Black music has always been woke — from call & response work songs, to spirituals that questioned the status quo "Didn’t my Lord deliver Daniel, & why not every man?" Rap has been woke since "The Message" was delivered in 1982. Wu-Tang's RZA delivers a new message we should heed.
#wutang #wokesongs
HHB to Bobby Womack (3.4.1944 Cleveland). Bobby was an incredible and influential singer, songwriter, & guitarist. His song "Across 110th St," which he wrote for the film, is a classic of the Blaxploitation genre. 🧵24/? #wokesongs #bobbywomack youtu.be/o818PfdcfvM?...
Berry Gordy was afraid to release it because he felt it was "too political." But Marvin was adamant & forced Berry to release it. In later interviews, Berry says that Marvin eventually convinced him through his persistence. Berry was awakened. 🧵23/ #wokesongs www.independent.co.uk/arts-enterta...
Marvin Gaye, Inner City Blues (1971). From Marvin's masterpiece album "What's Going On," this song & the whole album are a testament to being #woke. Motown's Berry Gordy shelved it for over 2 years before its release because he didn't think it was marketable. 🧵22/ #wokesongs youtu.be/WRLwTO_T52U?...
Not every #Woke song is an angry polemic. #TheIsleyBrothers' "Harvest For The World" (1976) exemplifies the loveliest of #wokesongs - Its message is a call to humankind to awaken & respect each other. What's so funny about peace, love, & understanding? 🧵21/ #ChrisJasper youtu.be/dUxiKQXxGR8?...
Donny Hathaway & #RobertaFlack Be Real Black For Me-1971. Wokeness doesn't just manifest itself in themes of protest & Black power; it's also embedded in songs of Black love & self-identity. The 70s Black is Beautiful movement exemplified this. 🧵20/ RIP Ms. Flack. #wokesongs youtu.be/NuL-Yg50f78?...
As we move into tumultuous times that energize youth activism, look for more music that speaks truth-to-power, unites folks, & has a message aka #wokesongs. Perhaps no other artist contributed as much to the soundtrack of the Civil Rights movement as #CurtisMayfield 🧵19/ youtu.be/Sxa9wNl2OjE?...
HHB to Nina Simone 2.21.1933. Here's Miss Simone performing "Mississippi Goddam." The bombing of the 16th St. Baptist Church and Medgar Evers assassination spurred her to write and record the powerful song. #NinaSimone #wokesongs #Blackhistorymonth www.everythingjazz.com/story/nina-s...
In this interview about a year ago, Erykah Badu explains to MSNBC's Ari Melber how the word "woke" has been co-opted by right-wing ideologues to twist its meaning and use it as a derogatory term for Blacks and progressive beliefs. 🧵18/ #wokesongs #ErykahBadu youtu.be/0YDKqKfXLxg?...
Erykah Badu, Master Teacher, (2008). As we've shown, Blacks have used "woke" for decades, but you can credit Erykah for helping to reboot the term for a new generation with this great track from her album "New Amerykah Part One (4th World War)". 🧵17/ #wokesongs #ErykahBadu youtu.be/Dieo6bp4zQw?...
T.U.M.E. Telling It Like It Is (1975). This is a spiritual predecessor to the #hiphop classic "The Message," with frank lyrics tackling subjects like the mistreatment of our Vietnam vets, inequality, and the high cost of living. 🧵16/ #wokesongs #funk youtu.be/sS9eN1HiH1U?...
A promo photo of Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five for "The Message."
In 2002, The Library of Congress added "The Message" to the National Registry, noting, "If there is a single message that unites 'The Message,' it's that living this life day in day out comes at an enormous psychological cost that adds up." It was the 1st #rap song given the honor. #wokesongs 🧵15/
Rap has a long history of wokeness. Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five, The Message (1982). With killer lyrics by Duke Bootee & Melle Mel, The Message singlehandedly gave #hiphop a social & political consciousness. #wokesongs #rap #blackhistorymonth #blacksky 🧵14/ youtu.be/PobrSpMwKk4?...
Jessye Norman was 1 of our greatest opera singers. At the 1995 Kennedy Center Honors for Sidney Poitier, she delivered this stirring rendition of "Amazing Grace" — a song about a slave trader seeing (wokeness) the light after his sins. 🧵13/ #wokesongs #blackhistorymonth youtu.be/G5jZe32DEYI?...
TBMP infographic that tells the story of the hymn "Amazing Grace." The text says: Amazing Grace (1772). “Amazing Grace” encapsulates much of America because it represents our shared history. Its writer, John Newton, was an Englishman and trafficker of enslaved Africans. But during one voyage, he heard his captives harmonizing a melody that moved him so emotionally he broke down and had a spiritual epiphany—renouncing his former life and becoming a cleric and abolitionist. John wrote “Amazing Grace” based on the melody he heard the Africans singing. Whether it was their voices, divine inspiration, or a combination of both, he created an enduring hymn about salvation for even the poorest of lost souls
Amazing Grace (by John Newton, 1772): "Amazing grace, how sweet the sound/ That saved a wretch like me/ I once was lost, but now I'm found/ Was blind, but now I see." Our most cherished hymn is a song about a man becoming woke. 🧵12/ #wokesongs #blackhistorymonth
The TBMP infographic shows a photo of Nina Simone performing.
