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Posts tagged as “Jhené Aiko”

MUSIC MONDAY: Ultimate “Soul of the Season” Christmas Soundtrack – Deluxe Expanded Edition (LISTEN)

MUSIC MONDAY: Ultimate “Soul of the Season” Christmas Soundtrack – Deluxe Expanded Edition (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on December 12, 2022

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

We hope that all of you in the Good Black News family are enjoying the holiday season and all the prep that goes along with it.

As many longtime readers know, Good Black News couldn’t survive the holidays without our Spotify Christmas music mixes playing in the background.

So, today, we’ve updated one of our most popular playlists ever to share with you again, and offer you the chance to deep dive into holiday music that is a little different than the rotation of 20 Andy Williams, Burl Ives and Bing Crosby tunes you might hear on the regular radio.

Back for Year Three is our “Ultimate Soul of the Season Christmas Soundtrack – Deluxe Expanded Edition“ – now filled with more than 60 new tracks, and lasting overall for over 34 hours.

[spotifyplaybutton play=”https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2FHQ8HVPzGR0pd9R4Tu1Zm?si=77040f88ca504bed”]

While you’re wrapping, decorating, baking, or just sipping eggnog by the fireplace, our playlist is a go-to that can last all season long.

Of course you can set it on shuffle and never know what’s coming next, or just let it play through.  We’ve carefully planned it out so that if you just let it play, you’ll get a mix of tempos and artists and soulful styles singing songs you know by heart mixed in with forgotten coulda-been classics and brand new originals that are classics in the making.

As a reminder, musically we’ve set out to create our own ‘radio’-like Christmas playlist, but as only GBN could, comprised entirely of songs performed by Black artists (or in the rare case of Robin Thicke, artists singing in a soulful tradition).

Of course, we’ve got Donny Hathaway, The Jackson 5, The Temptations‘ “Silent Night,” and plenty of Nat King Cole, Ella Fitzgerald, Johnny Mathis, and yes, Mariah Carey.

But as we did last year, we’ve refreshed the playlist this year with a bunch of new tracks – titles that are freshly released in 2022, as well as older tunes that are new discoveries for us, and even some famous songs that had never before appeared on Spotify.

In the era of streaming music, new Christmas music is being released much differently than it used to be.  There are still a few new full-length Christmas ‘albums’ being issued.

Among them are collections from Alicia Keys, Regina Belle, and recent Emmy groundbreaker Sheryl Lee Ralph (working with gospel producer/artist B. Slade on her new release entitled ‘Sleigh.’).

We’ve got songs from all of the new releases above (although currently Alicia Keys has only made one single from her album available on Spotify).

MUSIC MONDAY: “Summer Breeze” – a Summer Songs Playlist for 2022 (LISTEN)

MUSIC MONDAY: “Summer Breeze” – a Summer Songs Playlist for 2022 (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on June 20, 2022

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

Today on #MusicMonday, we’re celebrating the beginning of Summer 2022, which officially kicks off tomorrow.

One of our most popular playlists of the last couple years was our Summer Breeze: Soulful Summer Songs playlist, which we created two years ago in the midst of the pandemic.

So this year, we’ve taken that original playlist and created the ‘new and improved’ version with about 50 more tracks (!) added to the lineup.

[spotifyplaybutton play=”https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1xgE7qFwobhbEshljcxyPs?si=a335b24f13914244″]

Our playlist is slightly different than the typical summer mixtape – these are not just summer hits, or summer favorites. To qualify for our list, a song literally had to feature the word “summer” in its title.  It had to be literally “about” summer – the moods and feelings it evokes.

Fortunately, the season of BBQs, island vacations, swimming in the pool has provided inspiration to virtually every genre and generation of Black musicians, so we’ve got all the “summer”-titled popular hits spanning the ’30s to today from DJ Jazzy Jeff & Fresh Prince, Kool & The Gang, Carl Thomas, War, Sly & The Family Stone, Childish Gambino, Chic, Megan Thee Stallion and The Isley Brothers, mixed in with jazz, hip hop, dance, reggae, and plenty of vocal standards.

Nat “King” Cole is not only one of our top singers of Christmas standards, but also the leader in “summer” tunes, with five songs on our playlist.

And throughout, we’ve sprinkled multiple versions of the Porgy & Bess standard “Summertime,” performed here by everyone from Anita Baker to James Brown.

Among the new songs we’ve added are everything from Jhene Aiko to Joan Armatrading, Anderson.Paak to Prince, Jim Jones to Johnny Mathis, Leon Bridges to Labi Siffre to St. Lunatics.

So, fire up the grill, break out the water slide for the kids, and perhaps grab a mai-tai or piña colada.  Then relax to the sounds of Summer.  Happy Summer everyone!

Snoop Dogg, Bobby Wagner, Matt Barnes and Others Declare #ImUnloading Against Gun Violence with 401K Divestment Movement (VIDEO)

By goodblacknews on March 9, 2015
Snoop Dogg, Matt Barnes
Snoop Dogg, NFL Star Bobby Wagner, NBA Star Matt Barnes and singer/songwriter Jhene Aiko support gun industry  divestment in #ImUnloading PSA

In a partnership between Unload Your 401k and anti-gun violence campaign, No Guns Allowed, entertainment icon Snoop Dogg and tech leader Ron Conway are joining forces to call for divestment from the gun industry. Through the surprising union, they are using #ImUnloading in a new Public Service Announcement to turn their pledge into reality, joined by athletes Bobby Wagner of the Seattle Seahawks and Matt Barnes of the Los Angeles Clippers; actress/singer Margot Bingham; singer/songwriter/producer Aloe Blacc; singer/songwriter Jhené Aiko; and League Of Young Voters’ Executive Director, Dr. Rob Biko Baker.

Gun Violence is an epidemic, with 20 children every day admitted to hospitals with gunshot wounds.  In an effort to create change, Conway is calling on the C-Suite of tech companies to offer socially-responsible, “no guns allowed” investment options, and Snoop Dogg is enlisting the support of the entertainment industry and his fans to declare #ImUnloading in the name of those touched by the tragedy of gun violence.

“I’m unloading for my loved ones that I’ve lost,” Snoop Dogg said. “I’m going all in for gun-free investing.”

The PSA, from Campaign to Unload and States United to Prevent Gun Violence, is the second installment of support for Unload Your 401k, a program designed to raise awareness of divestment as a unique and powerful strategy to help make a meaningful change in preventing gun violence.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5K-Ti6tQzA&w=560&h=315]

“There is a straight line from gun industry investment, to gun industry profits, to funding of the NRA. Half the value of these companies comes from mutual funds and most of the ‘investors’ in these funds have no idea they are inadvertently part of the problem. Now they can be part of the solution,” said Jennifer Fiore, executive director of Campaign to Unload.

“Greedy gun corporations are benefitting from the pain in our community,” said Baker. “It’s important that we vote with our money.”

UnloadYour401k.com offers visitors an easy way to look-up their 401k retirement plan to see if it is supporting the gun industry and its lobbying group, the National Rifle Association.  Employees now have the tools available to get their money out of gun investments.

“It is long past time for government to act to reduce the epidemic of gun violence in America, but it is also long past time when we can believe that they will,” said Julia Wyman, executive director of States United. “Americans want change and thanks to our partners in this effort, more Americans will be aware of their economic power to take power into their own hands.”

article by Lori Lakin Hutcherson (follow @lakinhutcherson)