Writing the Revolution, Vol. 2- Freedom Songs in the Key of Life
Before we even get started, RIP to the King George Floyd, Queen Breonna Taylor, and King Ahmaud Arbery and please support the Black Lives Matter movement. Also, I would have felt weird to make a mix with all of the songs with subjects talking about years of racial inequality and police brutality.
But this time around I feel like it wouldn’t have the same effect as a collection of songs. So, I reached out to Queen Natasha Ivery, founder of KultHERed Media and other fellow creatives and impactful players in the community to ask them a few questions about their freedom and revolution songs.
Freedom songs have been around since the beginning of the civil rights movements in the 60’s. Songs like “We Shall Overcome,” is a powerful song that is still being sung today. Since the Black Lives Matter movement started, modern freedom and revolutionary songs such as Kendrick Lamar’s “Alright” from his critically acclaimed album To Pimp a Butterfly, Beyoncé's “Freedom,”from her Lemonade album, as well as Blood Orange “Sandra’s Smile.”
For this piece I reached out to the following: up and coming artist NNENA, DeShawna Yamini, Coordinator of the African American Male Initiative at Sinclair Community College, and local photographer and YouTube vlogger Leachim Warren. It is a Q&A style interview.
So I’m asking people what are the one or more revolution/freedom song(s) that you have heard growing up that when incidents like George Floyd happen or incidents in your lifetime, you always find yourself going back to?
NNENA: Bill Withers- Lean on Me, Des’ Ree You Gotta Be
DeShawna Yamini: “A Change is Gonna Come” (Sam Cooke version), “Say it Loud” - James Brown, “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” - Gil Scott Heron, “Letter to the Free” - Common.
Leachim Warren: Easy. Kendrick Lamar’s “Alright”. That song, to me, was the anthem for the Black Lives Matter Movement for this generation.
Every time you go back to hear those songs how does it make you feel? From the time you first heard it till now.
DeShawna Yamini: I heard “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” on Tuesday and thought that the song is just as relevant today as it was when Mr. Heron recorded it. It sounded timeless. “Say it Loud” reminds me that even though I am marginalized because of my skin color, I’m still proud to be Black! “Letter to the Free” says that freedom is possible, but when? “A Change is Gonna Come makes me hopeful because there have been some victories, but not enough, so a change is gonna come; it has to.
NNENA: Like shit hasn’t made enough of an impact but I got to be strong because I don’t know what next to come with this world. Too unpredictable and inconsiderate.
Leachim Warren: At first when I heard it, it was in the context of the album. Then he performed it at an award show on top of a cop car and it became a stand alone hit for me. I bumped it every time I was around white people ad i felt empowered. Like I can rise above them and things would be cool. Then I listened to it from the perspective of being down and out. It stands out and makes you believe things would be Alright literally.
Does the past two weeks feel like closer to change that these songs are talking about or leading to something else?
DeShawna Yamini: I definitely feel they are leading to change.
NNENA: Not really. I don’t see a lot of change. Just more awareness of certain problems that weren’t hidden at all, just ignored. Brutally will be a constant until we are not feared but understood. We can’t change how we are viewed, so awareness is damn near all we got for now.
Leachim Warren: The past two weeks makes it feel like change. A change in the people. People are standing up and not asking anymore. They are saying “We want change or else”
Every day, there is a new anthem or protest song being made from a movement that was started in pain and sorrow. Stories from the songs we hear will inspire us to do more, but it is up to us to take these stories and messages to amplify them and to forge a path to a better world that our culture rightfully deserves.
