On Saturday afternoon, officer Darren Wilson of the Ferguson, Missouri, police department repeatedly shot and killed unarmed teenager Michael Brown in broad daylight in the middle of the street. Michael was left lying there, in the street, for multiple hours.The ensuing days have seen, after an initial riot, an outpouring of peaceful protest and increasing unease about the deployment of excessive police force. Yesterday, when I talked to St. Louis rapper Tef Poe, who has been one of the most visible figures on the ground protesting police behavior in Ferguson, he described seeing people he's known his whole life "standing there by armored trucks with M-16s pointed at their chests," unarmed. The country has watched in horror and rage, first as the story of Michael Brown unfolded and then as the continued show of police force underscored the brutal, suspicious mindset that led to his killing in the first place.But the last thing Tef said to me yesterday was more encouraging: "What you have is people linking together and bonding together and running out this military-like police force. On the ground, it’s actually quite amazing to witness, and that’s the aspect of this that I hope we can carry on into the future. The unity aspect. The sticking together aspect."That's one of the feelings that comes across listening to the Michael Brown tribute song that J. Cole released early this morning, "Be Free." It comes from the fact that J. Cole, one of the biggest rappers in the world, someone who can broadcast his message to 5.4 million Twitter followers, recorded a song about this. And even more so from the way that the song strips away any of the posturing and moralizing that usually makes J. Cole's message songs fall flat and just emotes. He howls " it ain't no gun they make that can kill my soul," and it's reassuring. He sobs "all we want to do is break the chains off/all we want to do is be free," and it's heartbreaking.That's the other feeling that comes across in "Be Free": palpable grief. Beyond channeling the rage of the moment, beyond highlighting the chilling interview excerpts describing the scene, this is a song that aches deeply, that reaches into a much longer-standing despair. It's in J. Cole's voice. It's in the way he sings. It's in the way this isn't a rap song but rather a sort of raw nerve freestyle born of deep frustration and sadness. This is a song about Michael Brown, but it's also a cry for, in Cole's words, "every young black man murdered in America." Michael Brown's death drew national attention, but the problem it represents is not new, nor will it go away when the armored vehicles roll out of Ferguson, and that's what this song is about, too."Don't just stand around/don't just stand around," J. Cole pleads. Music is, at its best, a purer expression of our emotions, a more elevated version of who we are. "Be Free" is a great piece of music, probably the best J. Cole has ever made. And it's also something more. It's a song that's needed right now. It might make you cry. Let it.
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