Celebrating Black Music, Black Culture, and Black Pride

Celebrating Black music month feels different this year. We are in a time of racial awareness. People all over the world are coming together to fight racism and injustice. Our social climate reminds me of Bob Marley’s “Redemption Song”. The record was on Marley’s final album with The Wailers titled Uprising. 

Considered one of his greatest works, part of the song was derived from Pan Africanist Marcus Garvey’s speech The Work That Has Been Done. Notable lyrics include: "Emancipate yourself from mental slavery” and "None but ourselves can free our minds." The theme of the song centers around redemption, freedom and emancipation. What’s also interesting about this record is that it's purely solo acoustic, which makes Marley's message a bit more inspiring and liberating. 

Today, many consider Kendrick Lamar’s “Alright” a soundtrack to the movement. The same way past generations viewed Sam Cooke’s “A Change Is Gonna Come”, Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Goin On”, Public Enemy’s “Fight The Power”, and N.W.A.’s “F*** Tha Police” as protest songs. Although the To Pimp a Butterfly track wasn’t originally intended to be a protest song, the chorus naturally became a recognizable chant at marches and rallies since its release in 2015.

The opening line on “Alright” notably states “Alls my life I had to fight”, a reference from Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Color Purple. Made famous by Oprah Winfrey’s portrayal of Sofia in the film adaptation of the book. The one-liner appropriately depicts the struggle of Black and brown people since the beginning of time.

In a 2015 interview with NPR, Lamar elaborated on the timeless record, saying he was thinking about the severity of slavery while he penned the song. "Four hundred years ago, as slaves, we prayed and sung joyful songs to keep our heads level-headed with what was going on”, said Lamar. "Four hundred years later, we still need that music to heal. And I think that ‘Alright' is definitely one of those records that makes you feel good no matter what the times are.”

At this very moment, my heart aches for Black lives –– our lives matter. Conversely, there’s no greater time to celebrate Black music than now, as it relates to Black culture. Mainly because we are witnessing an uprising in real-time, along with a resurgence of Black pride. 

*This article originally appeared in the Ally The Journalist Newsletter. For more music industry news and updates, subscribe here: https://bit.ly/3dSSIte