HIP-HOP 6/5/2020 by Reason With Black Music Month in full effect this year, African American artists are looking for ways to stay active, motivated, and committed on the fight for social change within their communities in light of the recent deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Adbery and more. Spurred by the callous disregard for Black lives, artists are hoping to use their platforms as microphones to invoke reform in both the short and long term. Every Friday of this month, we will have an artist speak on today’s climate, offer their suggestions for revision going forward, and why being Black continues to be a gift more than a curse. TDE’s Reason is first at-bat with his take on why he wants America to reconsider the hiring process for cops, and why he values his sk...
Lauren London sat down with Jada Pinkett-Smith on Wednesday (June 3) to discuss the impact of growing up around gun violence, the legacy of her late parter Nipsey Hussle and how she educates her sons about handling police interactions. “What I instill in them is more about the police. How to handle yourself when you get pulled over. That’s more of my education, protecting them being black men in America,” said London about what she talks about with her three-year-old son with Hussle, Kross, and her 10-year-old with former partner Lil Wayne, Kameron. London said that growing up in Los Angeles she had schoolmates who were in gangs, and by summertime “they were gone… they had transitioned from gun violence.” And while she never got numb to hearing that one of them had ...
As the protests continue to go on throughout America and the world, a number of artists have released new material reflecting the times we’re living in. The latest comes from Meek Mill, who is very familiar with the perils of injustice and racism, to put it mildly. Today (June 5), the rapper shared “Other Side of America,” a song that encapsulates this time and was produced by Butter Beats and Shroom. Starting with words from President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign speech, Mill uses incisive lyrics to trace the perils of what African-Americans are going through and have gone through. “Reporting live from the other side/Same corner where my brothers died/Livin’ like we ain’t got care/Told my mama I ain’t dying here/40 on me I ain’t buying beer/Ain’t have a will, now I’m flying Lear/Bunch of ...
After announcing their upcoming EP, Covers, Switchfoot have shared a new track from that project. And this time they put their spin on Vampire Weekend’s “Harmony Hall,” off of the band’s latest album, Father of the Bride. Switchfoot stay true to the bones of the song but with the addition of Jon Foreman’s grittier vocals. Along with the song, Foreman explained why they decided to share this specific tune as opposed to any others this week. In the caption for the video, he wrote: During this difficult week, we have been wrestling with whether or not we should release new music — trying to listen more than speak. As an American, there are so many reasons to mourn, to be angry, to lament. There is so much that we need to change. Let’s take a good, long look at who we are and who we’ve been. L...
Sonic Youth had added to their ever-growing library on Bandcamp, and just in time for the site’s fundraiser. The group has dropped 12 new archival and side-project releases. It goes along with the other 12 that they dropped in March along with a slew of others that have trickled out in recent months. They’ve also recently shared their out-of-print 1987 EP Master-Dik, and some live albums. Last week, Sonic Youth shared their semi-official Hold That Tiger live album that was recorded in 1987 and released in 1991. These projects include four instrumental droney jams recorded in Melbourne on June 22, 2004, a Lee Ranaldo show from Toronto in 2001, Live In Yugoslavia 1985/1987, Live At Brixton Academy 1992, Live In Irvine 1990, Wylde Rattz proj...
At the end of last week, as global protests were spreading in the wake of the death of George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer, Lea Michele tweeted her support for Black Lives Matter. “George Floyd did not deserve this. This was not an isolated incident and it must end,” she wrote. Shortly after, Michele’s former Glee co-star Samantha Marie Ware quote-tweeted Michele’s statement and accused Michele of misconduct on the set of the show, which ran from 2010 to 2015. “Remember when you made my first [television] gig a living hell?!?! Cause [I’ll] never forget,” Ware wrote in all caps. “I believe you told everyone that if [you] had the opportunity you would ‘shit in my wig!’ Amongst other traumatic microaggressions t...
As demonstrators in major cities around the country continue to gather to protest systemic racism and police brutality against the Black community, and to mourn the murders of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Tony McDade, among countless others, an unlikely group has chimed in to offer its support: K-pop fans are collectively stanning in solidarity with protesters by fighting back against online racism and policing tactics. By Wednesday morning (June 3), the hashtag #WhiteLivesMatter was trending on Twitter. But instead of the racist comments one would associate with the white supremacist slogan, which was coined in 2015 in opposition to the Black Lives Matter movement’s protests following the killing of Michael Brown at the hands of a Ferguson police officer, the feed was dominated...
Last week, after the killing of George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer, Demi Lovato posted in solidarity with Black Lives Matter. She also directed her fellow white people to do more. “Do not let your discomfort surrounding social issues prevent you from speaking up for those IN DANGER,” she wrote. “And reality is, until this STOPS COMPLETELY – THE BLACK COMMUNITY WILL CONTINUE TO LIVE IN DANGER. DO YOUR PART.” Since then, her social pages have been full of re-shared informational resources for activism and racial justice, including the pyramid of white supremacy, different funds and actionable ways you can support the movement, and even a plea to not mark black-square Instagram posts on Blackout Tuesday with the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag (s...