JAY-Z and Paramount Network's Trayvon Martin documentary series, Rest In Power: The Trayvon Martin Story, is set to premiere on July 30. Featuring home videos, family photos, news footage, and intimate interview with his family, the series will take a closer look at Trayvon's life. Trayvon's death in 2012 sparked protests across the nation and became one of the many killings that sparked the Black Lives Matter movement.
Black Thought of the Roots is paying tribute to the then 17-year-old by releasing a new song to coincide with the series' release. Named after the documentary itself, Black Thought's "Rest In Power" is a meditation on the lasting effect Trayvon's tragic death has had on so many. The Rohan Blair-Mangat-directed video, which accompanies the release of the track, is just as striking.
"For every Trayvon Martin there was an Emmett Till," he raps. "How many more kids will we wait for them to kill?/My tears collecting like raindrops on a window sill/If the wounds heal the memories never fade/I wonder if you're in heaven's 11th grade?" His lyrics accompanied by images of hooded klan members, security footage from Trayvon's trip to a 7-Eleven just moments before his fatal shooting, and heartbreaking shots of his parents mourning the loss of their son. Watch the video above.
