Black Protest Music, Unearthed (#12)

Unearthed Collection
Written By Matt Williams
 
 
“Jazzy Streets” captures a street art mural in Eastern Market in Detroit, MIPhoto by Janine Kai Robinson

“Jazzy Streets” captures a street art mural in Eastern Market in Detroit, MI

Photo by Janine Kai Robinson

 
 

The death of George Floyd on May 25th, 2020 re-ignited a global movement. We have seen an overwhelming outcry and outpouring of solidarity from folks across races and creeds who have the desire to support the Black community and be better educated, more aware, to listen and learn, and to take this tragedy as an opportunity for societal change, personal growth, and the commitment to be better to one another. Humankind’s ability to rally together —in the midst of an isolating global pandemic— to pursue the eradication of racial injustice is nothing short of awe-inspiring. This challenge and rallying cry has been echoed across the music industry, both in the creation of new music and in the promotion of songs that have been the soundtrack of civil protest for decades. I never cease to be amazed by the ability of musicians and artists to channel pain, anguish, and even hatred into beauty. And to communicate what words alone cannot.

 
“Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent.”
— Victor Hugo
 

Each song in this month’s Unearthed playlist comes from a Black artist and has a story or perspective to share. To fully appreciate the impact that Black music has had on American culture and music, I think it’s important to contextualize that music through the lens of the adversity faced by Black musicians, many of whom never fully reaped the rewards of their creativity. Included below are links that provide more context on each song in this month’s playlist:

  1. Alabama - John Coltrane

    “It was 15 September 1963, a Sunday morning. A powerful explosion had ripped through the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. Four African American girls – Denise McNair, 11, and Addie Mae Collins, Cynthia Wesley and Carole Robertson, all 14 – were killed while attending Sunday school classes…

    … Deeply moving, it was clearly a lament, an elegy, a eulogy. It needed no lyrics. The achingly beautiful, solemn, spare song was a meditation for the four little girls of Alabama, but also for black America and its fight for civil rights.” - New Frame

  2. Mr. Officer - Tee Grizzley feat Queen Naija & members of the Detroit Youth Choir

    “Detroit rapper Tee Grizzley has shared a new track that addresses police brutality and the death of George Floyd. It’s called “Mr. Officer” and it features guest spots from Queen Naija and members of the Detroit Youth Choir. “I’m not a politician or activist but right now it’s everybody’s job to speak up because the pain, the struggle for equality and the brutality is real,” the rapper said in a statement.” - Pitchfork

  3. Might Not Be Ok - Kenneth Whalum, Big K.R.I.T.

    “Featuring mournful piano and ghostly humming, "Might Not Be Ok" comes on the heels of yet another police shooting that many are already saying was unjustified. This time, it was 13-year-old Tyre King, who Columbus authorities say pointed a BB gun that looked just like a police pistol directly at one of their officers.” - XXL

  4. Inner City Blues - Marvin Gaye

    “Marvin Gaye was not necessarily a visionary, he just described the injustices he witnessed around him. Instead it is an indictment on the widening gulf of inequality, racial instability and social hardship endured throughout America’s urban spaces that his words are as potent and relevant now, nearly 50 years on, as they were when this 7″ was first released.” - Vinyl Factory

  5. I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free - Nina Simone

    “We went to the march at Selma, so we landed in Montgomery, and so Nina and I did perform that night,” Schackman told the BBC. When they played “I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free,” he said, “it was an uproar. They loved it. Everyone was screaming.” That was two years before Simone released a recording of the song on her 1967 record “Silk and Soul,” and three years before a television interviewer asked Simone what freedom meant to her — the idea at the heart of Taylor’s song, and so much of Simone’s own protest music. “I’ll tell you what freedom is to me: no fear,” she said. “I mean really — no fear.” — The Washington Post

