Two weeks ago, Jay-Z caused quite the scene when he entered a long-term deal with the NFL. There were people on both sides of the fence, shouting from the roof tops their Twitter accounts about how great or how terrible it is, all despite not knowing any of the details about the situation.
“It’s a natural emotion to be upset, but where do we go now? Where are we going to take it, what do we do, how are we going to fix it? And what is everyone doing?” Hov asked at the press conference. “Everyone can speak like the Twitter people, everyone can talk. Ask them, what have they done? There’s 365 days in the year. I can tell you exactly what I did last year. I can tell you the amount of people who I saved from going to jail, I can tell you I got this person out of jail, I can tell you this, this, this, this and that. I fed this many people, I can tell you exactly what I’ve done with my 365 days. What has everyone done? It’s a challenge. We can have the conversation, and again, I’m not saying it’s not needed. It is, because we need to know what’s happening. We need to identify the problems in order to for us to address it. But after we address it, what are we doing?”
“I think we forget that Colin [Kaepernick]’s whole thing was to bring attention to social injustice. In that case, this was a success,” he continued. “There’s two parts of protesting. You go outside and you protest and then the company or the individual says, ‘I hear you, what do we do next?’ For me it was action. What are we going to do with it? Like everyone heard, and we hear what you’re saying, and every body knows I agree with what you’re saying. So, what are we going to do?”
While the full details about the partnership have yet to be revealed, we’ve now got the first look at what’s to come with Jay-Z and the NFL launching the Inspire Change initiative with Meek Mill, Rapsody and singer Meghan Trainor signed on as the first round of advocates to help out.
On top of a free show at the NFL Kickoff Experience in Chicago to help kick off the season, an apparel line and Songs of the Season campaign will also be put into action with all proceeds going to Inspire Change programs across the United States with an overall focus on “economic empowerment, police and community relations, and criminal justice reform.”