After hearing about the bombing, Nina Simone said: "At first, I tried to make myself a gun. I was going to take one of them out, & I didn't care who it was...Then Andy, my husband at the time, said to me, 'Nina, you can't kill anyone. You are a musician. Do what you do.'" 🧵11/ #NinaSimone #wokesongs
"She was voicing anguish about all the acts of violence and oppression against Black communities in the segregated South. She was weaponizing music itself." —Liz Fields writing for @pbs.org 🧵10/ #wokesongs #blackhistorymonth #NinaSimone www.pbs.org/wnet/america...
Nina Simone, Mississippi Goddam (1964). Has there ever been a more woke artist than Nina? The song was Nina's response to the 16th St. Baptist Church bombing of '63 that killed four young Black girls. 🧵9/ #wokesongs #NinaSimone #blackhistorymonth youtu.be/LJ25-U3jNWM?...
Billie Holiday, Strange Fruit (1939). Written by Abel Meeropol, son of Russian Jewish Immigrants, based on his poem about 1930s Southern lynchings— this song became the ultimate protest & woke anthem when Billie sang it. 🧵8/ #wokesongs #BillieHoliday #StrangeFruit youtu.be/bckob0AyKCA?...
Paul Robeson, Swing Low, Sweet Chariot (trad. Negro spiritual). Many traditional Negro spirituals like this piece were songs of quiet rebellion, and many scholars say they included coded messages to enslaved people regarding the Underground Railroad. 🧵7/ #wokesongs youtu.be/rNvviKE3cPc?...
Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Rock Me (1938). Part of being "woke" means you're on the cutting edge & SEE movements before others (hence, WOKE). Sister Rosetta saw the future. Long before Chuck Berry & Elvis, she ushered in the "rock era" with this gospel tune. 🧵6/ #wokesongs youtu.be/p9JezItjWIU?...
Huddie William Ledbetter, aka Lead Belly, was a blues and folk musician who coined the phrase "woke." "Somebody... handed me a Lead Belly record...that record changed my life right then & there... It was like somebody laid hands on me." —Bob Dylan #wokesongs 🧵5/ faroutmagazine.co.uk/blues-guitar...
Lead Belly, Scottsboro Boys (1938). Lead Belly sang about the infamous 1931 trial. It is the 1st known use of the phrase "stay woke." His message, "I advise everybody, be a little careful when they go along through there — best stay woke keep their eyes open." 🧵4/ #wokesongs youtu.be/VrXfkPViFIE?...
Wokeness was often coded in song to avoid censorship & retaliation — it was the original IYKYK. Enslaved people used drumming as a communication device to send messages. Plantations banned drumming because they feared uprisings. Soledad O'Brien explains... 🧵3/ #wokesongs youtu.be/UtasDZyak8s?...
"She was voicing anguish about all the acts of violence and oppression against Black communities in the segregated South. She was weaponizing music itself." —Liz Fields writing for @pbs.org 🧵10/ #wokesongs #NinaSimone #blackhistorymonth www.pbs.org/wnet/america...
Nina Simone, Mississippi Goddam (1964). Has there ever been a more woke artist than Nina? The song was Nina's response to the 16th St. Baptist Church bombing of '63 that killed four young Black girls. 🧵9/ #wokesongs #NinaSimone youtu.be/LJ25-U3jNWM?...
Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Rock Me (1938). Part of being "woke" means you're on the cutting edge & SEE movements before others (hence, WOKE). Sister Rosetta saw the future. Long before Chuck Berry & Elvis, she ushered in the "rock era" with this gospel tune. 🧵8/ #wokesongs youtu.be/p9JezItjWIU?...
Billie Holiday, Strange Fruit (1939). Written by Abel Meeropol, a son of Russian Jewish Immigrants, originally based on his poem about the lynchings in the South during the 30s, this song became the ultimate protest anthem when Billie sang it. 🧵7/ #wokesongs #BillieHoliday youtu.be/bckob0AyKCA?...
Mahalia Jackson, How I Got Over (1951). This gospel song is more than just about religious faith; in the Civil Rights Movement, it also represented triumph against earthly injustices. It is a song of both wokeness and hopefulness in the face of oppression. 🧵6/ #wokesongs youtu.be/t9iQUIwAgus?...
Paul Robeson, Swing Low, Sweet Chariot (trad. Negro spiritual). Many traditional Negro spirituals like this piece were songs of quiet rebellion, and many scholars say they included coded messages to enslaved people regarding the Underground Railroad. 🧵5/ #wokesongs youtu.be/rNvviKE3cPc?...
