You Are What You Listen To
“Music speaks louder than words” African Proverb
Africans and music are linked in terms of relationships and oneness.
For hundreds of years, music has been used to share stories, to advocate for the unheard, to cultivate a vibe and space for connection, and express emotions that no other medium could capture. Even before the advancement of technology, we had music. The simple inflictions of your throat, vocal cords, and lungs can create a sound that can be heard from miles away, that can give your body chills and raise the hairs behind your neck, that can inspire you to create other forms of art through various meaningful impressions. Artists have the true gift of gab. They can use their voice to shift the consciousness of people. And sway emotions and express thoughts and feelings that the average Joe doesn’t know how to articulate, or fears too. Music is a powerful expression. Instruments are able to mimic orgasmic rhythms that generate spiritual connections. Music highlights African values, with various traditions accompanied by a melody. Celebrate events with an array of sounds announcing important ceremonies. There are work songs that accompany digging, chopping, and harvesting. There are songs of praise and criticism, and songs recounting history. As a result, music is often performed outdoors, in the streets, courtyards or village squares. Music is now transmitted digitally but still conveys the same effects on a person’s spirit. Music allows us to download codes of the universe.
The queen of salsa music and goddess of tropical music, Celia de la Caridad Cruz Alfonso, was born in Havana in 1925. She made Azucar of the soul.
Celia’s skills are rooted in santeria music; she soon started dabbling in this practice and learned Yoruba, a language spoken in West Africa and adopted by santeros. In 1947, Celia enrolled in the Havana National Conservatory of Music, where she studied theory, singing, and piano. Besides her music and personality, Celia wore vibrant and colorful outfits with intricate and beautiful patterns that captivated her audience. Victoria, arising from Panama and St. Vincent, said
Reggae and dancehall started in Jamaica. Reggae has a lot of West African influence with the drums and the rhythm. Because Caribbeans achieved independence before Black Americans, many islanders can be proud of and reference their West African roots in their music.Pan-African flags, Rastafarianism, and locs are all examples. Reggae is a very powerful genre, always calling for Caribbeans to free their minds and be proud of themselves.
“I can’t pinpoint the first time I heard Chaka Demus and Pliers because it’s been a part of my childhood for as long as I can remember. With “Murder She Wrote” being one of the most popular reggae/dancehall songs known to man, there was no way you would escape this song at any Caribbean event. When I hear that song or “Bam Bam”, it takes me back to playing with my cousins in Brooklyn during the summer of the early 2000s. It reminds me of being in the sun all day playing in the open fire extinguishers on the block, spewing out water and waiting for the ice cream truck to come. It reminds me of being at the salon with my mom and aunties all day as they got their hair pressed and wrapped, which was an iconic look at the time.“ Victoria
During the 20th century, jazz was a political outlet for black artists. The Grammy-winning trumpeter Terence Blanchard has said, “What makes [jazz] African American to me is the pain and suffering, the honesty about our search for truth.”
African American sensibilities were at the heart of jazz’s development. Throughout America, large black communities grew up in the aftermath of slavery, each with their own history and set of cultural influences and traditions. African Americans established a musical fusion by fusing African rhythmic and percussion approaches with more European forms of harmony and structure. This musical fusion was born out of the juxtaposition of these two worlds. Its emphasis on improvisation, which allowed for unparalleled freedom of expression through music, distinguished jazz from other musical genres.
Jazz was the foundation of all modern music, including rock and roll and R&B.
Gil Scott’s PIONEERED Hip-Hop, SHOW SOME RESPECT!
The emergence of Hip Hop was a watershed moment in the growth of black culture in the United States. With the Harlem Renaissance having occurred before the formation of Hip Hop, it was only a matter of time until African Americans launched another cultural movement that bore musical similarities to its predecessor. However, instead of it being another Duke Ellington or Louis Armstrong to do it, Hip Hop was brought to the globe by a gentleman by the name of Clive Campbell, also known as “DJ Kool Herc,.”
This paved the way for other poets and DJs to use their turntable beats to convey political messages to their audiences. Using the four elements of hip-hop (b-boying and girling, graffiti, mcing, and DJing), hip-hop allowed creators to express themselves imaginatively and freely. The gathering of black people in New York for a block party was one of the safest places where we could hang out and enjoy oneself.
Naturally, hip hop has grown into soul music, with many various elements and sub-genres such as trap and rap music, but one thing that has always remained the same is the message that is being transferred.
“My current partner and my child’s father will always be attached to this album for me. He asked me what I was doing and if I wanted to come over two weeks into talking.Of course, I said, “Hell nah.” We had never hung out by ourselves, and I was the type of girl that wanted to be courted and taken on dates. We chose to go on a date at a local park. He came and picked me up from my dorm in his Sebring. As we drove towards the park, he asked me to hop on the aux. (He was definitely trying to test me to see what type of music I was into). Of course, naturally, I put on “Electric Relaxation.” He looked at me and let out the cutest, faintest grin. You can tell he was turned on because I was dope asf, but he was trying to be subtle with the fact that he was impressed. The rest is history. “ -Nabou on Midnight Mauraders
Hip-hop artists are now known as “rappers” because of the rise of MCs. Rappers are still glib when describing the current state of affairs for African-Americans in the United States. Using his platform to express the black experience in the 21st century from an inner city perspective, Kendrick Lamar is an outstanding demonstration.
