I’m starting off straight up corny by saying I’ve been a “transparent soul” with anyone who’d listen to me about my anticipation of WILLOW’s sixth and latest solo LP, which finally dropped May 3rd.
My owning of my corniness, turns out, totally vibes with the messages about the freedom to express & accept your feelings, warts and all, coursing throughout the #greatalbum “empathogen” (2024).
Not only do I absolutely love how WILLOW wrestles lyrically (and musically) with Big Ideas such as existence, ego, anxiety, pain, self-sabotage, fear and love, she does so in such soul-felt, sophisticated & surprising ways, I have to compliment the precise production by WILLOW and her fellow producers Chris Greatti, Eddie Benjamin and Jon Batiste.
There are myriad sounds, echo effects and vocal arrangements involved in each track, even the stripped down ones, but none ever feel overdone — just purposeful and fresh. It’s as if WILLOW threw her hands into the cosmic river of music, tapped into its source, and allowed it to flow freely through her.
There’s a lot going on technically in the music I can’t speak on with any authority (e.g. the multiple time signatures, turnarounds, uncommon verse/chorus structures) but what I can talk about is how it hits the ears and how it feels — free, unexpected, relatable, or, in one word — embracing.
WILLOW is clearly a student of music and draws on varied influences (her IG post of her working her voice out to Ella Fitzgerald’s legendary scat on “How High The Moon” blew my mind a few months ago and still lives rent free in what’s left of my head), but right now she’s reminding me most of the great Esperanza Spalding, particularly during her “Emily’s D+Evolution” (2016) jazz/pop/rock era.
WILLOW’s own pop/rock/punk/soul explorations from the past few years also inform her current jazz/funk/fusion present (and hopefully future).
The singles released from the LP, “symptom of life” and “bigfeelings”, are the best ambassadors for this tight 12-song offering which literally begins with what sounds like an off-mic Jon Batiste screeching, as if being born, “I love everything!”
(BTW, could Batiste be on more of a roll? He also co-produces and co-writes “Ameriican Requiem”, the opening track on COWBOY CARTER. If I’m an artist, I’m thinkin get this man to help kick off my LP, stat, cuz greatness will surely follow!)
After Batiste, we hear steady rimshots underneath WILLOW’s “ah oo ah ah” breaths until she sings “I live my life” — and I didn’t conjure my previous cosmic music river metaphor out of nowhere as WILLOW then sings “I trust this river to carry me / home” in this mystifyingly captivating LP opener titled “home”.
Happy Music Monday! In the weeks since Beyoncé’s recent Country releases, there’s been much debate on her Country bona fides, though the sista has never been shy about voicing her Texas pride.
From Beyoncé’s history with the genre, from the song “Daddy Lessons”, from her 2016 album Lemonade, to the Stetsons worn by Destiny’s Child, many Country devotees ignore her roots and those of other Black artists.
While talking to a good friend and colleague last week, he pointed out that it’s not musicians that draw designations often based on race, it’s the so-called fans. It is also music writers and editors who act as gatekeepers.
Ray Charles, James Brown, Jerry Lee Lewis, B.B. King, Elvis Presley, Aerosmith, Love, Brittany Howard, Lola, Valerie June and so many others can’t be bothered. Music is music.
It has been a long-running theme of my playlist and missives here on GBN, that the roots and current impact of Black artists on Country Music and Rock ’n Roll is deep and continuing.
Rhiannon Giddens is present playing the banjo (an instrument whose roots go back to Africa), on “Texas Hold ‘Em”, and with The Carolina Chocolate Drops. As is Lil Nas X, who was also soundly rebuffed by Country music gatekeepers initially.
I’ve included The Black Pumas, TV On The Radio, Clarence Clemons, Tracy Chapman and of course Lenny Kravitz, who all reject rock music being the domain of white artists.
So, please enjoy this collection of artists that aren’t inclined to be labeled and defy labels.
It’s Halloween time once again, and I’m back with another Funky Halloween Music playlist for this spooky season. Here is 13 hours of more Soul, Reggae, Funk, Jazz, and movie soundtracks.
I freely admit to casting a very wide net for this playlist, including tracks simply featured in The Blackening, Nope, Get Out, Us, The Master and others.
Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, Beyoncé, Gravediggaz, The Weekend, Ella Fitzgerald, Little Simz, Exuma, King Tubby, Geto Boys, Bessie Smith, The Specials, Ray Parker Jr., and others are all present on the ever-evolving collection of Halloween music.
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.
