Happy Labor Day, y’all! It is no toil for me to offer up another playlist on this holiday Monday.
After June’s AfroBowie collection, our editor-in-chief, Lori Lakin Hutcherson, suggested a few more in a series of collections of rock musicians inspired by and in collaboration with Black artists.
So here is the second offering: AfroZeppelin. While David Bowie championed and collaborated with Black music-makers throughout his long career, Led Zeppelin’s connections were not as overt.
Outselling the Beatles and toppling them as icons of a new era of rock and roll, Zeppelin was the perfect combo of the Delta blues, London’s swinging scene and the myriad of cultural influences.
The influence of the street-tough Chicago blues of Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf taught them much about swinging boogie. Over the decades many of their famous riffs and lyrics would come under fire. The allegations have brought several lawsuits as well, most of them settled out of court discreetly.
In the case of “Whole Lotta Love”, the song credits were later amended to include Willie Dixon, who claimed Robert Plant used his lyrics from “You Need Love”.
“The Lemon Song” is an expansion of a musical phrase featured in Robert Johnson’s “Traveling Riverside Blues”.
I’ve gathered many of the songs covered and referenced by Led Zeppelin, and their own versions of said tracks. Of course, they have been covered many times themselves.
I’ve included Zeppelin covers by Mary J. Blige, Lizz Wright, and Stanley Jordan. You’ll also find many classic cuts that feature Led Zeppelin samples too.
Here’s Beyoncé, Ice T, Jurassic 5, D12, Dr. Dre, Beastie Boys and many others.
This collection of great tracks stands as another example that no artist creates in a vacuum. Whether the influences are readily acknowledged, each creator makes offerings informed by what came before.
Do enjoy! Until next month! Stay safe, sane, and kind.
“Donayle Lunawas the first Black woman to be on the cover of Vogue. Why don’t we know more about her?”
This pointed question from the recently released trailer for Donyale Luna: Super Model will hopefully no longer be relevant after the feature-length documentary about Luna’s life and career debuts on HBO September 13.
Born Peggy Anne Freeman in Detroit, Donyale Luna went on to revolutionize the fashion industry in the 1960s and 1970s, becoming the muse to some of the foremost photographers of the 20th century until her untimely death at the age of 33 in 1979.
Though Luna was one of the first Black models who graced the covers of both Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar in Europe, today, most people have never heard of her.
Directed by Nailah Jefferson, produced by Melissa Kramer, Isoul H. Harris, Melanie Sharee and executive produced by Jonathan Chinn, Simon Chinn, Jeff Friday, Dream Cazzaniga, participants in the doc include Luna’s daughter, Dream Cazzaniga, husband, Luigi Cazzaniga, supermodels Beverly Johnson and Pat Cleveland; Vogue global editor-at-large Hamish Bowles; photographers David Bailey, David McCabe, and Gideon Lewin; and many more.
I’m back with another batch of tracks. “AfroBowie”is a collection devoted to David Bowie, who, in a 1976 Playboy interview, described his own album Young Americansas “the definitive plastic soul record. It’s the squashed remains of ethnic music as it survives in the age of Muzak, written and sung by a white limey.”
Though those funky soulful tracks made Bowie one of the few white performers to be invited to perform on Soul Train.
He would also go on to call out MTV on not featuring Black artists: “I’m floored by the fact that there are so few Black artists featured on [MTV]. Why is that?” “The only few black artists one does see are on in about 2:30 in the morning until 6:00,” Bowie continued, “Very few are featured prominently during the day.”
Almost a decade before James Brown would become constantly sampled, the Godfather of Soul would borrow Carlos Alomar’s guitar riff from David Bowie’s crossover hit “Fame” to create his track “Hot”.
Bowie would later team up with Queen Latifah for a version “Fame” in 1990. This collection features Bowie covers from Black artists like Robert Glasper & Bilal, Durand Jones & The Indications, Rhonda Dakar and others.
There are Bowie tracks written with his longtime collaborator Alomar including: “D.J.”, “Fame”, “Never Let Me Down”, “Red Money” and “The Secret Life of Arabia”. And of course his team-up with young Luther Vandross on “Young Americans” is in the mix.
I’ve included David Bowie’s covers of “Almost Grown” by Chuck Berry, Nina Simone’s “Wild is the Wind” and versions of “Knock on Wood” (by Eddie Floyd) and “Here Today, Gone Tomorrow” (by Ohio Players) from DAVID LIVE.
There are a few tracks from Ziggy Stardub, a spectacular reggae recasting “Ziggy Stardust” by the Easy Star All-Stars.
There are also songs from the tribute record Modern Love. It features covers from across Bowie’s catalog by Helado Negro, Khruangbin, Jeff Parker, We Are KING, Meshell Ndegeocello, and more. P
lus, Seu Jorge’s beautiful set of Bowie covers from Wes Anderson’s The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. Hope you enjoy AfroBowie as much as I’ve enjoyed making it.
As always, stay safe, sane, and kind. See ya next month.
This July, as we endure the latest triple digit temperature heatwave, or navigate flight cancellations in our attempts at a vacation, we can always count on summer music to lighten the mood and keep our heads cool in the comfort of our own backyard.
So, with that in mind, we’re back again this holiday week with the latest update to our popular playlist entitled “Summer Breeze – Soulful Summer Songs.” We introduced this playlist a few years ago and have been updating it annually with both new and old musical finds uncovered deep in the recesses of Spotify.
The goal of the playlist is simple – find music by Black artists (or, in a few cases, soul-influenced artists of various ethnic backgrounds) that have the word “summer” in their song title – these songs are literally written about summer.
Some are big BBQ standards, like “Summer Breeze” by the Isley Brothers, Will Smith‘s “Summertime”, Sly & The Family Stone‘s “Hot Fun in the Summertime” and “Summer” by War.
But many are lesser known from across the decades, from artists ranging from Nat King Cole and Nancy Wilson to Anderson.Paak and Aloe Blacc – all unified by their seasonal theme.
This year we’ve added 35 new songs, sprinkled throughout the list. Some are fresh out of the oven, like Chris Brown‘s “Summer Too Hot” and “Summer Renaissance” by Beyoncé. Others include older songs we found anew on Spotify since our last update, from name artists like Uncle Charlie Wilson (“Just Like Summertime”), Rick James (“Summer Love”), Tony! Toni! Toné! (“Til Last Summer”), reggae group Big Mountain (“Reggae Inna Summertime”) and Kelly Rowland (“Summer Dreaming”).
For this OG soul music fan, the most fun, perhaps, is uncovering via the magic of Spotify all sorts of artists new to my ears. Many are already successful with millions of monthly Spotify listeners, such as SiR (“Summer in November”), Fana Hues (a lovely cover of Stevie’s “Never Dreamed You’d Leave in Summer”), girl group FLO (“Summertime”), Khruangbin (a cool new take on “Summer Madness”) and KYLE (“SummertimeSoul”).
We’ve also got songs from newcomers like Kenya Vaun (“Summer”), Tay Iwar with Juls (“Summer Breeze”), and NoMBe (“Summer’s Gone” remix with Sonny Alven and Thutmose).
Spotify has opened up American ears to artists from all over the globe that we may never have heard before the internet. South Africa’s Soweto-born DJ Kent brings us the hypnotic “Summer Heartbreak.” Suriname-born Jeangu Macrooy (“Summer Moon”) has represented Netherlands in Eurovision. Pheelz (“Pheelz Like Summer”) is a prolific Nigerian producer/artist with a following in both his home country and throughout Europe. And from the UK comes newcomer Debbie, with her tune “Summer in December.”
