Jay Z Releases Song Railing on Police Brutality

Jay Z responded to the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile Thursday night with the release of an emotional new song, "Spiritual," decrying police brutality, E! reports. "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," he raps on the track. As he explained in a post on Tidal's Twitter account, he actually started the song a while ago. "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."

Meanwhile, his wife, who had earlier called the killings of Sterling and Castile a "war," offered up a tribute to them at her concert in Glasgow, Scotland, Thursday night. Beyonce asked the crowd to join her in a moment of silence for the men and dozens of other victims whose names flashed on a screen behind her, TMZ reports, then launched into her song "Freedom." The gossip site notes that the tribute happened hours before five police officers were murdered in Dallas. (More Jay Z stories.)