S. Samuel
West Coast rapper Game, 2 Chainz, Rick Ross, Wale, Diddy and a handful of other notable hip-hop stars have united to help bring justice to the fatal shooting of Missouri teenager Michael Brown.
The rap heavyweights hooked up to release their tribute-driven new “Don’t Shoot” anthem.
“Time to take a stand and save our future/ Like we all got shot, we all got shot/ Throwing up our hands, don’t let ’em shoot us,” the chorus rings out. From there, we get verses that mix anger, sadness and critique from Game, Rick Ross, 2 Chainz, Diddy, Fabolous, Wale, Swizz Beatz, Yo Gotti, Curren$y, Problem, King Pharaoh and TGT, as well as an intro from DJ Khaled. (MTV)
A few days ago, Hot Boys’ Turk spoke to SOHH about being motivated by Roc Nation stud J. Cole‘s “Be Free” tribute to pen the new “Hands Up.”
“It had to be done. J. Cole, you know, shout-out to J. Cole, he actually released his new track and he’s singing on it and I was inspired by his own record. So I gotta shout him out. My producer Joey Did This, he sent me a track and I just went him. It took me some time. I would say it took me about thirty minutes to write the verse. I wrote two verses and I called my engineer and told him to meet me in the studio. I set up the time, did the song and just released it.” (SOHH)
Despite ample celebrities discussing the teen’s tragic death on social media, J. Cole recently stressed the importance of actually heading to Missouri.
“We came down here to feel it, ’cause this is history, and we wanna be a part of this just like everybody else,” he said, adding that he felt like, “it coulda been you, it coulda been me, it coulda been our best friends. … At one point in time, me and [my friend] were sitting in the crib talking about this all the time. ‘This is f-ked up!’ And we was young. And we was 20. And we was passionate. It’s like, life goes on, and n–as start worrying about Instagram and reality TV, and ‘What’s popping,’ and ‘I got kids,’ and life happens. And a lot of distractions. Unfortunately, last week, it was the same old, ‘This is f-ked up,’ and this week, it’s like, ‘What can we do?'” (Complex)
A preliminary private autopsy released in mid-August revealed Mike Brown was shot at least six times.
One of the bullets entered the top of Mr. Brown’s skull, suggesting his head was bent forward when it struck him and caused a fatal injury, according to Dr. Michael M. Baden, the former chief medical examiner for the City of New York, who flew to Missouri on Sunday at the family’s request to conduct the separate autopsy. It was likely the last of bullets to hit him, he said. Mr. Brown, 18, was also shot four times in the right arm, he said, adding that all the bullets were fired into his front. (NY Times)
Check out the new tribute:
