Jay Z used to be known for narrating the horrors of the streets. Now, he’s doing it in a different way, through a different medium.

The New York Times recently enlisted Hov to give the history of the so-called War on Drugs since the 1970s and he decided to give his own take on it.

“Drugs were bad, fried your brain, and drug dealers were monsters, the sole reason neighborhoods and major cities were failing," he describes. "No one wanted to talk about Reaganomics and the ending of social safety nets.” He goes on to claim the war on drugs was/is really a war on people of color. “The war on drugs is an epic fail.”

Jay Z does notes a positive shift toward treatment of drug addiction as a health issue, rather than a mental one. Check out the Molly Crabapple animated video (co-produced by Dream Hampton) below.