Jay Z: 'I'm Saddened And Disappointed In This America'

On the same day that Beyoncé posted her statement on the shootings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, Jay Z issued a response of his own with the release of his new track, “Spiritual,” Thursday night.

The 3-plus-minute track, which was released on the mogul’s streaming music platform Tidal, finds Hov calling out police brutality in America and how it affects him as a black father.

“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,” he raps, before adding, “In a hurricane of emotions. Can’t even raise my little daughter, my little Carter. We call her Blue cause it’s sad that, how can I be a dad that, I never had.”

In a statement he later released on Tidal, Jay Z says he made the song “A while ago” and that Top Dawg Entertainment’s co-president Terrence “Punch” Henderson had encouraged him to release the song in 2014 following the death of Michael Brown. He added that he is “saddened and disappointed in this America” and shared a sentiment everyone seems to be feeling that “It’s tough right now.”

Last month, Hov appeared in the video to DJ Khaled’s “I Got The Keys,” which addressed the tensions between black men and America’s judicial system.

Listen to Jay Z’s “Spiritual” below.