Happy springtime from your friend and selector, Marlon!
Here’s a freewheeling playlist, and a seemingly random collection of tunes. Though what they all have in common is famous folks, sometimes uncredited, singing backup.
In some cases it is an established artist leading a hand, like Stevie Wonder contributing to Jermaine Jackson’s “Let’s Get Serious,” or a then-unknown protege like Lou Rawls singing behind his childhood pal Sam Cooke on “Bring It On Home To Me.”
In some tracks, you won’t be able to pick them out. Though in others you will never be able to hear the same again without recognizing them. Here is a breakdown of each song and who’s helping out in the background. Enjoy!
by Lori Lakin Hutcherson, GBN founder and Editor-in-Chief
Well, here we are, once again. Forty seven years after February was officially recognized by the U.S. government as Black History Month, and ninety seven years after Negro History Weekwas founded by Carter G. Woodson, “The Father of Black History.”
We are also, once again, deeply distressed by the murder of a young Black person (Tyre Nichols) at the hands of police officers. The fact that the officers and the police chief are Black this time around doesn’t complicate but instead amplifies the grotesque, stark, ironically colorblind reality of systemic racism — it is a pernicious construct of power and oppression that can be upheld or enforced by anyone of any color or gender or creed.
So, how do we reconcile the two — the celebration of Black people and their achievements while constantly experiencing injustice, inequity and increasingly, erasure?
As Editor-in-Chief of Good Black News, a site which for over a decade has literally been dedicated year-round to the celebration of Black people and their achievements, I have been wrestling with this question for a while, particularly in the last eight months.
After the murder of 10 Black people at a supermarket in Buffalo, NY by a white supremacist in May 2022 and the continued downplaying of racially-based domestic terrorism, I felt depleted and bereft. Of hope, of faith, of purpose. It didn’t seem to matter how much Black people achieved or prospered or protested or suffered in America — we couldn’t even buy our groceries in peace.
And once again, the narrative of the “lone, mentally unstable shooter” was trotted out. One person was (rightfully) punished, but the racist political and economic system he embraced in its most violent extreme? It remained (and remains) steadfastly in place. As did the onus remain on the shoulders of Black people to be seen as worthy of basic human rights.
America quickly got back to the business of forgetting and moving on, even after experiencing only two years before what seemed like a watershed moment of racial reckoning after the police murder of George Floyd.
But here were are again today, literally TODAY, with civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump saying during his call to action during Tyre Nichols’ funeral: “Why couldn’t they see the humanity in Tyre?… We have to make sure they see us as human beings worthy of respect and justice!”
We do?
I’ll admit in many ways, I understand where Crump is coming from. “Show the humanity” has essentially been the GBN operating philosophy since 2010 — to create a site and space where we can see and celebrate our humanity, while offering access to anyone else who wants to take a gander.
But now, in 2023, I must push myself to dig deeper and firmly challenge why it should it ever be the responsibility of any human being to convince any other human being of their humanity. To state the obvious, once, and for all:
BLACK PEOPLE ARE HUMAN BEINGS.
If the words above are not inherently understood to be true, why is that? Why does this have to be shown? Proven? Over and over and over again?
My answer, also obvious, is that they don’t. Not ever.
So, while I absolutely respect and still intend to celebrate the legacies of people such as Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, Jackie Robinson, Sidney Poitier and the like, going forward I also need for GBN’s Black History Month and GBN in general to engage more actively in the interrogation and disempowering any systems, institutions or public policies that do not recognize or uphold this truth and all the basic rights that should flow from it (e.g. respect, freedom, safety, equality).
Maybe I’m not giving enough credit to GBN in its past and present form — I acknowledge that GBN has been helpful and appreciated by many for the way we offer information via the lens of celebration and positivity.
What I’m aiming to add to our existing ethos is more critical thinking and opinion about cultural topics and cultural content, boosting political, economic and social policies that are truly about protecting, serving and uplifting Black people, and working to upend those that don’t.
The College Board creates and administers the AP program. Join us in demanding that they:
Reject the narrow interpretation of Florida law that contradicts principles of academic freedom and autonomy in determining what to teach in classrooms.
Take swift action to make sure Florida does not modify the curriculum of the proposed AP African-American Studies course designed with the help of respected Black scholars, but rather, maintains the integrity of the proposed curriculum.
Florida’s current agenda of political interference in the AP African American studies curriculum directly conflicts with the values of equity, fairness, and justice. Our students deserve better.
