Black Lives Matter and the music of protest
Protest music is nothing new... the civil rights movement, Vietnam War and gay rights activism led to songs which showed solidarity or expressed the anger and pain of the artists involved.
The Black Lives Matter movement is no different. Supporters have marched in their millions and new wave of powerful protest music has emerged.
大象传媒 Radio 5 Live presenter Chris Warburton spoke to four guests about why music is so important at this time and asked them, which protest songs resonate?
Essa is a rapper and lawyer from London, Momodou Taal is an activist, public speaker and creative, Roger Huddle is one of the founders of Rock against Racism, Philip Lewis is a HuffPost journalist based in Detroit and Sarah Angel is a Manchester-based singer.
'I've seen the energy it gives people'
Philip chose Kendrick Lamar's Alright.
Philip says: "I chose this song mostly because it’s been a song I’ve been hearing while I’ve been out at protests and I’ve seen the energy that it gives people, when they’re out there protesting.
"It mostly sums up how black people have been feeling for so long, we’ve been down before but we’re going to be alright. It’s a hopeful song. It’s one that’s not unaware of what’s going on, it’s not unaware of the issues, but it’s hopeful in spite of them.
"It reminds me of a quote by Dr Imani Perri, she’s a professor at Princeton of African-American studies, ‘Joy is not found in the absence of pain and suffering but it exists through it’. That’s what this song encapsulates for me."
'It鈥檚 a song about the black experience so maybe that, in a way, becomes protest'
Essa released his track Justice on Juneteenth. 19 June is the day celebrated every year by African-American people to commemorate the end of slavery.
Essa: "I’m a lyricist but as well as that I’m a lawyer.
"[The] song Justice, I was really speaking from both those perspectives. When I talk about the Macpherson report, that’s something I first heard about when I was a law student.
"For me writing and performing lyrics is almost a form of therapy for me, it’s a way of getting my feelings and thoughts and emotions out and processing what I’m going through and like many people I’ve been going through a lot of thoughts, feelings and emotions recently and it was natural for me to put pen to paper in that environment."
Philip Lewis: "I think the protests have bought attention to how racism and police violence isn’t a uniquely American thing… they spotlight the fact that black people across the world are facing similar issues."
Essa chose Black by Dave.
"This track is by a young rapper from London. I don’t even know if it’s a protest song, it’s a song about the black experience so maybe that, in a way, becomes protest.
"I was lucky enough to be there [watching Dave at the Brits] - I think it’s one of the most important performances of my life. I was speechless.
"The fact that he choose to perform that song, he’d had a couple of number one records that he could have played on that big platform but instead he chose to perform that song and to really make a statement and he adjusted the lyrics as well to be bang up to date."
Sarah: "I remember crying when I heard that. Even though it’s difficult to talk about, it’s really empowering to hear people discuss it."
'I love how she's seeking justice and equality, and not revenge'
Manchester based singer-songwriter Sarah Angel released If I Can Breathe on 22 June in response to the death of George Floyd.
Sarah: "I was fortunate enough to have a wonderful instrumental created by Aiden Smith. Being black, I face prejudices every day so I have a whole backlog of things to say and I just feel that this song came to me very naturally when I heard this beautiful instrumental. I mean everything I say."
Essa: "That gave me Nina Simone vibes, my hairs were standing up on my arms. Black people do music in times of sadness. Even in the time of utter darkness, something beautiful can come out of it."
Sarah chose I Can’t Breathe by H.E.R.
Sarah: "I didn’t just choose it because of the similar title [to my song], I love how relatable the song was to me. I love how she’s seeking justice and equality, and not revenge.
"She wants to essentially right the wrongs. It’s just a beautiful song. She’s like, how do we cope when we don’t love each other, we need to live in love not hate. Hate is just a structure basically."
'The fury of this changed my life'
Roger chose Bob Dylan's Masters of War.
Roger: "I could’ve picked Hurricane or I could’ve picked George Jackson but this one, as an old man of the early 1960s when we all thought we were under the cloud of nuclear war and Vietnam, the anger and the fury of this just changed my life."
Essa: "He’s a master lyricist, I can’t pretend to be familiar with his whole body of work, but someone like that speaks beyond genres."
'The song speaks to me'
Momodou chose How Many Times by Trey Songz.
Momodou: "For me some of the lines in that song really speak to me because unfortunately many of the times when you see these incidents take place, the comments, usually by white people, will say things like 'oh if you didn’t resist you wouldn’t have been shot. If you didn’t speak back to the police officer, you wouldn’t be in this situation. Why did you wear a hoodie, why did you look suspicious?'
"But what Trey Songz is saying in this, is whether you’re taking a jog in the park, whether you’re just bird watching, whether you are playing with a toy gun as a kid, whatever situation it be, it’s almost as though being black in America means you automatically have a target on your back. That’s what the song says to me.
"The protests I’ve been to, everyone seems to be playing Tupac Changes. We sit down, we talk about it, everyone seems to know the lyrics, no matter how old you are whether you’re 15 years old to 40 years old, everyone knows it word to word. And I think it really speaks to the impact that this music has on people."
