Larry Busacca/Getty Images for Spike

Jigga Jay Z, riding high from his induction in the Songwriters Hall of Fame and possibly bouncing two new babies at his knee, took on a far more somber topic in a recent Father’s Day essay.


With a byline that reads “Shawn Carter,” Jay strongly spoke out in Time magazine against the current U.S. bail system, which on any given day jails over 400,000 people convicted of no crime “because they cannot afford to buy their freedom.”

Though Jay Z is by all measures a genius, the words do not seem to be quite his (especially if you read his tweets during the Hall of Fame induction), but no matter; the sentiment is pure.


Jay begins talking about how he came to really see the devastation of the current U.S. bail system through the story of teen Kalief Browder, who spent more than three years in jail—without being convicted of a crime, mostly in solitary confinement—because his family could not afford to bail him out. Jay Z produced a recent six-part documentary on Browder for Spike TV.

He also says he is going to support the National Father’s Bail Out Day campaign this year. He continues: