Minority Report Lyrics

[Intro: excerpts from news reports]
"The damage here along the Gulf coast is catastrophic
There's a frantic effort underway tonight to find survivors
There are an uncounted number of the dead tonight."


"People are being forced to live like animals."

"Please... send stuff here. We are desperate."


"No one says the federal government is doing a good job."

"...and hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people ..."

"No water... yeah, and I fought for my country for years."

"We need help. We really need help."

"In Baghdad, they-they drop, they airdrop - water, food to people
Why can't they do that for their own people?"

"...the same idiots can't get a bottle of water into a
Major American city in three days are trying to win a war"


[Verse: Jay-Z]
People was poor before the hurricane came
Before the downpour poured, it was like when Mary J. sang
Everyday it rains, so everyday the pain
Went ignored and I'm sure ignorance was to blame

But life is a chain, cause and effected
Niggas off the chain, because they affected
It's a dirty game, it's whatever is effective
From weed to sellin' 'caine, gotta put that in effect, shit

Wouldn't you loot? If you didn't have the loot
Baby needed food and you was stuck on the roof

And helicopters swoop down just to get a scoop
Through his telescopic lens, but he didn't scoop you

And the next five days, no help ensued
They called you a refugee because you seek refuge
And the Commander-in-Chief, just flew by
Didn't stop, I know he had a couple seats
Just rude Jet blue, he's not, jet flew by the spot
What if he ran out of jet fuel and just dropped
Huh, that woulda been somethin' to watch

Helicopters doin' fly-bys to take a couple shots
Couple portraits, then ignored 'em

He’d be just another Bush surrounded by a couple orchids
Poor kids, just 'cause they was poor kids
Left them on they porches, same old story in New Orleans

Silly rappers, cause we got a couple Porsches
MTV stopped by to film our fortresses
We forget the unfortunate

Sure, I ponied up a mil' but I didn't give my time
So in reality I didn't give a dime

Or a damn, I just put my monies in the hands
Of the same people that left my people stranded

Nothin' but a bandit, left them folks abandoned
Damn, that money we gave was just a band-aid
Can't say we better off than we was before
In synopsis, this is my Minority Report

Can't say we better off than we was before
In synopsis, this is my Minority Report

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About

Genius Annotation

This song was a dedication to those who suffered and died during Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Despite not being a single, a video was released for MTV’s Black History Month in 2006.

It features Ne-Yo who was one of Jay Z’s first signings as Def Jam president.

Jay spoke extensively about the hurricane in his book Decoded.

I couldn’t forget that those were my kin out there in New Orleans, and that, forget the Government, I was supposed to do something to help them. I got together with Puffy and we donated a million dollars to the relief effort, but we donated it to the Red Cross, which is barely different from donating to the government itself, the same government that failed those people. Who knows how much of that money actually made it to the people on the ground?

During Jay’s Heart of the City tour he would regularly play the track with a backdrop of Obama, making the message clear.

Q&A

Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning

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