Of course, we also had to dig for a few more deep classics. Those include the Chic-like British soul tune “Summer Grooves” by Mirage, doo-wop classics from Ruby & The Romantics (“My Summer Love”), The Danleers (“One Summer Night”), and The Tymes (“Summer Day”), and some newly found standards, including a lovely version of “The Summer Knows” from Leslie Uggams and Sarah Vaughan‘s “The Green Leaves of Summer.” And, love it or hate it, you simply must check out LGBT icon Sylvester‘s version of the Porgy & Bess standard “Summertime” in which the disco star merges Gershwin with Soft Cell’s “Tainted Love.”
If you’ve enjoyed this playlist in the past, here’s the annual reminder to check in with it again for some fresh additions. And if you are new to it, check out all the above and more on what is now a full day’s worth of summer songs with a soulful sensibility to explore. Feel free to let us know in the comments your favorite “summer” songs, including any we’ve missed!
This week, Apple announced its Racial Equity and Justice Initiative (REJI), a long-term global effort to advance equity and expand opportunities for Black, Hispanic/Latinx, and Indigenous communities, has more than doubled its initial financial commitment to total more than $200 million over the last three years.
Since launching REJI in June 2020, Apple has supported education, economic empowerment, and criminal justice reform work across the U.S., with recent expansion to Australia, the U.K., and Mexico.
Apple launched REJI at a pivotal moment in the U.S., as protests against racial injustice in the wake of the murders of Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd and Breonna Taylor swept the nation.
“Building a more just and equitable world is urgent work that demands collaboration, commitment, and a common sense of purpose,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “We are proud to partner with many extraordinary organizations that are dedicated to addressing injustice and eliminating barriers to opportunity. And we’ll continue to lead with our values as we expand our efforts to create opportunities, lift up communities, and help build a better future for all.”
Apple has reported that REJI’s education grants have reached more than 160,000 learners through in-person courses and out-of-school offerings, while committing over $50 million to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) to support science, technology, engineering, arts, and math opportunities.
With a focus on economic empowerment, REJI funds financial institutions — including venture capital firms, Community Development Financial Institutions, and Minority Depository Institutions — that support Black, Hispanic/Latinx, and Indigenous entrepreneurs and businesses.
As part of its expanding work, Apple also announced a new partnership with the My Brother’s Keeper Alliance (MBKA), a program of the Obama Foundation. Through this strategic partnership and funding, Apple aims to help close opportunity gaps faced by boys and young men of color by supporting training for community leaders and MBKA staff, expanding programming for boys and young men of color, and strengthening the MBKA network through targeted community impact microgrants. The program plans to train more than 500 leaders and engage over 50,000 youth across the U.S.
“Apple’s continued support of the My Brother’s Keeper Alliance empowers the foundation to develop and implement new initiatives that create opportunities for our young people,” said Valerie Jarrett, the Obama Foundation’s CEO. “Together, we are building a more inclusive educational system that nurtures creativity, fosters innovation, and transforms the lives of boys and young men of color across the country. We are grateful for their partnership and look forward to our continued collective efforts to ensure all youth can reach their full potential.”
REJI’s criminal justice reform grants are reported to have supported providing legal services, safe housing, identification services, healthcare access, and other vital reentry services for more than 19,000 justice-impacted individuals.
To combat systemic racism, REJI and Apple have partnered with several community colleges — including the Los Angeles Community College District, Delgado Community College in New Orleans, and Houston Community College — to implement programs to help incarcerated and paroled individuals learn new skills, prevent recidivism, and create economic opportunity for parolees and probationers.
Apple has also made meaningful contributions to various nonprofit organizations that advance equity and justice, including the Anti-Recidivism Coalition, Defy Ventures, Vera Institute of Justice, and The Last Mile.
To learn and read more about Apple’s Racial Equity and Justice Initiative, check out its REJI Impact Overview.
Happy Music Monday, you all. This collection celebrates another recently departed great, Wayne Shorter. He was a giant of jazz for six decades. He was a well-regarded improviser, bandleader, composer, and thinker.
