Rage released their self-titled landmark debut on November 3rd, 1992, which appropriately was the day of the US Presidential election. The band’s explicit political views were also well exemplified by the album cover, which featured Thích Quảng Đức, a Vietnamese Buddhist monk, self-immolating as an act of extreme protest. The band’s radical views were also conveyed through the music on […]
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“I got a letter from the government the other dayI opened and read it, it said they were suckersThey wanted me for their army or whateverPicture me givin’ a damn, I said, “Never”Here is a land that never gave a damnAbout a brother like me and myself because they never didI wasn’t wit’ it, but just that very minuteIt occurred […]
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“Emancipate yourselves from mental slaveryNone but ourselves can free our mindsHave no fear for atomic energy‘Cause none of them can stop the timeHow long shall they kill our prophetsWhile we stand aside and look? OohSome say it’s just a part of itWe’ve got to fulfill the Book” More of a solo acoustic folk song than a traditional reggae song, Bob […]
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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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“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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Crass, from the artist’s Bandcamp The final results are in and we now have the list of inductees for the 2023 Protest Music Hall of Fame. Admittedly Hall of Fame is a misnomer. Instead of awarding accolades, it is an online archival project focusing on building increased awareness for socially conscious music. Eventually, I plan on doing writeups for all inductees, […]
Learn more →After tabulating the results of a previous poll, here are the 2023 nominees for the Protest Music Hall of Fame online archival project. The poll will be open until December 31. Loading…
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When socially conscious rap group Public Enemy recorded their 1988 sophomore album It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, Chuck D stated his desire to create the Hip-Hop counterpart to Marvin Gaye’s protest masterpiece What’s Going On. Just like that album, Public Enemy succeeds in providing poignant social commentary on the challenges facing Black America. The album […]
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“Cause I’m Black and I’m proudI’m ready and hyped plus I’m ampedMost of my heroes don’t appear on no stampsSample a look back you look and findNothing but rednecks for four hundred years if you check” The concept of “Fight The Power” originated when director Spike Lee approached Public Enemy about composing an anthem for his 1989 film Do The […]
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When examining the history of political Hip-Hop it doesn’t get much more influential than rap group Public Enemy. The group features hard-hitting lyrics from emcee Chuck D, comedic levity from hypeman Flavor Flav, and a heavy musical attack that rivals any rock group from the Bomb Squad production team. The group’s genesis took place in 1985 when Carlton Ridenhour (aka […]
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