Jay-Z Raps His Support for Proposition 47 from Concert Stage

Rapper Jay-Z turned a concert stage into a political soapbox this week, all in an effort to bolster California’s Proposition 47.

The Obama supporter leveraged Tuesday’s concert at the Rose Bowl into a pitch for the legislation, which some say would reduce prison overcrowding by making some nonviolent crimes misdemeanors, not felonies. He used his hit song Hard Knock Life to rally voters to the cause.

“More schools, less prisons,” he rapped.

The San Francisco Chronicle, citing Vibe Magazine, says Jay-Z’s latest burst of activism emerged when activist Dream Hampton shared a video of Jay-Z’s comments on the social media site Instagram.

Said Hampton: “Many of you know that I’ve joined with #VoteYeson47 and @mrmikedelarocha push through a California ballot initiative, Prop 47, that will change petty, nonviolent crimes from felonies to misdemeanors and reallocate prison spending to prevention and schools. Thousands of poor people will no longer have felony convictions for petty crimes. Tonight, after many recent conversations about mass incarceration, Jay Z stood with us, from the Rose Bowl stage.