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Jay Z Releases New Song And Playlist Condemning Police Brutality

By Stacey Cole
Published on: 02:19 PST, Jul 14, 2016

Jay Z and Beyoncé are officially the world’s highest paid celebrity couple of 2016. According to Forbes, Jay Z and Beyoncé raked in $107.5 million over the past year.

Queen B managed to pull in $54 million, more than enough to claim the No. 34 spot on the Forbes Celebrity 100 list, which is an annual ranking of the world’s top-earning celebrities. Jay Z finished just two places behind his wife, taking the No. 36 slot with a $53.5 million tally. Jay Z and his wife received a boost in value after Beyoncé’s sixth No. 1 album, Lemonade, which debuted exclusively on Jay Z’s streaming service. Beyoncé also performed 19 shows during the year, which greatly improved their combined net worth.

Jay Z may not have been touring as much during the previous year, but he was busy behind the scenes with other projects. He continues to make millions with his champagne brand and his entertainment company Roc Nation. The multifaceted organization includes a record label, artist management, and a sports agency that represents the likes of Kevin Durant and Robinson Cano.

During the Forbes scoring period, Jay Z had not released an album: in fact, Jay Z has not released an album in almost three years. In 2010, Jay Z spoke on how he believes that the modern age of music is not one where a hit song is the best way for an artist to get ahead. He believes that the music industry should open itself to change, just like in the business world.

Though he has not released a new album in almost three years, Jay Z recently released a song on his streaming service. According to Sky News, Jay Z released a song named “Spiritual” which condemned police brutality.

The song was released in response to the shootings of two black men. Jay Z said that he wrote “Spiritual” a while back but never finished it, and the recent race-related shootings gave him the inspiration that he needed to bring his song to completion, leading to it later being released on his Tidal streaming service.

Alton Sterling was shot in Louisiana last Tuesday after being pinned to the pavement by two police officers. In another incident, a Minnesota officer fatally shot Philando Castile while he was in a car with a woman and a child, just a day later. Jay Z’s new song appears to have been written at least two years ago, as his statement mentions the death of 18-year-old Michael Brown in 2014. The black teenager was shot dead by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, in August, 2014.

To support his strong stand against police brutality, Jay Z also released a playlist alongside the song, both of which were instrumental in voicing Jay Z’s disheartened reaction to the recent shootings by police officers. According to Billboard, Jay Z’s playlist features 24 songs of hope, survival, struggle, and love.

Jay Z released the playlist called “Songs for Survival” which features 24 songs including tracks like Curtis Mayfield’s “We The People Who Are Darker Than Blue,” Nina Simone’s “Four Women,” Marvin Gaye’s “Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler),” and Gil Scott Heron’s “The Revolution Will Not be Televised.”

Modern songs about struggle such as Kendrick Lamar’s “Alright,” Kanye West’s “Ultralight Beam,” Common’s “Forever Begins,” and Outkast’s “Vibrate” were also on the playlist to give the classic hits some contrast with the modern age. Other hits that were featured on “Songs for Survival” included two hits from Stevie Wonder: “Village Ghetto Land,” and “Love’s in Need of Love Today,” Fela Kuti’s “Zombie,” Bob Marley’s “War,” and “Redemption Song,” James Brown’s “Say It Loud – I’m Black and I’m Proud,” and Mos Def’s “UMI Says”.

[Photo by Brad Barket/Invision/AP, File]

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