  6. Black Like Me - Mickey Guyton

    “And then I saw Ahmaud. And then I saw Breonna. And then I saw George. I just put "Black Like Me" on my Instagram. No permission, no nothing. I just put it out there because people need to hear that. And then Spotify called and asked for it. I was like, "Here. Take it. No, there doesn't need to be promotion, because that's tacky." This is not about me. This is about the bigger spectrum of things and about humanity… It was purely to try to at least get people to hear different perspectives.” — NPR

  7. Black Parade - Beyoncé

    “Released in the final hours of Juneteenth — the holiday observing the June 19, 1865 date which marked the end of slavery in the United States — the song sounds like an outright celebration. The Juneteenth release date is especially deliberate, coming from Beyoncé, a proud Texas artist: The commemoration itself is tied directly to the day the enslaved in Texas were finally informed of their freedom, two-and-a-half years after the Emancipation Proclamation.” - NPR

  8. How Long? - Fantastic Negrito

    “When I was writing 'How Long?,' I was actually talking to the shooter -- a very familiar subject in American society. We all know who the shooter is. He’s isolated, scared, maybe he feels betrayed…

    … If I had the chance, I would tell them the pain they are feeling, the darkness they are going through is temporary – especially if you consider the span of a human life. I would tell them we can’t fight these obstacles alone. We need each other. Get offline. Talk to people. I would tell them I am here for you. We can’t hide from the pain. We need to look right at it. To really look into someone’s eyes is to feel their power and their vulnerability, to feel humanity, and to feel love.” - Front View Magazine

  9. Across the Lines - Tracy Chapman

    “Tracy Chapman, born poor in Cleveland in 1965, paid witness as a child to the ways in which poorly enforced integration led to violence against Black citizens in their own neighborhoods. Chapman, whose universe expanded when she received a scholarship to a Connecticut boarding school, brought her political perspective and personal experience of being bullied as a child to her work as a rare Black singer-songwriter in the informally segregated folk-rock scene of the 1990s. This song cries out for all lines to be eradicated even as it contends with the reality that most Americans choose sides, forcing others to run for their lives.” - NPR

  10. I Can’t Breathe - H.E.R.

    “Just by the title you know that it means something very painful and revealing,” she says, as the title comes from the final words of both Floyd and Eric Garner, who was also killed at the bands of law enforcement officers. “And I think it’s necessary. These lyrics were easy to write because it came from“what’s happening right now, what’s been happening and the change that we need to see,” adding that “music is powerful when it comes to change and when it comes to healing.” - Variety

  11. Stereotypes - Black Violin

    "I think a lot of times we think, 'Oh well, this the way that everyone has always done it, so I have to do it this way,'" Sylvester said. "And we try to use our music and our message as a way to break that (mindset) and have kids to think outside of the box and not sticking to the stereotype of, 'a violin can sound like this.' 'Only a girl can do this kind of thing,' 'Only a boy can do this.'  Nah, anyone can do anything. Recognize your power. Do what you love. Love what you do. And do it unapologetically."  - Wisconsin Public Radio

  12. MY POWER - Nija, Beyoncé, Yemi Alade, Tierra Whack, Moonchild Sanelly, DJ Lag

    “Speaking to ABC about the soundtrack, Beyonce said, “I wanted to make sure we found the best talent from Africa. Not just use some of the sounds and do my interpretation of it. This soundtrack is a love letter to Africa. I wanted it to be authentic about what is beautiful about the music in Africa,” she said.” - All Africa

  13. This is America - Childish Gambino

    "This Is America" is successful in the way all art should be: Its meaning wraps around each listener differently, a beautiful, nebulous showpiece with a thousand implications. How Gambino and Murai go about bringing those implications to the surface—turning the suffering and trauma of black people into a cinematic playhouse with no way out—and whether that makes it truly vital, is harder to sift through. (Notice that Gambino’s grim odyssey never takes him beyond the white walls of the warehouse, almost as if he’s trapped.) What "This Is America" ends up becoming is one of the most unconventional protest songs of the modern era.” - WIRED

  14. Wake Up Everybody - Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes feat. Teddy Pendergrass

    “Teddy’s deep, rich voice was warm and fuzzy, like someone hugging your body. It was primal. There was no anger in the lyrics or his voice, just common sense: “Wake up everybody, no more sleepin’ in bed. No more backward thinkin’, time for thinkin’ ahead. The world has changed so very much from what it used to be. There’s so much hatred, war and poverty.”