Additionally, I want to highlight Nikole Hannah-Jones’ The 1619 Projectseries now streaming on Hulu as well as promote the excellent “Intersectionality Matters” podcast by law professor Dr. Kimberlé Crenshaw whose name is among the writers expunged from the AP African American studies curriculum.
I also want to give props to Beyoncéfor officially announcing her 2023 Renaissance World Tour! A definite bright spot on this first day of Black History Month, the efforts Beyoncé and her team are making via the Verified Fan system and its tiers of engagement (first priority given to the BeyHive!) to ensure real fans get access to tickets over usurious resale entities is for sure worth a shout out.
Frankly, I am tired of us being caught out there, and I want GBN to do more, offer more, share more and speak out more. In our tweets, reels, stories, posts, playlists, comments — however.
Maybe I’ll get it wrong sometimes, but with deep love for this community as my true north, may my faith, purpose and hope never again be broken.
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.
Soul, Reggae, Funk, Jazz, and movie soundtracks make up this collection. There are midcentury classics, plus brand new and previously unreleased tracks.
Michael Abels’ music from Jordan Peele’s neo-Western science fiction horror film, NOPE, serves as a through line for this mix.
It features Beyoncé, The Weekend, Ella Fitzgerald, Little Simz, Exuma, King Tubby, and long-lost collaborations with the late Ranking Roger and The Clash.
I freely admit to casting a very wide net for this playlist. It won’t scare kids off your porch on the 31st, but it might have you shaking a tail feather from now until then.
Please enjoy this collection that offers, witches, ghost, werewolves, and monsters both real and imagined.
Hey, it’s Lori, GBN’s Editor-in-Chief, with this week’s Music Monday share. Although it’s one day early, I offer a list to set the vibe for what February signifies to many in these United States: Black History Month!
Today’s playlist, “Black and Proud: Songs About Being Black” features songs that examine, express, critique and celebrate differing iterations of what it means to be Black in America.
The gamut of human emotions are present in this collection, as African Americans have been creating genres like Jazz, Blues, Soul and Hip Hop and transforming others from the 1600s on.
Artists such as Louis Armstrong, Chuck Berry, James Brown, Stevie Wonder, Beyonce, Esperanza Spalding, india.arie, Prince, Janet Jackson, Mickey Guyton, Nas, Jay Z, Common and Kendrick Lamar all have their takes on Blackness and the perceptions of it by themselves, lovers, strangers, authorities and oppressors.
I’ve also included several versions of “Young, Gifted and Black” by Nina Simone, Aretha Franklin, Donny Hathaway and Big Daddy Kane who each in their own way interpret the phrase popularized by playwright Lorraine Hansberry to great effect.
I hope you enjoy this compilation and that it gets you into the mood, groove and spirit of Black History Month.
Hey, it’s Lori, GBN’s Editor-in-Chief, stepping in with this week’s Music Monday share. As this past Saturday was what would have been Sam Cooke’s 91st birthday, and since Marlon Westcrafted such a lovely tribute playlist to the “King of Soul” in honor of his 90th last year, I thought it fitting to share it once again in case anyone missed it:
What I’d like to add this time around — you can read Marlon’s words about Cooke and his indelible contributions to music and the genre of Soul here — is a couple of great podcasts I heard about Cooke’s musical journey in the past year.
The first is the “Don’t Know Much About History” episode of Chris Molanphy‘s Hit Parade podcast, which covers the chart history and influence of Sam Cooke’s singing and songwriting on American popular music:
The second is an in-depth look at “You Send Me” as one of the pivotal songs in the long term development and metamorphosis of the genre called Rock music (which has its roots in jazz, blues, R&B, country and soul) in Andrew Hickey‘s A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs:
There may be even more in depth looks at Cooke and his music in the podcast verse, but these are two that I’ve heard and can assure you are worth your time.
The two documentaries available on Amazon Prime, I gotta admit, not as much. Worth it if you want to know more about the parts of Cooke’s life and his untimely death that sometimes overshadow his contributions to music. I’ve watched them both, and the archival footage of Cooke’s performances in Legend makes it the superior choice.
Lastly, as one of the inaugural members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986, it should be no surprise that Cooke’s music has been sampled and covered for decades by artists as diverse as Beyoncé, The Game, Amy Winehouse, Terence Trent D’Arby, Bruce Springsteen and Beenie Man. To check out the entire list, go here: https://www.whosampled.com/Sam-Cooke/
I hope you enjoy all the Sam Cooke options available, and that you, as Marlon says, stay safe, sane and kind!
by Marlon West (FB: 
