Society Changes Music, Music Changes Society
Music has always been a reflection of the world around us. It has served as a vehicle to educate and pass down stories and to transform emotions into an audible experience that others can empathize with. It allows voices to be elevated and heard, which is especially pertinent when those voices have something important to say. One topic that is continuously featured in music now and in the past is the struggle with both explicit and implicit race inequality.
I would like to put a content warning for the rest of this post. There will be mention of violence, police brutality, and explicit language used in some of the songs.
Billie Holiday
Billie Holiday was well into her musical career performing in nightclubs and garnering many fans who adored her for her unique twist on jazz. It was at one of these nightclubs on one fateful evening she performed a song that would remain a distinct component of her legacy for years to come. "Strange Fruit" was originally a poem written by Abel Meeropol which he then put to music and passed it on to Barney Josephson, the owner of Café Society. Josephson then introduced the song to Billie and was promptly recorded and performed in 1939. Meeropol has stated that he was haunted by a photograph of two young black men who were victims of a lynching in Indiana from 1930 (Wikipedia). The image was all too common and was completely ignored or even encouraged by law enforcement. There was an evident attitude that people of color just weren't people at all. As you can hear, the lyrics are chilling and angry. You can both see and hear the disgust and upset portrayed by Billie in this performance. The tempo is very slow and the notes are drawn out to sound almost like a cry. She is accompanied only by a simple piano to allow the timbre of her voice to embody the emotions that the lyrics evoke.
Unfortunately, some say that this song was partially responsible for Billie Holiday's downfall and even her untimely death. One man was determined to silence her, Harry Anslinger who was the commissioner for the Federal Bureau of Narcotics and a known racist. When initial attempts to forbid Billie from performing "Strange Fruit" were quickly refused, he staged a drug bust which ultimately sent Billie to prison for a year and a half. When she was released, authorities refused to reissue her cabaret performer's license which prevented her from performing in nightclubs, which was her passion. In 1959, Billie checked herself into the hospital as she was suffering from heart and lung problems as well as cirrhosis of the liver due to years of drug and alcohol abuse. She was extremely ill and was an emaciated version of herself. Anslinger, still hell-bent on destroying Billie, had his men go to the hospital, handcuff her to her bed, and stood in the way of doctors giving her life-saving treatment for her conditions. This was her undoing, as she passed away only days later (Pak).
N.W.A
N.W.A was a hip hop group from Compton, CA which included Dr. Dre, Eazy-E, MC Ren, Ice Cube, DJ Yella, and Arabian Prince. The group would go on to be some of the earliest and most significant popularizers of West Coast rap. "Fuck Tha Police" was a protest song that was recorded and released in 1988. The song was a part of their groundbreaking record, Straight Outta Compton. It was written by Ice Cube, MC Ren, and The D.O.C. and was produced by Dr. Dre and DJ Yella. In essence, the lyrics criticize the local police force that profiled people of color and inflicted unnecessary brutality for no apparent reason. The song has an upbeat tempo and is presented almost as a parody. The lyrics are somewhat comical, especially in the beginning with the N.W.A court, but you can tell that they're extremely angry with the circumstances. They had repeatedly been victims of an unjust system that is stacked against them, a struggle that is unfortunately not a unique situation of people of color in the U.S. As for timbre, the vocals are spoken words with a distinct rhythm along with the music, which of course is the identifying characteristic of the rap genre (Goldstein).
H.E.R.
Throughout 2020, there was a lot going on to say the least. The COVID-19 pandemic swept across the globe and causing hardship for everyone. Apart from the actual illness and it's effect on people's lives, there was steep decline in the economic and social welfare of the country. There was a lot of tension building in the nation as people were irreparably divided and one horrible incidnet occurred that served as a catalyst setting off a chain reaction of events. When George Floyd was murdered in May of 2020, the U.S. hit a breaking point, we had had enough. People have been desperately crying for change for years and years but those pleas have gone unheard, and change was not happening. At the very least, it was not happening fast enough. The three musical pieces I provided in this post span over 80 years, but the issue is still exactly the same. Minorities are the victims of flawed system that persecutes them, subjects them to an unjust legal and bureaucratic system, and inflicts unnecessary and often violent brutality at the hands of people in power. The video recording of Derek Chauvin kneeling on George Floyd's neck showed a clear lack of regard for human life. His actions proved again that to many still, people of color are less than and do not deserve to be shown the basic respect and decency of that of a person.
Many artistic works were released in response to the events that unfolded in 2020. Among those was "I Can't Breathe," written and performed by H.E.R. She was assisted in writing by Tiara Thomas and D'Mile, who also produced the song. It was released on June 19, 2020 and won Song of the Year at the 63rd Annual Grammys (Wikipedia). Through her lyrics, H.E.R. laments the overt inequality just on the basis of skin and background. She questions why we are told that we are all equal and that race issues don't exist anymore but then ignore the glaringly obvious systemic failures and neglect of our society. She also incorporates famous quotes and references from Gil Scott-Heron and Billie Holiday, both of whom were vocal about the injustice of black people (Sanchez). The song is fairly slow in align with it's mournful tone and is accompanied by R&B drums, bass, and keyboard. Her timbre is soft and soulful, the words almost sound heavy with her powerful language.
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