Common Remixes Jay-Z’s ‘Open Letter’

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First it was Pitbull, now it’s Common‘s turn to offer his thoughts on Jay-Z and Beyonce‘s Cuba controversy.

On the polarizing track, the Chicago rapper gives us a history lesson on some of the political prisoners living in the U.S. and in Cuba.

Y’all gonna learn today. Common reflects on his 1997 trip to Cuba to meet Assata Shakur, a former Black Panther-turned-political prisoner who escaped to Cuba after being accused and convicted in the slaying of a New Jersey police officer. His meeting inspired him to record ‘A Song For Assata‘ and now ‘Open Letter, Part II.’

“My man went to Cuba / Caught in the political triangle, Bermuda / The same way they said she was the shooter / Assata Shakur / They tried to execute her / I went to Cuba to see her / We should free her like Mumia,” he spits.

Elsewhere, Common recalls how Fox News attacked him for his invite to a White House poetry event in May 2011.

“Y’all seen how Fox News tried to do me / They say I’m too black, like it’s light out / Might not get invited back to the White House / Still with the Obamas I ride / I’ll meet the President on the South Side,” he raps.

Common then ends his verse with this creative zinger. “Media saying s— that ain’t there / But we fall down and get back up, Kevin Ware.”