices like Jay’s the most.
Photo: Neil Lupin / Getty Images
