Some hot item news has broken from the release of Rick Ross's new track "The Devil Is A Lie," and no; it isn't that Ross and collaborator Jay Z are way richer than you. The latter emcee used a portion of his guest verse to address the controversy over his collection at embattled New York City luxury retailer Barney's.
Jay was blasted by some for launching a line exclusively through Barney's, which has caught flack for racial profiling after security stopped a number of black patrons who had purchased items. Trayon Christian and Kayla Phillips, two African-American customers, were detained after checking out, and are now suing the store.
The rapper defended due process while his line goes forward.
"While I await the findings of the Attorney General's Office, I have agreed to move forward with the launch of BNY SCC collection under the condition that I have a leadership role and seat on a council specifically convened to deal with the issue of racial profiling," he said in a statement on his website. He also clarified that he's not actually making any money off the deal, and that all his proceeds will go to the Shawn Carter Foundation, a charity he founded to supply scholarships to children living under economic difficulty.
As for his actual lines during the song? See below:
"See what I did to the stop and frisk?/Brooklyn on the Barneys like we own the b---h/Give the money to the hood, now we all win/Got that Barneys floor looking like a V.I.M." (V.I.M. is a clothing chain located in Brooklyn).
