Names and faces
Rock superstar Mick Jagger said a newspaper editorial was responsible for helping him avoid prison for a minor drug offense in 1967. The Rolling Stones frontman told the Times of London on Saturday that he had been sentenced to three months in jail not because of the severity of his crime but because band members were being “scapegoats” by an older generation critical of their lifestyle. The Times editorial underscored this point, saying Jagger should be treated “exactly the same as anyone else.” The 73-year-old singer told the newspaper “that editorial got me out jail. One day it dropped, and the next thing I was out.” Jagger credited the editorial with telling the establishment “come on guys, this is just not English fair play kind of thing.”
There was a lot to unpack on Jay-Z’s new album 4:44, which debuted Friday on Tidal, the rapper’s artist-owned music streaming platform. Soon after the album dropped, fans and critics began picking apart the lyrics on its 10 tracks. One of the most personal revelations in the album appeared in the third track, “Smile,” in which Jay-Z’s mother, Gloria Carter, comes out publicly as gay. “Mama had four kids, but she’s a lesbian/Had to pretend so long that she’s a thespian,” rapped Jay-Z, whose real name is Shawn Carter. “Had to hide in the closet, so she medicate/Society shame and the pain was too much to take.” Later in the track, which also samples Stevie Wonder’s “Love’s in Need of Love Today,” the 47-year-old rapper revealed his mother had found love again and that he supported her completely, despite what anyone else might think or say. “Cried tears of joy when you fell in love/Don’t matter to me if it’s a him or her,” Jay-Z rapped. “I just wanna see you smile through all the hate/Marie Antoinette, baby, let ’em eat cake.” Gloria Carter herself delivers one of the most emotionally resonant parts of the song toward the end of the track, a spoken-word outro about her journey to self-acceptance: “Living in the shadows feels like the safe place to be. No harm for them. No harm for me. But life is short, and it’s time to be free. Love who you love, because life isn’t guaranteed. Smile.”