On May 4th, 2012, Adam “MCA” Yauch of the Beastie Boys lost his battle to cancer, at the age of 47 years old. He was more than just a founding member of one of the most influential groups in hip hop history. Yauch was also a political activist, a devout Buddhist, and was heavily involved in the Tibetan independence movement, […]
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This is a demo version of a tune by the UK folk-punk band, which ultimately appeared on their latest album, One Foot in Front of the Other. Featuring an amusing animated video, this rollicking ditty is a derisive verbal beatdown of self-proclaimed misogynist and sex trafficker Andrew Tate. It also uses Tate as a broader representation of toxic masculinity and […]
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This video, posted by the prolific topical singer-songwriter, is from a recent live performance at The Chapel in San Francisco. This incisive anti-war tune appears on his recently released album Middle. The lyrics allude to the Israel-Palestine conflict, and analyze religions role in war. The viral artist has been starting to receive increased mainstream attention, including his live TV debut […]
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“You will not be able to stay home, brotherYou will not be able to plug in, turn on and drop outYou will not be able to lose yourself on skag and skipSkip out for beer during commercialsBecause the revolution will not be televised” This proto-rap classic was influential in the development of socially conscious hip-hop. Jazz poet Scott-Heron originally recorded […]
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Early morning on May 18, 2017, Chris Cornell was declared dead. Cornell played an important part of my teen years and young adulthood. The first concert I ever attended was a Pearl Jam & Neil Young double bill and Soundgarden was one of the opening acts. This was in support of their 1991 album Badmotorfinger and just before the release […]
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This powerful tune is off the recently released album Tonky by the 75-year-old experimental musician. Like previous albums, it taps into Holley’s experience with dealing with hardships associated with systemic racism. This tune shares a title with the Sam Cooke classic, but it is a different tune. But it does cover similar themes of optimism despite hardships.
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Here is your monthly round up of notable protest music. Songs/Videos: Killing Punk – The Bloody Beetroots x Bob Vylan This tune is a collaboration between Italian EDM artists The Bloody Beetroots and the UK grime punk duo Bob Vylan. The lyrics tackle the racist mindset of punk rock gatekeepers that try to keep Bob Vylan out for being black […]
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“My skin is blackMy arms are longMy hair is woollyMy back is strongStrong enough to take the paininflicted again and again” “Four Women” was written by Simone and appears on her classic 1966 album, Wild Is The Wind. It is one of several tunes that helped establish Simone as an important figure in the civil rights movement. The catalyst of the […]
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“Picket linesSchool boycottsThey try to say it’s a communist plotAll I want is equalityFor my sister, my brother, my people, and me” “Mississippi Goddam” was Nina Simone’s response to the murder of civil rights activist Medgar Evers in Mississippi and a bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama on September 15, 1963 (which also helped inspire Simone’s “Four […]
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This is the 3rd song released by the veteran socially conscious indie band from their upcoming album Noble and Godlike in Ruin, out April 25. The lyrics explore the immigrant experience, partly rooted in the personal background of band member Satomi Matsuzaki. The tune also exclusively premiered on Craigslist to protest against the hegemony of big-tech streaming platforms that, according […]
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