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Jay-Z has shared a new playlist of protest songs – you can listen to the playlist on Tidal now.
Featuring records by himself, Jay Electronica, 2Pac, Nina Simone, James Brown and Marvin Gaye, the list features seventeen songs and follows the first instalment of the playlist, which was released back in 2016.
The list comes a week after Jay-Z spoke out about the killing of George Floyd in Minnesota on May 25. Floyd, 46, died in Minneapolis following an altercation with police officers. Floyd, who was African American, was killed when a white police officer appeared to kneel on his neck as he lay on the ground during an arrest.
Officer Derek Chauvin has since been sacked and charged with second-degree murder and manslaughter. Three of his colleagues, Thomas Lane, Tou Thao and J Alexander Keung are now all facing charges of aiding and abetting second-degree murder, and aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter. Since Floyd’s death, protests have erupted in the US and around the world.
After calling Minnesota Governor Tim Walz on May 30 to further amplify calls for justice for Floyd, Jay-Z issued a statement on Roc Nation in the early hours of June 1 to further elaborate on his “very earnest conversation” with Walz and thank him for calling in Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison to lead Floyd’s case.
“Earlier today, Governor Walz mentioned having a human conversation with me — a dad and a black man in pain,” the rapper wrote. “Yes, I am human, a father and a black man in pain and I am not the only one.
“Now I, along with an entire country in pain, call upon AG Ellison to do the right thing and prosecute all those responsible for the murder of George Floyd to the fullest extent of the law.” Saying that this was “just a first step”, Jay-Z added: “I am more determined to fight for justice than any fight my would-be oppressors may have.
“I prevail on every politician, prosecutor, and officer in the country to have the courage to do what is right. Have the courage to look at us as humans, dads, brothers, sisters, and mothers in pain. And look at yourselves.”
Jay-Z and his entertainment company Roc Nation also took out full-page adverts in newspapers across the US earlier this week (June 2) dedicated to the memory of Floyd.
The advertisements contained a powerful quote by Martin Luther King, Jr. which the civil rights leader made during an address in Selma, Alabama in March 1965.
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