Monday, June 6, 2016

A Hopeful Future

In the recent years it seems that history is repeating itself. The events of the Black Lives Matter movement resemble the occurrences of the Black Power Movement in the 70s. Even the music that surrounds the two movement send identical messages.

"A Change is Gonna Come" by Sam Cooke served as the anthem for the Civil Rights Movement. Its hopeful tome gave Americans the motivation to keep moving forward despite the unequal treatment at the time. The song's meaning still resonates today. When Barack Obama won the US presidency in 2008, he alluded to Sam Cooke's lyrics declaring, "it's been a long time coming, but tonight, change has come to America", being that Obama was America's first black president.

Kendrick Lamar has come to the Hip-hop/Rap forefront with his aggressive lyrics atacking police brutality and racial tensions in America. His song "Alright" on the other hand has the same tone of hope that Sam Cooke's lyrics brought
to the people participating in the Civil Rights Movement. Lamar's song coincides with today's Black Lives Matter Movement.
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2 comments:

  1. SomericaJune 9, 2016 at 11:50 PM

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  2. SomericaJune 9, 2016 at 11:51 PM

    I love the theme of your blog and can't wait to see what's next! Black empowerment is a an undying theme in music that is criticized and praised by African Americans. Issues such as slavery, Jim Crow, Brown v. Board of Education and now #BlackLivesMatter, mass incarceration, systematic injustices and police brutality are very different, but yet all cut from the same cloth - inequality. It's a brave and entertaining way to send a message that isn't always received well.

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