Remember the open letter King Hova made public in response to the flack he got from everyone on Planet Earth including Stacey Dash and her gardener about taking his wife to Cuba, apparently without following the proper treasury procedures, to celebrate their anniversary? Of course you remember. One: it was just last week; and two: it was the same incident that showed us that even when you are the president of the most powerful nation in the world, if you are a black man in trouble, you will snitch to cover your ass (“I wasn’t familiar that they were taking the trip. My understanding is, I think they went through a group that organizes these educational trips down to Cuba. This is not something the White House was involved with. We’ve got better things to do.” – Obama, The Today Show).
Anyway, it seems that it is not only the White House who the song has inspired. A few days ago, Common jacked the beat and laid down some of his own personal thoughts after the Jay Z verse. In Comm’s verse, he reflects on his own trip to Cuba to visit Black Panther icon Assata Shakur, who escaped prison and sought political asylum in the communist country. “I went to Cuba to see her/ We should free her, like we should Mumia,” he raps, referencing inmate Mumia Abu-Jamal, who has been fighting to be free following the 1981 murder of a police officer in Philadelphia. He also shares a few more thoughts but we’re just going to let you listen for yourself. You’re welcome:
http://www.hotnewhiphop.com/common-open-letter-song.1327508.html