“In my second year of high school, I had this CD on repeat. To my mind, it had a huge impact. I was a budding activist, experimenting with new ways to communicate my dissatisfaction with the world I was only beginning to understand. My father introduced me to the world. I would feel angered by the black plight while listening to k.dots lyrics, but they also gave me a sense of pride.I’m naming my daughter Zulu. “ -Nabou on To Pimp a Butterfly
“There are these rare moments when musicians together touch something sweeter than they’ve ever found before in rehearsals or performance, beyond the merely collaborative or technically proficient, when their expression becomes as easy and graceful as friendship or love. This is when they give us a glimpse of what we might be, of our best selves, and of an impossible world in which you give everything you have to others, but lose nothing of yourself. “ Saturday
Originally referred to as “Race Music,” Rhythm and Blues, The early twentieth-century movement of African Americans to metropolitan areas in the Northeast and Midwest aided in the convergence of diverse regional genres of African American music. This subgenre is a synthesis of all black subcultures. There are numerous forms, including boogie-woogie, black swing, gospel, blues, jazz, hip-hop, soul, and rock & roll. Artists in the R&B category use this medium to communicate their emotions.
The terms “race music” and “race records” had conflicting meanings. In one respect, they were indicative of segregation in the 1920s. Race records were distinguished from recordings by white musicians simply on the basis of the artists’ race. On the other hand, the terminology reflected the recording industry’s growing understanding of African American audiences. The term “race” was not pejorative; in fact, “race was symbolic of black pride, militancy, and solidarity in the 1920s, and it was generally favored over colored or Negro by African-American city dwellers,” noted scholar William Barlow in “Cashing In: 1900–1939.”
By the 1990’s, R & B had become a way that artists could pour their hearts out on record. Listeners would sing along to their songs to relive their heartbreaks or love affairs through the voice and experiences of the artist.
“How shall I say it? Music makes me forget my real situation. It transports me into a state that is not my own. Under the influence of music, I really seem to feel what I do not feel, understand what I do not understand, and have powers which I cannot have… And music transports me immediately into the condition of soul in which the person who wrote the music found himself at that time. I become confounded with his soul, and with him I pass from one condition to another. “The Kreutzer Sonata”
Music has a smell, music has a feel, music has a memory, music has a touch, music is a hug, music is nostalgia, and music is the future. Music is all of these things. Music is a form of scripture.
Music is fashion.
“Lana Del Reys’ Born to Die came out when I was 12 years old, and I remember it went along with the time in my life I started getting into tumblr. The nostalgic feel of her music reminds me of being 15 and heavily obsessed with American Apparel. I also just started to visit the city, especially the little 5 points where my friends would have a parent drop us off and we’d spend hours thrifting.” -Victoria, AKA THE THRIFT KWEEN (plans to start her own clothing brand very soon).
Black Indie Alt is an evolution of R & B, Hip-Hop, Funk, and Rock & Roll. To Nabou, Prince and Earth, Wind, and Fire paved the way for them.
“I used to dance in the shower to “sticky” during my freshman year of college, playing it in my ears between classes and in my dorm room. The EP is described by Rayvn as “endlessly lush, disco-tinted R&B grooves,” and it delivers exactly that. Steve brings the funkadelic disco rhythm, while she brings R & B. During this period, listening to this EP made me feel so free.” Nabou
For black people who were born on this soil that is now known as America, music has always served as a means of escaping and expressing the sorrow and suffering they have endured on this continent. It has also served as a means of preserving the black experience. Despite the fact that we have our critics who believe trap music has played a significant role in the demise of our communities, we cannot deny the documentation it has copied since for many inner-city residents who live in the hood, that is their truth.
“This album came out when I was 5 years old, and I remember hearing that hips don’t lie all the time at family parties in Brooklyn. At the time, I had no clue what the lyrics meant, but I remember being obsessed with the song and its cover art due to the fact that it referenced the biblical story of Adam and Eve, and it reminded me of an illustration I saw in my bible storytime book as a little girl. I would always stare at the illustrations and photos in books and imagine what it felt like to be in their world. “ Victoria
Music has a way of influencing us, whether it is in a negative or positive way. We have all been inspired by certain songs, musicians, or music videos to develop, organize, or start our own unique movements in whichever medium makes us feel heard and happy.
“I developed my interest in music videos and wanted to create them after seeing the Bad Girls video by M.I.A.When I was in middle school, I would come home and be in awe of how much she embraced her culture and showed women doing amazing things we stereotypically aren’t shown. — Victoria
YOU ARE WHAT YOU LISTEN TO.
Article written by: @nabou_roses
Creative Direction: @nabou_roses @victoriaagoddard
Models:
@nabou_roses @victoriaagoddard
Video editor:
Victoria Goddard @victoriagoddard
Cinematographer:
Chinedu Nwakudu @dumoarles
Photos by:
Prime @picsbyprime
Chinedu Nwakudu @dumoarles
