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JAY-Z Offers To Pay Fees For Those Protesting Police-Shooting Of Alvin Cole

A 17-year-old African-American male, Alvin Cole was shot to death by police in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, in February of this year. The individual who shot Cole, Joseph Mensah, is an African-American police officer who has fatally shot two other people in the last five years.

After Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm confirmed on Wednesday that he would not file charges against Mensah, (a decision which was consistent with his past disinclination to charge Mensah over the other two deaths) police clashed with peaceful protestors. Several protestors, including Cole’s mother and two sisters, were arrested.

This prompted rapper JAY-Z to offer financial coverage of any legal fees/fines incurred by the arrested protestors. This was announced through Team ROC, JAY-Z’s social justice branch of his broader ROC Nation Company.

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The conflict arises as Chisholm claims that Mensah, who reportedly observed Cole holding an unloaded firearm while on his knees, acted in self-defense when he fatally shot Cole in the Mayfair Mall parking lot.

Team ROC additionally responded with the demand that Mensah is relieved of his duties at the Police Department and be legally prosecuted, with Wisconsin Governor, Tony Evers hiring a special prosecutor for the case.

Protest attendance is estimated to have exceeded 100 people, with all participants marching onto the I-94 freeway during rush hour.

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A Facebook live-stream shown from within the Cole family car during the protests depicts officers threatening use-of-force upon Cole’s mother, Tracy Cole.

Said the mother, “I can’t believe y’all did this to me. Y’all killed my son,” followed by repeated cries of “I can’t breathe,” to which an officer responded, “Well, that’s too bad.”

[via]

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Kyle Ashen’s sun-drenched recollection with new release “That Local Girl”

KYLE

Kyle Ashen’s latest release, “That Local Girl,” is a gorgeous trip down memory lane, a country single that explores that golden glow of memory, like flipping through old photographs touched by salt air and summer sunlight. It’s warm, cinematic, and deeply relatable, a song about the kind of love story that never quite goes away, even as time moves on.

“That Local Girl” is filled with imagery that quickly takes the listener into a world they can walk right into. You got a blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl on a boardwalk street by the ocean, a souped-up truck driving through town, neon lights reflecting off the ocean breeze, and the electric innocence of young love burning in the background.

But under all that cutesy trapping is something more than that, longing. Some people, some places that leave permanent marks on Kyle Ashen and us know that. What’s so brilliant about this song is that it marries those two ideas, making love and hometown memory feel beautifully inseparable. Sometimes you miss a person. And with that person, you miss an entire version of life. “That Local Girl” is more than a country love song from Kyle Ashen. He is a living postcard from the past, sun-faded, bittersweet, and glowing with feeling. A reminder that summers pass by, but some memories stay with us forever.

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ECHOFLIP inspires faith and fire with triumphant anthem on “Kingdom Rise”

ECHOFLIP

ECHOFLIP marches forward with commanding purpose on “Kingdom Rise,” a single that not only demands attention but also commands it. Driven by pounding drums, soaring melodic textures, and full-conviction lyricism, the song arrives like a battle cry with the heart of worship. Bold and energized and spiritually charged from beginning to end.

“Kingdom Rise” is street realism meets kingdom vision at its heart. It’s got grit in its pulse but grace in its message as well. Each bar rings with resilience with ECHOFLIP, a record that embodies struggle, perseverance, and steadfast faith in the face of adversity. The result is music that is rooted in reality while reaching for something much larger.

What makes the single particularly compelling is how seamlessly it combines high-energy Christian trap with uplifting spiritual themes. The hard-hitting production has edge and urgency, and its faith-centered focus gives it soul. It’s motivational without being pushy. Worshipful without momentum loss, without losing authenticity. Ideal for trap gospel, inspirational rap, and urban playlists that aim to uplift as much as energize, “Kingdom Rise” delivers on all fronts. It moves the body, it sharpens the mind, it stirs the soul.

Connect with ECHOFLIP on Spotify

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