These days it's hard to break the internet, but one thing you can count on is a big brand every other year pulling an ad and apologizing for some campaign they've run as people take to not so social media to express their collective outrage. This time the company in the spotlight (tourchlight even) is Converse, which is wild considering the host of black entertainers who've been endorsing their gear for years.

Last years launch of Love, Chuck with both artists and athletes features Tyler, The Creator, Chalrie XCX and Lil Yatchy to name a few of the music artist included. Added Vince Staples within the last week dropped a commercial and the timing is insane considering the recent release of his album, Cry Baby considering its overall theme. 

I recorded the track “If Only (Black Lives Mattered)” in 2014, summing up the year in Hip-Hop as well as a snapshot of varied years of the black experience in the US which came before, namely for young black Americans. When it comes to rap and rhyme for the most part the majority of what I've recorded over the years has been pretty much social commentary. I even produced and released two albums in this vein. 

It's been said many times before, black people are not a monolith. 

This song speaks to this reality as well as the complexities within black culture, from contradicting factors of black life/entertainment to the consistent gaslighting of black people in the US as this treatment has been mirrored in different ways through the rest of the world. I also mention Lost Voices, the activist organization which formed after the death of Mike Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. I had the chance to speak to some members on live radio during a day of protest in 2014. 

Dontey Carter (from left), Mel Moffitt, Lenard Smith, Ned Alexander and Allen Frazier are all members of the Lost Voices group, formed after Michael Brown's death in August. They say they want to ensure justice for Michael Brown and other unarmed individuals killed by police officers.

Photo - Cheryl Corley/NPR

[Lyrics]

God Bless America and no place else.

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah

Stevie Wonder plays harmonica and the drums

Quiet as church meece, we ate the crumbs

They’s gettin paid for playin dumb

We gettin sprayed for bein young

Bein black, bein packed while not bein strapped

Bein capped, no snap-back

Now Smurder dances, like tribal actions

Millions marchin cross the globe

We in love wit coco, Pyrex odes

College dropout, hit the stove

Dear Angelou, D’Angelo a caged bird sings

The Black Messiah, Still I rise, and when I rise

I’mah Try Me some Dej Loaf

Iggy Iggy co-opt the culture

But T.I.'s are the real vultures

Yall ain’t hearin, need a Q-tip

And a Solange beatin

No elevator, I’ll take the stairs

No balloons, it ain't The Weekend

Lost Voices they found voices ain’t never scared

I said they found voices ain’t never scared

I love myself, gettin healthy eating pears

Its a Cole word so I stopped druggin hoes n druggin bitches

Can't stop sayin bitches but you don't care

Hung up on niggas sayin niggas

Merica still hangin niggas

Black on black crime figures

It’s all in yah mind nigga.

Got my shooters, I’m start a revolution Nigga, up in this club…