    A year or so later, Teddy became my client, and I helped him launch his successful solo career. I also got to know his family well. They held the song’s values dearly. It was who Teddy was.” - Wall Street Journal

  15. They Don’t Care About Us - Michael Jackson

    “Looking for the right response to the alleged murder of George by police in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Prince turned to dad Michael to provide the words that were required. He included "'Beat me…Hate me…You can never break me.' — Michael Jackson," in the tribute to the 46-year-old father-of-one. The lyric quote comes from Michael Jackson's 'They Don't Care About Us' which hit out at racism and police brutality in the 1995 hit. Speaking to his 677,000 followers, Prince wrote after the MJ quote: "I’m going to speak from the heart, because that’s all I know how to do. "We wouldn’t be here without black culture. Black culture is about strength. Black culture is about perseverance. "Black culture is about resilience. Black culture is about a call for change. No more politicians’ promises. No more conversations. "No more cycles of racism, abuse, and pain." - Mirror

  16. Why I Sing the Blues - B.B. King

    “The climax of King's 1969 album Live & Well — recorded with a studio band including Al Kooper on piano — is an understated but furious catalogue of the indignities of Black American history, from the Middle Passage to urban poverty, with an extra verse in which King (then in his early forties) laments how old he's getting.” - Rolling Stone

  17. Harder Than You Think - Public Enemy

    “Political music isn’t an easy sell. Part of what allowed Public Enemy to reach cultural-phenomena status during hip-hop’s golden age was their understanding that the PSA could also be a party. It wasn’t enough just to clean clocks with a powerful message – knowing what time it was meant both pumping fists in solidarity and busting moves in defiance.” - Consequence of Sound

  18. In America - John Legend

    “‘In America’ was born around the same time I was working on my most recent album Darkness and Light,” Legend said in a statement. “It’s a song I was writing while thinking about the duality of America, where it’s known to be this place of freedom, equality and where anyone can make it. The song points out the tension between the promise of America, the ideals of America, and sometimes us not living up to those ideals in practice. ‘In America’ was perfect song for Underground, a series I’m incredibly proud to be a part of, and one that does a beautiful job of portraying a challenging time in our nation’s history while reminding us that change is possible.” - Rolling Stone

  19. Glory - Common, John Legend

    “His strong stance on polarizing social issues does, of course, come with the expected blowback. Legend most recently raised hackles for the lyrics in “Glory,” which connect yesterday’s struggle for civil rights to today’s continued push for equality. “They said this song would have been great if you didn’t mention Ferguson,” he continues. “They only want to talk about race when it has the patina of nostalgia, and MLK when there’s a sense of deification. They don’t want to talk about race right now because it’s uglier to deal with. We weren’t afraid to talk about what’s happening today.” - LA Times

Much of the music in this Unearthed playlist was discovered through the great work of other curators who are endless sources of inspiration for me. Here are the main sources for this month’s playlist:

NPR Music

Spotify

In addition to the music above, I’m fortunate to have friends and colleagues who have recommended some incredible articles, books, movies, speakers, and more that have helped me to continue listening. If you’d like to learn more, I’ve included some of these resources below:

 
 

Each month, we put together a playlist of our favorite discoveries new & old, sent on the 1st day of the month. Subscribe to receive the monthly Unearthed playlist, along with other Fresh Cut Finds playlists.

 
Matt Williams
Previous

4th of July: The Land Remains
Next

Planted and Enchanted: Vol. 5 - June '20