00:00There's a lot of things people could be doing with their influence and platform and I'm just
00:18honored to be able to say I was on the stage tonight and we was doing something that was
00:23bigger than my single, you know, bigger than my album, bigger than just me as a person. It's
00:27about change, so I'm just like, that's how my approach is. I'm just humbled and I'm just
00:32like, man, I'm ready to have a good time. Part of what I think is beginning to happen
00:36is that white, black, brown, Republican, Democrat, people are starting to realize we're spending
00:40$80 million a year, $80 billion with a B, hurting people, not helping anybody. You're locking
00:47up people, they come home more hurt than help. Why are we doing this? And so I feel like that
00:53maybe the tide is beginning to turn a little bit. I give Black Lives Matter a lot of praise
00:57for that. I also give some of these Republican governors that said that I'm not going to raise
01:01taxes to build more prisons, which don't work. That happened in Texas. They closed eight prisons
01:05in Texas and brought the crime rate down. You know, I think people of color, we get at
01:10the forefront of dealing with these issues and I think what makes Tidal unique is that
01:13we're a streaming service, but we feel a responsibility to the people that are part of our service and
01:18people that love music and attack these real issues that affect the artists that are related
01:22to the title because Roc Nation is a management arm and Meek Mill himself is going through
01:27these sort of battles. And you know, I think it's important for us to, you know, what K.R.S.
01:31once said, edutainment, you know, when you can educate and entertain at the same time,
01:35it's always that magical mix, you know. Go have fun. Yeah, go have fun and show, you know.
01:40I know what the cause is about, but people want us to go out there and have fun and, you know, turn up, man.
01:45You know, with a cause like this, when it's a show for a cause like this, you want to give a good show
01:50so people remember they had a good show at a certain event, especially for criminal justice reform,
01:55for this many different artists to be in the building, with our backgrounds, what the cause is for.
02:00We have to go out there and put on for the world, actually, not even for the city.
02:04Light it up and have fun, you know, because there's going to be a main speech out there, probably.
02:07So you know that, so we're going to just go tear it down.
02:09Criminal justice reform is something that we all feel really passionately about, so I'm really happy to be here,
02:14lend a voice, hopefully help raise some money for these organizations that are doing the real hard work on the ground.
02:21And hopefully everybody here will have a great time.
02:22And even if they're watching at home, maybe get informed a little bit about what's happening
02:27and how they can make change. And that's our goal for tonight.
02:30We got to do it. You know what I'm saying? Every chance we can, you know.
02:34Two days ago, I did something for domestic violence.
02:37You know, we got to lend our voice out at all times, you know what I'm saying?
02:41And just come together and show them our strength in numbers.
02:45You wouldn't think hip-hop could generate 10 million dollars for something.
02:49And it happened right here in Brooklyn.
02:51I think that these are the kinds of things we need to see to restore faith in our community.
02:56When people tell us we can't, you know, it's an opportunity to say we can,
03:00and we show up when it really, really matters. Sure, it'll be fun, but we're also contributing
03:05to causes that really matter, that impact little boys and little girls in our community every day.
03:12Children, mothers, fathers, you know, parents, and folks who've been incarcerated as well.
03:16So I think it's critical. It's a good, good first step.
03:19And I just want us to see, I want to see us continue to be motivated by our own activism.
03:25To see, like, when we show up and we join together, things happen, like, for real.
03:29Including voting on November 6th.
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