Pivotal golden-age rap anthems "F**k tha Police" by N.W.A (1988) and " Fight The Power" by Public Enemy (1989) also had more streams this Tuesday compared to last week.īack in 2016, ahead of the track's two GRAMMY wins, Lamar predicted the power of "Alright" in the moving interview (watch above). Soul classics like "Wake Up Everybody" from Harold Melvin And The Blue Notes (1975) and "O-o-h Child" by The Five Stairsteps (1970) also saw increases, albeit somewhat smaller. Other songs on the playlist that also saw significant bumps in digital listenership include Killer Mike's "Don't Die" (2012), YG and Nipsey Hussle's "FDT" (2016), Beyoncé and Lamar's "Freedom" (2016) and Solange and Lil Wayne's "Mad" (2016). Kendrick Lamar: "Alright" Put Faith In People's Hearts Read: Minnesota Artist Dua Saleh Demands Justice With Powerful "Body Cast" For example, "Say It Loud" had just over 2,000 listens last Tuesday compared to 375,000 this Tuesday. The numbers, calculated by Nielsen Music, count streams from across major music and video platforms and were compared to those for the prior Tuesday (May 26). The opener, Brown's aforementioned empowering bop, saw the biggest increase at 15,740 percent. On Friday (June 5), Billboard reported huge spikes in the streaming numbers on June 2 for many of the poignant songs featured in the playlist. In response, Spotify launched its Black Lives Matter playlist, featuring powerful anthems from Black artists across the years, including James Brown's 1968 "Say It Loud – I'm Black And I'm Proud," 2Pac's 1993 "Keep Ya Head Up" and Childish Gambino's 2018 GRAMMY-winning hit " This Is America." On Tuesday (June 2), the music industry observed Black Out Tuesday to stand in solidarity with the Black community and protestors across the nation calling for racial equality and an end to police brutality. This was at the height of the Civil Rights movement and the same year Dr. "Say it loud, I’m Black and I’m proud," became an affirmation recited far and wide specifically in such a turbulent year as 1968. "Say It Loud," James Brown (1968)īeing proud to be Black was almost a foreign concept commercially during this time and James Brown took the lead on empowering Black people all across the world.
But before this moment, there were a few of the songs that have been at the center of protest, revolution, and radical political change over the years. That tradition of music has continued over centuries as each new movement-specifically involving the fight for self-love, equality, and fair treatment for Black Americans-creates its own soundtrack.Ģ020 will see its own host of songs that highlight the times, from Meek Mill’s "The Otherside of America" to H.E.R.'s "I Can’t Breathe," which she recently premiered in her performance for IHeartRadio’s Living Room Concert Series. For slaves, it was a form of communication and later became so much more.
It only continued after men and women were captured and enslaved in the U.S through the Middle Passage. Music has always been deeply rooted in African culture.
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The current state of unrest in the United States surrounding the violent treatment of Black people and people of color at the hands of police has caused a resurgence of music addressing the current state of affairs directly in lyrics and tone.Īs we celebrate Juneteenth (not to mention Black Music Month), a date that signifies liberation for African American people as Gordon Granger announced in Galveston, TX that the enslaved people there were free in 1865, we have to recognize the importance of music when it comes to freedom, protest, survival and celebration in Black culture. Whether it’s the slow hum of Pete Seeger's "We Shall Overcome" or the energetic repetition of YG’s "FTP," when the chants of freedom slow, we often hear an emotional outcry about political issues through music. From the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma to the streets of Ferguson, activism certainly has a sound.