Jay Z talks police brutality on raw new song spiritual

World-weary Jay Z is “saddened and disappointed” that an anti-police brutality anthem he wrote years ago is still vitally needed today.
The rap mogul on Thursday released “Spiritual,” his first new music in three years, in the wake of two black men being gunned down by cops earlier that week in Baton Rouge, La., and Falcon Heights, Minn.

“I made this song a while ago, I never got to finish it,” Jay Z wrote in a statement on his streaming hisite, Tidal. “Punch (TDE) told me I should drop it when Mike Brown died, sadly I told him, ‘this issue will always be relevant.’ I’m hurt that I knew his death wouldn’t be the last...…”

The nearly four-minute-long song, available to stream on Tidal without a subscription, features a haunting hook on which Jay Z raps, “Yeah, I am not poison, no I am not poison / Just a boy from the hood that / Got my hands in the air / In despair don’t shoot / I just wanna do good, ah.”
“Spiritual” marked the rapper’s first new release since dropping his 12th studio album, “Magna Carta Holy Grail,” in July 2013.

“I’m saddened and disappointed in THIS America — we should be further along. WE ARE NOT,” he wrote in the statement. “I trust God and know everything that happens is for our greatest good, but man.... it’s tough right now.”

He went on to offer “blessings to all the families that have lost loved ones to police brutality,” capping off his message with a quote from famed abolitionist Frederick Douglass on societal oppression.

Activism is nothing new for Jay Z, whose Tidal service announced Feb. 5 — the same day slain black teen Trayvon Martin would have turned 21 — that it would donate $1.5 million from its October charity concert to the Black Lives Matter movement and other groups.

The “99 Problems” rapper’s surprise track came on the heels of Philando Castile, a cafeteria supervisor at a Montessori school in Minnesota, dying after police shot him during a traffic stop Wednesday. Just one day earlier, CD salesman Alton Sterling had been fatally shot by cops in Louisiana.

Jay Z’s wife, Beyoncé, also released a statement Thursday condemning what she called “the war on people of color and all minorities.”
“We are sick and tired of the killings of young men and women in our communities,” she wrote on her website, linking to congresspeople’s websites. “It's up to us to take a stand and demand that they 'stop killing us.’”
During a Dallas protest Thursday night in response to the police shootings, a lone gunman opened fire on cops and shot 14 people, killing at least five officers and wounding seven more, officials said.




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Who is Fareed abdallah?

What’s going on? Please introduce yourself and tell us where you’re from?

My name is Fareed, born in Hell's Kitchen New York City and currently living part of the month in the Dominican Republic and New York.

When did you start rapping and who or what inspired you?


I started in the hip hop crew Future Force in 1983 and my inspiration was Grandmaster Melle Mel.



As an up and coming artist, do you find it difficult to maintain personal relationships while perusing your music career?

Yes, because most women do not understand the time and dedication it takes in pursuing a career in music.

Tell us something you enjoy doing [besides music] that most people don’t know?

Travel.

Currently, what project or single are you working on or pushing & where can we find it?

Bailando en la Playa EDM REMIX from the EP titled URBAN TEK VOLUME 1. You can find it in MID-JULY on ITunes and all major download platforms.



What’s been the most memorable moment so far in your music career?

Performing live on TELEMICRO Dominican TV show AKI E LA COSA.

If you could work with any artist, (current or past) who would it be and why?

Shakira. She is similar to me in many ways as a recording artist singer and songwriter.

What are your goals musically for the remainder of this year?

Start recording my follow up project URBAN TEK VOLUME 2 and promote my current EP URBAN TEK VOLUME 1 globally.

Tell everyone where they can find you? [Websites, Social media, Booking info etc?

I can be found on Facebook www.facebook.com/fareedmuzik and on Instagram fareedabdallah

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T.I restaurant employees are suing him for unpaid wages

Atlanta-based, Grammy-winning rapper T.I., who ventured into the world of restaurant ownership last year, is catching heat for his latest venture. Former employees of his downtown eatery Scales 925 are suing the recording artist, formally known as Clifford Harris Jr., for unpaid wages, reports the

Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Harris and business partner Charles Hughes are listed as defendants.
The suit was filed in the United States Northern District of Georgia on Tuesday.

Twelve plaintiffs are citing the Fair Labor Standards Act and claim they were deprived of owed wages in a number of ways. Hughes's unscrupulous business practices listed in the complaint include:

Withdrawing money from employees' paychecks to pay Georgia payroll taxes, without actually paying said taxes.

Depositing money from the restaurant into his personal bank account, causing paychecks to bounce.

Deleting overtime hours from the restaurant's payroll software and failing to compensate employees for overtime work.

Coercing employees to work off the clock for three hours "before they were allowed to go home."

The former employees are seeking a jury trial. While no specific dollar amount is listed in the complaint, they're asking for payment of lost wages and attorney fees, plus liquidated, nominal, and punitive damages.

