Last friday, June 19th, was Juneteenth, a holiday that honors the emancipation of those that were enslaved in the United States. Along with the protests and calls for equality in the U.S. as well, this was a big week for protest songs. It’s worth noting that EVERY SINGLE ONE of these artists have talked about racism and inequality in their music before, but they have each put out new songs talking about it again, hoping that their voices will be heard. As a white person, music has been a way into the life of people that I don’t know anything about, and that makes songs like this important. It’s an easy step to take into learning about the Black experience in America by just listening to songs by Black artists. It’s not the only step that we should take to learn about the Black experience, but it’s a start.
Anderson .Paak - Lockdown
This song feels close to a stream of consciousness style of the events happening. He covers all the topics from police brutality, to people starting to ignore COVID-19, and to the unemployment rate. The chorus is immediately ear grabbing and drives the point home with him saying, “You should’ve been downtown, the people are risin’.” Unlike a lot of other songs on here, this is the most listenable song outside of the content because of Paak’s style of laid back funk and soul that he carries onto this song. Jay Rock also has an exclusive verse in the music video that proves he’s one of the best feature artists today. Definitely one of the best songs of the last few weeks, if not the year.
Alicia Keys - Perfect Way to Die
Easily Alicia’s best single for her upcoming self titled album. Her vocals shine through on this song way better than anything in a long time, especially towards the end. The song is obviously about all the children that are being murdered for no reason. As the second half of her chorus goes, “I’ll think of all you could’ve done, at least you’ll stay forever young. I guess you picked the perfect way to die.” She takes the perspective of a mother who has lost their child at a young age, and although she says a perfect way to die, she even acknowledges that makes no sense saying, “Of course, there is NO perfect way to die. That phrase doesn’t even make sense.” Her voice and songwriting help make this song the most memorable from her in a long time.
Reason - Field N****
Reason originally wrote the first half of this song two and a half years ago, and only wrote the second verse a couple days before the song came out. The first half is a vivid story about a slave who finds out his owner has impregnated his wife, so he ends up murdering his owner and escaping with Harriet Tubman on the Underground Railroad. The second half is obviously more about these times, and has one of my favorite lines I’ve heard from the protest songs of the last month, saying “Complain about the smoke when racism lit the fire.” What a powerful metaphor to describe what’s happening recently. So many people and news organizations just focus on the looting instead of looking at why it’s happening. You don’t just waive the smoke away when you see an uncontrolled fire, you find out where it’s coming from and eliminate the fire. So why can’t we as a whole focus on the root of the problem?
H.E.R. - I Can’t Breathe
As with all of the other songs, this song show’s H.E.R. talking about political issues into her own style. She takes a more angry approach to this song, especially with her long spoken word piece towards the end of this track. The spoken word piece is long enough that I can see it taking away the personal enjoyment of the song, but it’s for sure necessary to get her point across. With lines like, “The revolution is not televised. Media perception is forced down the throats of closed minds so it lies in the headlines, and generations of supremacy resulting in your ignorant, privileged eyes,” she comes straight at the people having a problem with the protests. It can’t get more direct than this, or can it?
Clipping. - Chapter 319
“Donald Trump is a white supremacist (full stop). If you vote for him again you’re a white supremacist (full stop).” I guess you can get more direct. Daveed Diggs really puts it all out there with this song. You can hear the aggression in his voice throughout the entire song. This song is also explicitly about police brutality, whereas a lot of the other ones have been just about the state of the country. Clipping’s producers, Jonathan Snipes and William Hutson, create a hellish landscape for Daveed that allows him to express his frustration perfectly. But the heartbreaking part of the song is right at the beginning, when they play a sample of George Floyd rapping back in the day under the name Big Floyd. It’s crazy to hear him rapping about what sounds like defunding the police after what happened to him.
Beyonce - Black Parade
The single dropped right at the end of the day. This song is a celebration of Blackness by Beyonce instead of the protest songs mentioned before. She provides allusions and mentions to many traditional African traditions all throughout the song. She’s donating proceeds of the song to Black owned businesses, as well as most of the artists above are donating their proceeds for their songs as well. Her vocals and enunciations are really unique and fit in with what she’s done on her previous couple albums. The song is driven by a trap beat with some horns and a slight flute. It’s a great way to end the day full of protest songs with a celebration song from one of the biggest and most iconic artists out now!
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