GWSS 241 Blog Post #3

Jaelin O’Halloran

GWSS 241

20 May 2020

Blog Post #3

In Daphne Brooks’ article, “How #BlackLivesMatter Started a Musical Revolution,” Brooks writes about a new wave of black protest music, born out of the #BlackLivesMatter movement, that is elevated by artists like Beyoncé and Kendrick Lamar. This new wave of black protest movement is characterized as, “the most high-profile grassroots black liberation movement in more than two decades to emerge on the national scene.” Artists use their music and performances to grapple with issues of the 21^st century such as the prison-industrial complex, globalized wealth inequality and the violence against black Americans, as well as to encourage people to come together in an act of resistance and empowerment. Brooks says, “black protest music should sting and burn, be hard to digest for some, leave an aftertaste for others, make us feel more rather than less – whether it’s hate or love – make us recognize our conflicted passions, and the contradictions of our strange, post-civil rights and post-black power movement lives.” I see a point of connection between this reading and Kevin Young’s article, “Final Chorus: Planet Rock, The End of the Record” in his analysis of hip-hop. Young talks about hip-hop as a way of elevating the issue of race relations in America and offering hip-hop as a, “herald of a new era,” just as Brook’s describes black protest music. Young also acknowledges that this genre has used specific events to bring attention to the issues that they embody, just as Brooks’ acknowledges that the black protest music we hear today was born from real events that inspired a movement. In his article, Young states, “hip-hop believes that its history, filled with struggle, early triumph, and exploitation, is also the history of America.” I believe that the black protest music we hear today embodies this history while also echoing the promises of a better future.

DJ Selections:

·      Beyoncé - Formation

·      Childish Gambino - This Is America (Official Video)

 

Beyoncé’s song and music video, Formation, is an example of current black protest music as discussed by Brooks. Childish Gambino’s song and music video, This Is America, embodies Young’s characterization of hip-hop as being filled with America’s struggle, early triumph and exploitation.

Daphne Brooks, "How #BlackLivesMatter Started a Musical Revolution," (Links to an external site.) The Guardian, March 13, 2016

Kevin Young, “Final Chorus: Planet Rock, The End of the Record.” The Grey Album: On the Blackness of Blackness. (Graywolf Press, 2012) (PDF)