'This is not the land of the free, but the home of the slave': Jill Scott performed her rewritten rendition of 'The Star-Spangled Banner' at Essence Festival

Jill Scott recently performed her original version on "The Star-Spangled Banner" at the Essence Festival.

While her rewritten lyrics begin exactly the same as the national anthem, she swiftly veers off in a very different direction.

"Oh, say, can you see by the blood in the streets that this place doesn't smile on you, colored child, whose blood built this land with sweat and their hands? But you'll die in this place and your memory erased. Oh, say, does this truth hold any weight? This is not the land of the free but the home of the slave," Scott sings.

Scott, 51, wrote the lyrics at the age of 19, she has previously noted, claiming that her "home of the slave" lyric is not meant to be divisive — she said "we are in a place that makes us slaves to consumerism" and to social media, and lies. She spoke of enslavement to "negativity" as well as "bulls***" which she said does not "benefit us as a people," "culture," or "society."

ESSENCE declared when sharing the clip of Scott's recent performance at the festival, "Everyone please rise for the only National Anthem we will be recognizing from this day forward. Jill Scott, we thank you!"

A piece on essence.com described the performance as "appropriate for upcoming observation of July 4th on Tuesday."

"I felt this in my soul. I feel like Our ancestors in their unmarked Graves would approve," one person wrote in response to Essence's tweet of the performance.

"The Democrats have successfully caused, what I believe is, irreparable racial division. One group feels like the forever victim and the other group is furious for being blamed for something they did not do. Untenable," Carmine Sabia tweeted.

"Only in America can you be rich, famous and still a SLAVE," tweeted "Fearless with Jason Whitlock" contributor Shemeka Michelle.

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