From his teen years with Art Blakey and Miles Davis to his work as a founder of Weather Report, to leading his own landmark quintet Shorter was among the greatest.
A well-known figure on the jazz circuit since the late 1950s, Shorter would go on to take a strong hand in shaping much of 20th Century jazz music.
The 12-time Grammy award winner played alongside several greats, including Carlos Santana, Steely Dan, Joni Mitchell, and Herbie Hancock.
In 1964 he was swooped away after several attempts by jazz legend Miles Davis to become part of Davis’ “Second Great Quintet.”
Wayne Shorter would also release solo albums by 1959, including the acclaimed Speak No Evil, Night Dreamer, and JuJu.
Among the dozen Grammy awards he won, Shorter received a Lifetime Achievement award in 2015
In 2018, Shorter received the Kennedy Center Honors Award from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts for his lifetime of contributions to the arts.
Hope you enjoy the collection. As usual, stay safe, sane, and kind. See ya next month!
The first track by Little Simz dropped in the last weeks of December. And this British Nigerian artist kicks off the truly international musical journey.
Nigeria’s Burna Boy sets up a string of American artists including Compton’s own Steve Lacy and Kendrick Lamar. The playlist features big names like Beyoncé, Lizzo, Drake,Black Thought & Danger Mouse, though this collection is also heavy on comparative newcomers including Yaya Bey, Amber Mark, Koffee, and Jensen McRae.
Here is the best of hip-hop, R&B, Jazz, Afrobeat, Reggae and much more in over five freewheeling hours of music that features established favorites and certainly a few new surprises.
Hope you enjoy this collection of good music. See ya next month. And until such time, stay safe, sane, and kind.
The series chronicles the evolution of Black beauty and its impact on the fashion industry, the civil rights movement, the “Black is Beautiful” era and the influence on American culture:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fu2Prg0GTg
Supreme Models features trailblazers such as Iman and Bethann Hardison to superstar models Joan Smalls, IndyaMoore and Precious Lee with legends including Pat Cleveland, Roshumba Williams and Veronica Webb.
Anna Wintour, Chief Content Officer, Condé Nast and Global Editorial Director, Vogue, as well as Vogue European Editorial Director Edward Enniful, Vogue.com editor Chioma Nnadi and more also share personal stories of these boundary breaking women who set new standards in the worlds of beauty and fashion – from the 1960s to the unlimited potential of the digital age today.
The ICG, otherwise known as Local 600 of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, is the largest of the 13 IATSE locals that bargain the Basic Agreement for film and TV workers, with more than 9,000 members. It is also one of three of those unions with a nationwide jurisdiction.
[Wilma Rudolph and her parents Ed and Blanche Rudolph as they rode in a parade after Olympic victory in Rome. Rudolph agreed to participate only if the event was desegregated. This was the first desegregated public event in Clarksville, Tennessee. Photo credit: Bob Ray via https://digital.library.nashville.org/digital/collection/nr/id/2227/]
On Mother’s Day 2022, we offer a quote from three-time Olympic gold medalist and international track star Wilma Rudolph, who rightfully and fatefully choose to believe her mother.
To read it and about her, read on. To hear it and more about Rudolph, press PLAY:
[You can follow or subscribe to the Good Black News Daily Drop Podcast through Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, rss.comor create your own RSS Feed. Or just check it out every day here on the main website. Full transcript below]:
Hey, this is Lori Lakin Hutcherson, founder and editor in chief of goodblacknews.org, here to share with you a daily drop of Good Black News for Sunday, May 8th, 2022, based on the “A Year of Good Black News Page-A-Day Calendar” published by Workman Publishing.
US athlete Wilma Rudolph shows the gold medal she won at the Women’s 100 meters Summer Olympic Games sprint event on September 2, 1960 in Rome, Italy. (AP Photo)
Today, for Mother’s Day, we offer a quote from three-time Olympic Gold Medalist and National Track and Field Hall of Famer Wilma Rudolph, who had polio as a young child:
“My doctors told me I’d never walk again. My mother told me I would. I believed my mother.”
