It Was Written: Music Stars Who Penned Open Letters

Kendrick, Jeezy, T.I. and more who addressed the public.

Tupac Inspired - Kendrick Lamar is the latest MC to scribe an open letter and this one was to Tupac 19 years after his murder. Thanking his hero, he penned:"I was 8 yrs old when I first saw you. I couldn't describe how I felt at that moment. So many emotions. Full of excitement. Full of joy and eagerness. 20 yrs later I understand exactly what that feeling was. INSPIRED. The people that you touched on that small intersection changed lives forever. I told myself I wanted to be a voice for man one day. Whoever knew I was speaking out loud for u to listen. Thank you, K.L."As Kendrick shares his thoughts and feeling about Makaveli, read more open letters that some of your favorite musicians addressed to the public. -Michael Harris (@IceBlueVA) (Photo: Hamed Hazel via Instagram)
Jeezy Goes In - The Snowman addressed the people with an open letter this week and took a look at society’s ills along with his latest track "God." In his open-letter he stated:“With the poverty level at an all time high, it’s damn near impossible for one to take care of him or herself without the possibility of prison or death. You have law enforcement officials gunning down unarmed black men. You have misinformed young men gunning down unarmed women, children and men in churches, movie theaters and public events. There’s a war going on, but you have to ask yourself, who is the enemy?They ask why you black males are so militant? My answer to that would be because they are making us soldiers. Soldiers in a war on humanity. We have nothing to lose and everything to fight for. We are fighting for our people; we are fighting for our right to live…”(Photo: Michael Kovac...
Paris Calls For Reformation Of Gun Laws - West Coast veteran Paris used his pen to address gun violence in July when he wrote an open-letter in The Washington Post. Seeing friends and his community ravished with gun related deaths over the years, he got right to the point with: "Guns are the disregarded public health emergency ravaging my community — the black community — but without reform of America’s gun laws, and an acknowledgement that people are dying while the gun industry profits, this will continue to be my community’s holocaust."(Photo: Raymond Boyd/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)Lupe's Ghost Tales - Lupe Fiasco addressed Meek Mill and Drake's beef over ghostwriting and spoke to both artists in his two-part open letter "The Haunting" on IG. Some of his points included:"...Ghostwriting, or borrowing lines, or taking suggestions from the room has always been in rap and will always be in rap. It is nothing to go crazy over or be offended about unless you are someone who postures him or herself on the importance of authenticity and tries to portray that quality to your fans or the public at large. Then we might have a problem. Some of the most pivotal moments in rap have been ghostwritten verses..."(Photos from left: Splash News, Taylor Hill/Getty Images for Hangout Festival, Jason Merritt/Getty Images)

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Tupac Inspired - Kendrick Lamar is the latest MC to scribe an open letter and this one was to Tupac 19 years after his murder. Thanking his hero, he penned:"I was 8 yrs old when I first saw you. I couldn't describe how I felt at that moment. So many emotions. Full of excitement. Full of joy and eagerness. 20 yrs later I understand exactly what that feeling was. INSPIRED. The people that you touched on that small intersection changed lives forever. I told myself I wanted to be a voice for man one day. Whoever knew I was speaking out loud for u to listen. Thank you, K.L."As Kendrick shares his thoughts and feeling about Makaveli, read more open letters that some of your favorite musicians addressed to the public. -Michael Harris (@IceBlueVA) (Photo: Hamed Hazel via Instagram)

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