Messages In The Music

This is a Stevie Wonder and 70's music kind of day in my house. What beautiful, beautiful music. This new generation is sadly so culturally deprived of the brilliance of sheer musical genius innate to Black people. Music formerly called jazz, blues, soul or rhythm and blues. Black people are the creator of most genres of music, which, throughout history, has been stolen from us. I remember as a kid looking forward to watching the music award programs, because Black folks were sure to dominate and far outshine all other entertainers. No contest! We went to school on the following day, chests poked out and no short supply of bragging rights! We took full advantage of all such opportunities as they availed themselves. Of course, we did.

It has been taught to me recently that Black music was deliberately destroyed because they knew that's where we received our strength, our guidance and our positive messages to keep us strong, defiant and mindful of our value and worth no matter what was being said about us, told to us or done to us. 

From picking cotton in the blazing sun under the threat of lash, to the injustices of jim crow, to infiltration and destruction of the Black liberation organizations by the US government, flooding our communities with drugs and ultimately, all efforts to destroy the Black family, they could not break us, our spirit, our resilience or our will to fight. We were never intended to be strong, confident, independent or to survive. But we have...

Our music reminded, fortified and spoke to us. When all else failed us, our music lifted us, be it spiritual or secular. It was our source of pride and brought us common joy that sometimes only we understood.

So, they changed our music to what is now void of musical instruments, beats and melodic voices. Instead, it is now replete with self-demeaning, vile and negative messaging. It is so hurtful to my ears [and to my heart] that in the summer when stopped at a red light and someone pulls up next to me with the outrageous "lyrics" blasting from their car, I roll up my window and pull up if I can. I don't want it wafting in my window, not even for a minute.

Instead of building the minds of the listener, today's "music" is destroying the minds and the will of far too many and that folks, is deliberate, VERY deliberate and we are complicit in either our silence, purchase or performance of this "music". I believe that. Even some who perform and/or produce the junk "music" know the long term effects. They don't let their own kids listen to it. Yet they "sing" it feeling no responsibility to the collective. These individuals, with their individual focus, are responsible for loading the musical gun aimed directly at us and killing us, the collective, ever so slowly but ever so surely...

There is no way that one can repeatedly hear the same message, be it positive or negative, and not be effected to respond accordingly. Wanna' stop the violence? First step is to change the message in the music. Nothing about that is rocket science. It's actually pretty elementary...

Blow the dust off your old albums and play them! MAKE your kids listen. Share with them the happy stories and now abandoned traditions from your youth. Inspire them and as you are inspired to remember who we are, why we are, how we are, how we have come to be and how we have maintained, no matter the odds, no matter the hate and racism, no matter the obstacles. We are a phenomenal people and still we rise...

Beautiful, beautiful Black people. Beautiful, beautiful Soul music! Cherish It and Celebrate Us!