Wilma Glodean Rudolph was born prematurely in June 1940 and after contracting Scarlet Fever, pneumonia, polio and infantile paralysis, Rudolph wore braces on her legs until she was nine years old.
Because there was so little medical care available to Black people in 1940s Clarksville, Tennessee, Wilma’s mother Blanche took her on weekly bus trips 50 miles away to Nashville to get Wilma treatment at Meharry Medical College.
Blanche and other family members also massaged Wilma’s weakened leg four times a week until Wilma had enough strength to no longer need braces, or the orthopedic shoe she wore until she was 11.
By the time she was 16, Wilma was running in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, bringing home a bronze medal in the 400-meter relay.
Rudolph earned a college scholarship to Tennessee State and in 1960, she headed to Rome with the goal of becoming the best woman runner in the world. She surpassed that goal, winning three gold medals and breaking world records in the 100 and 200 meters.
She was nicknamed “The Tornado” and became an international track star. Rudolph graduated college with a degree in elementary education, and taught for the majority of her life after she retired from athletics. Let’s hear a clip from Rudolph describing the last race she ever ran before she retired:
“It was Palo Alto, California, Stanford University, Russia versus the United States. I was running well, but the heart wasn’t there anymore. I mean, what do you dowhen you win all of it? To keep yourself motivated, you have to be a little bit hungry, to be there and stay there and to stay on top.
And this particular day, we were running a relay we were behind when we started off. And you always think on a staggered start and you know, on a staggered start that, okay, she’s gonna catch her in the turn. And by the time that baton is passed, we were going to be even. That didn’t happen. And then when they pass it the next time I said, well, by the time they get to the next person, we will be even, or be one step ahead.
And by the time it got to me, I saw that we were behind, and I made myself a promise that day I said, if you catch the Russian it’s history – retire. If you do not catch the Russian, you will have to run another four years for the Olympics in Tokyo, Japan. I caught the Russian. I retired, it became history.
It was the fastest single race that I’ve ever ran in the history of my career. And to get a standing ovation in my home country, outdoors, which I’ve never had before, I think it was the grandest moment in my career. I retired that day, and I have never regretted it.”
Rudolph passed in 1994 of brain cancer, the same year her mother Blanche passed. Rudolph has been honored with a U.S. postage stamp, induction into the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame and National Women’s Hall of Fame, and in 2012 her hometown built the Wilma Rudolph Event Center. A life-sized bronze statue of Rudolph stands near the entrance of the building.
To learn more about Wilma Rudolph, watch videos of her Olympic races on YouTube, read her 1977 autobiographyWilma: The Story of Wilma Rudolph, Wilma Rudolph: A Biographyfrom 2006 by Maureen Margaret Smith and the children’s book Wilma Rudolph: Athlete and Educatorby Alice K. Flanagan and check out the 1977 movie Wilma starring Cicely Tyson, Shirley Jo Finney and Denzel Washington, available on Vudu.
Links to these sources and more are provided in today’s show notes and in the episode’s full transcript posted on goodblacknews.org.
This has been a daily drop of Good Black News, written, produced and hosted by me, Lori Lakin Hutcherson.
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This week, Apple announced its Racial Equity and Justice Initiative (REJI), a long-term global effort to advance equity and expand opportunities for Black, Hispanic/Latinx, and Indigenous communities, has more than doubled its initial financial commitment to total more than $200 million over the last three years.
With a focus on economic empowerment, REJI funds financial institutions — including venture capital firms, Community Development Financial Institutions, and Minority Depository Institutions — that support Black, Hispanic/Latinx, and Indigenous entrepreneurs and businesses.
To learn more about Wilma Rudolph, watch videos of her Olympic races on YouTube, read her 1977 autobiography