Shawn “Jay Z” Carter and Artist Molly Crabapple Team Up for Provocative Video About Racism and the Drug War
Video Narrated by Shawn “Jay Z” Carter and Illustrated by Crabapple Depicts Drug War’s Devastating Impact on the Black Community from Decades of Biased Law Enforcement
Shawn “Jay Z” Carter has teamed up with acclaimed artist Molly Crabapple on a striking animated video, launched today in the New York Times, that slams the war on drugs. The video traces the drug war and its impact on the Black community from President Nixon to the draconian Rockefeller Drug Laws to the emerging aboveground marijuana market that is poised to make legal millions for wealthy investors doing the same thing that generations of people of color have been arrested and locked up for.
The four-minute work, narrated by Jay Z, is part history lesson and part vision statement. He maps the devastation caused by the war on drugs and raises important questions about economic equity in the emerging aboveground marijuana industry.
Molly Crabapple, celebrated artist, activist and author, hand painted and animated the video with her distinctive style. The video, “From Prohibition to Gold Rush,” was produced in collaboration between Revolve Impact and the Drug Policy Alliance.