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New Music: Joe Budden - Making A Murderer Pt. 1 (Drake & Meek Mill Diss)

Joe Budden is ready for war. After teasing and much talk on social media about wanting to spar lyrically with Drake and Meek Mill, the Slaughterhouse MC decides to back up the talk. Released on Thursday (Jun. 30), Joey liberates a new record titled “Making A Murderer Pt. 1.” On the araabMUZIK-produced track, a diss record, Budden fires vicious rhymes at Drake. Jumpoff Joe also takes time to throw subliminals at MMG’s Meek Mill and touches on past issues with JAY Z.
Back in May on his podcast show, the Slaughterhouse MC accused Drake of sounding “uninspired” on his chart-topping album VIEWS. “I think that that kid on that album that I heard sounds real Fuckin ’ uninspired,” said Budden. “That music sounds good and I enjoy it. I played that album all the way to D.C. and all the way back multiple times. 40 you sound amazing. 40 continues to progress. Drake you do not. I said the other day on this podcast I miss the Drake that starts the waves, not hops on other waves and I’ll say it again: I miss the Drake that pushes the FKN’ agenda, not lets the agenda push him.”

Weeks later, French Montana posted a preview his upcoming single “No Shopping” featuring Drake on Snapchat. In the clip, Drizzy raps the words “pump, pump it up,” referring to Joe’s 2003 “Pump It Up.” The quick audio lead many to speculate that the face of OVO is dissing Joe Budden on the soon to be released song off Montana’s MC4 album.

Joe Budden - Making A Murderer Part 1 (Drake & Meek Mill Diss) - Listen Mobile | Audiomack http://www.audiomack.com/song/fresh/making-a-murderer-part-1-drake-meek-mill-diss#.V3dfFNJ2Nio.twitter 

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Nicki Minaj delivered a powerful performance at a concert to promote race relations — all without singing a single note.

Nicki Minaj delivered a powerful performance at a concert to promote race relations — all without singing a single note.

The rapper's recital of the late Maya Angelou’s poem “Still I Rise” was among the highlights of A+E Networks’ “Shining a Light: A Concert for Progress on Race in America.”

The concert was taped in Los Angeles Wednesday for a two-hour special that will air Friday across A&E Networks and iHeartRadio radio and TV stations.

Minaj gave a stirring reading of the beloved 1978 poem about persevering in the face of oppression and discrimination.

And as one of music’s most unapologetically provocative artists, the star connected with one stanza in particular.

“Does my sexiness upset you? / Does it come as a surprise / That I dance like I’ve got diamonds / At the meeting of my thighs?” 

the rapper recited, smiling widely as the audience cheered.

Many fans noted online that “Still I Rise” was a perfect match for the “Super Bass” rapper.

“It’s almost like this poem was made for her! You can tell it hits home,” one fan commented on the video.

Joining Minaj for the all-star concert were Bruce Springsteen, John Legend, Pink, Sia, Sting and Smokey Robinson, all of whom delivered performances focused on highlighting race relations in America.

The event also paid tribute to the victims of the Paris terrorist attacks with an introductory speech from Morgan Freeman.

“Tonight, as we mourn the loss of life in Paris, let us rededicate ourselves to erasing the hate and to creating an America where we can all move on up together toward justice, community, love, brotherhood, sisterhood and freedom,” the actor said.

Springsteen and Legend launched the concert with a rendition of “American Skin (41 Shots),” a song Springsteen wrote about the 1999 police shooting death of Guinean immigrant Amadou Diallo.

Legend racked up the most collaborations of the night on stage. After kicking off the concert with Springsteen, he was later united with Pink for “Someday We’ll All Be Free” and closed out the event with Big Sean for “One Man Can Change the World.”

ill Scott delivered the night's most captivating performance, crooning "Strange Fruit," the protest song popularized by Billie Holiday, in front of giant screens displaying imagery of lynching.

Between performances, videos about racial inequality and violence in Baltimore; Charleston, South Carolina; and Ferguson, Missouri, were broadcast to the audience.

Proceeds from the sold-out event will go to the Fund for Progress on Race in America through the United Way.

50 Cent says Jay Z’s Tidal Would Have Been More Exciting If He Was Involved

After an interview with Los Angles radio station Real 92.3, 50 cent sat down with Letty and DJ Damage for a round of “The Realist Game”. 50 said he wasn’t invited to be a part of Jay Z’s recent Tidal Deal and feels he could have brought a bit more to the table being that he is now an independent artist and owns his music catalog.

“They probably could’ve did something more exciting if they reached out, because the people you saw there don’t even own the rights to their music,” 50 Cent told hosts Letty & DJ Damage.

The “Window Shopper” rapper revealed that the music coming from the artists that are a part of Tidal is not exclusive because it can be heard anywhere.

“They can’t say it’s gonna come out of Tidal. It has to go everywhere. So why would you actually buy Tidal to get something that would be everywhere else?” 50 said.

Does 50 have a point? 

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