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Posts published in September 2020

“You Are The Solution”: Dena Crowder’s 6-Minute Power Shot on Why Voting This November is So Crucial (WATCH)

“You Are The Solution”: Dena Crowder’s 6-Minute Power Shot on Why Voting This November is So Crucial (WATCH)

By goodblacknews on September 7, 2020

In today’s “Power Shot,” TEDx speaker, Power Lab performance coach and GBN’s “This Way Forward” contributor Dena Crowder explains so clearly and succinctly in three simple steps exactly how and why mobilizing to vote is so crucial this November, Good Black News is adding a fourth step:

WATCH and SHARE Dena’s video everywhere so anyone who is on the fence about voting can hop on over into the right side of history and utilize their power to affect significant change.

To quote just some of Dena’s insightful guidance:

There is no perfect, uncorrupted, ideal candidate, do not get caught up in that… Whoever wins this election is going to set the tone for the direction that we take on every single issue facing Black Americans.

We’re talking prison, we’re talking police, we’re talking human rights, we’re talking civil rights, we are talking healthcare and housing. So prioritize what really matters and vote the bigger picture.

Watch below… and share!

MUSIC MONDAY: “I Can’t Stop Loving You” – Celebrating Black Country Artists (LISTEN)

MUSIC MONDAY: “I Can’t Stop Loving You” – Celebrating Black Country Artists (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on September 7, 2020

The Compton Cowboys (Photo credit: Drew A. Kelley/Getty Images)

by Marlon West (FB: marlon.west1 Twitter: @marlonw IG: stlmarlonwest Spotify: marlonwest)

Last year, Lil Nas X‘s “Old Town Road” renewed to debate over what is and isn’t country music. For all its beauty, honesty and diversity, American country music has the reputation and claim as “white people music.”

In reality, country music owes its most profound roots to Black musicians and artists. The banjo even has its roots in West Africa.

[spotifyplaybutton play=”spotify:playlist:5ST6HmIZCtbIjiYRXer6at”/]

Artists like Charley Pride, Aaron Neville, Ray Charles and even Tina Turner are among the list of Black artists who have crossed over into country music.

But there’s DeFord Bailey, Stoney Edward and Linda Martell among several artists whose names only ring familiar among the most ardent of country fans.

In the past decade however, since the major country chart solo success of former Hootie and the Blowfish front man Darius Rucker, there has been a whole new crop of current Black country artists on the rise.

That list includes Valerie June, Mickey Guyton, Cowboy Troy, Miko Marks, Kane Brown and others who have been the favorites of both fans and critics since they stepped on the scene.

Hope you enjoy this freewheeling collection of Black country music.

Stay safe, sane, and kind.

See ya next Monday!
Marlon West (photo courtesy Marlon West)
MUSIC: “That’s The Way Love Goes” – End of Summer Celebration of ’90s Slow Jams (LISTEN)

MUSIC: “That’s The Way Love Goes” – End of Summer Celebration of ’90s Slow Jams (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on September 4, 2020

by Jeff Meier (FB: Jeff.Meier.90)

As we head into Labor Day Weekend, the unofficial end of Summer, it’s one more chance to relax a little amidst such a stressful year for so many of us.

We’ve had such a great reaction here at Good Black News to so many of our Spotify playlists, including our decade-spanning slow jam playlists that we made for the ‘70s (Ultimate ‘70s Slow Jam Summer) and the ‘80s (Ultimate ‘80s Champagne Slow Jams).

So it only made sense, in time for the long weekend, to unveil our playlist of slow jam faves from the ‘90s – entitled Ultimate ‘90s Sunset Slow Jams, available at this link here, and of course you can listen to or access below. All you ‘90s soul music fans, it’s time to favorite this playlist and represent!

[spotifyplaybutton play=”spotify:playlist:43oaIWo1oj8UlZSqX3Oix1″/]

R&B music in the ‘90s underwent a true sea change that had been slowly building up through the prior decade. If ‘80s slow jams were the sound of lushly-produced, upscale elegance via superstar duets from well-dressed veteran singers, the ‘90s tossed a lot of that in the rearview mirror. 

Dr. Namandjé Bumpus Becomes 1st Black Woman Department Chair at Johns Hopkins Medical School

Dr. Namandjé Bumpus Becomes 1st Black Woman Department Chair at Johns Hopkins Medical School

By goodblacknews on September 3, 2020

[Dr. Namandjé Bumpus (photo via Johns Hopkins University)]

According to jbhe.com, Dr. Namandjé Bumpus was appointed chair of the Department of Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, MD.

Dr. Bumpus is the first African-American woman to chair an academic department at the highly-rated medical school and the only Black woman currently chairing a pharmacology department at any medical school in the nation, according to Johns Hopkins.

Teyana Taylor Directs Powerful Protest Video of Her New Single “Still” (WATCH)

Teyana Taylor Directs Powerful Protest Video of Her New Single “Still” (WATCH)

By goodblacknews on September 2, 2020

Teyana Taylor dropped a stunning and powerful music video today for “Still” from her third LP, THE ALBUM, which came out on Juneteenth of this year via G.O.O.D. Music/Def Jam Recordings.

The video, produced by Teyana’s all-female led production company “The Aunties” and directed by Taylor under her pseudonym Spike Tey, highlights footage of important moments in America’s ongoing fight for social justice, with Teyana blending herself  into the iconic imagery of Malcolm X (see photo above),  Huey P. Newton and Breonna Taylor by donning their clothes and assuming their poses.

The video also includes words and footage of Malcolm X, footage of Martin Luther King Jr., John Lewis, Angela Davis, the Black Panthers, Civil Rights Movement protesters, Black Lives Matter protesters and several victims of hate crimes and police brutality including Emmett Till, Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, Breonna Taylor, Tamir Rice and George Floyd, to name a few. It is, in a word, gripping. Watch below:

In Tribute to Chadwick Boseman, ’42’ to be Re-Released in Theaters

In Tribute to Chadwick Boseman, ’42’ to be Re-Released in Theaters

By goodblacknews on September 1, 2020

According to Variety.com, AMC Theatres will pay tribute to beloved actor and Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman, who died last week of colon cancer at 43, by screening 42, Boseman’s leading man debut as Major League Baseball barrier breaker and icon Jackie Robinson. (To read GBN’s review of 42, click here.)

Warner Bros. and Legendary, the studios behind the 2013 film, have teamed up with the theater chain to make “42” viewable in more than 300 locations. That’s nearly every AMC venue that’s open as coronavirus closures start to lift. Tickets for 42 will only be $5 and will go on sale by the end of Tuesday.