We celebrated Black History Month with Black Music Month… could it have been a year…?
Celebrating the rich diversity of influence of black artists on our musical palate, across decades, genres and territories
During this tumultuous year of 2020, world events have shone a bright light once more on the importance of black history, art, culture and music on the global landscape. And the Black Lives Matter campaign resurgence quite rightly highlighted that there is still work to do for justice and equality for black communities around the world. Part of the music industry’s response to the shooting of George Floyd in Minnesota in May included the Black Out Tuesday initiative, with many companies globally shutting their doors for a day to let their employees turn their attention to learning more about the issues of race, discrimination and white privilege, with an aim of putting actions in place to make a positive difference.
Republic Records were the label to start a domino effect in the industry by confirming that they would be dropping the term ‘Urban Music’, a term controversial for some time as it had become synonymous with a description of music from ‘non-white’ artists but in turn using a catch-all phrase that few, if any, from the artists creating that music identified with. This in turn lead to a valid debate within the UK industry more recently about dropping the other controversial term BAME, in favour of identifying the artists in the way they identify themselves — Black Artists, Asian Artists and so on.
At Blokur we decided we would turn our ‘Record of the Day’ over to celebration and discovery of some of the milestone albums and artists recognised as having changed the course of music to follow, and whose influence has resonated long since the last notes were laid down on master tape (or indeed hard drive…)
Obviously, with 22 working days in October and nigh on a century of music from black artists to choose from, this was always going to be tough — not tough finding a huge list to choose from, but how on earth to hone it down to something that reflected the development of music of black origin from the 20s to present day, while also ensuring no key genres were left out.
In true 21st century fashion, the idea came up to crowd-source the pool of music from which we would make our selections, asking hundreds of fellow music obsessives on social media this question: “if you could choose just one seminal album by a black artist that you think everyone should hear, what would it be?”
The suggestions came in thick and fast (unsurprisingly many people found it a struggle to limit it to just one album!)….and so our final long-list was close to 100 seminal albums from which we somehow had to whittle down to a shortlist that represented gender, decade, genre and origin.
There was quite some debate about whether or not to include artists whose reputations outside of music have been tarnished by their actions or crimes/alleged crimes as human beings… Can you still celebrate the art by divorcing it from the person who created it? It’s a debate that will no doubt continue in the conversations of music fans for decades to come.
So here it is, our selection of wonderful albums which each hold a place in the history of music and show the diverse influence on future artists that a century of amazing black musicians has gifted us.
(Click the links to listen)
Where better to start our journey than with a true pioneer of rock & roll?
Seminal album from an artist who released 39 studio albums in their lifetime & took full control of their work, inspiring other artists & standing up for their creative rights
3. Marvin Gaye What’s Going On
The 1971 hit album from Motown legend, its the 1st album to credit the artist as a producer, delivering a song-cycle concept album tackling the social issues of inequality and deprivation in 1970s black America
4. Johnny Nash I Can See Clearly Now
We paid tribute to Johnny Nash who died during Black History Month. He was one of the 1st non-Jamaican artists to record reggae and helped bring it to a wider global audience
5. Lauryn Hill The Miseducation of…
This selection comes from Fugees’ member Lauryn Hill, a pioneer of the Neo-Soul genre and credited for breaking the barriers for female rappers
6. The Supremes Supremes A Go-Go
Heading into the weekend with the 1st album by an all-female group to reach no.1 on the billboard 200 album chart in the US, remaining in the chart for 60 weeks
7. Earth, Wind & Fire That’s The Way Of The World
A soul/funk album which was certified triple platinum by RIAA & reached no.1 on the Billboard 200 and Top Soul Albums chart
8. Ella Fitzgerald Sings The Cole Porter Song Book
Celebrating the music from an iconic vocalist also referred to as the ‘First Lady of Song’ and ‘Queen of Jazz’
9. Public Enemy Fear of a Black Planet
Iconic group known for their powerful political messages and outstanding contribution to the hip-hop genre
10. Sister Rosetta Tharpe Gospel Songs
One of the first artists to use heavy distortion on guitar, influencing the blues, and one of the first gospel musicians to appeal to rock and blues audiences
11. Duke Ellington Historically Speaking (The Duke)
Noted for his use of big band orchestra and considered an iconic figure in Jazz history, with a career than spanned more than 6 decades
12. J Dilla Donuts
Celebrating the late artist known as the ‘Producer’s Producer’. Created during his hospital stays, this instrumental album starts with an outro and was made to be sampled
An experimental, personally heartfelt HipHop album, this won ‘Best Album’ at both the NME Awards and Ivor Novello’s, while also being nominated for the Mercury Prize
14. The Jimi Hendrix Experience Are You Experienced
One of the most influential musicians in the history of rock and known for his left-handed custom guitars while redefining the lead guitar sound for generations to come
15. Roni Size Reprazent New Forms
Coming from one of the pioneers of drum’n’bass, Bristol’s finest earned the 1997 Mercury Prize win and has been certified 5x platinum
Built on improvisation, this Grammy Award winner is widely recognised as one of jazz’s greatest albums
17. Nina Simone I Put A Spell On You
Both singer and hugely talented pianist who covered genres from jazz to gospel and who fought for civil rights through her music and actions
18. Toots and the Maytalls In The Dark
Toots Hibbert was another legend who passed during Black History Month. The Maytalls were the 1st band to use the term ‘reggae’ (used in their ‘Do The Reggay’) and were pivotal in helping popularise the genre
19. Missy Elliott Under Construction
Produced by Timbaland, it sold 259,000 copies in its 1st week & comes from a vocalist named the ‘best-selling female rapper’ according to Billboard in 2017
20. Mahalia Jackson Live At Newport 1958
An incredible live album by an amazing artist who became one of the most influential gospel singers in the world
One of the 1st techno albums to reach mainstream charts and feature four top-20 singles, this album choice comes from a legendary Detroit-based duo
Whitney features 4 singles which all peaked at no. 1 on the US billboard charts, making her the first female artist to claim such an incredible achievement.
This is by no-means a definitive selection, such a thing would be impossible as there’s such an abundance of riches. Let’s not forget that part of the beauty of music is that its subjective — one person’s tune-in is another’s turn-off. And of course it goes without saying that black music is not just for Black History Month, but for every month. Some of the notable artists you might think are missing from this selection have already been on our virtual turntables already in recent months, among them Stormzy Heavy is the Crown, Beyonce Lemonade, Rihanna’s Anti, Run The Jewels RTJ4, DRS and Dynamite MC Playing in the Dark, Moses Boyd Dark Matter, Michael Kiwanuka’s Mercury Prize winning Kiwanuka and the extraordinary Untitled (Rise) by mysterious UK-based collective Sault.
Thanks to what’s left on our long-list, Blokur HQ has plenty more enjoyment to come from all those wonderful suggestions we couldn’t include this time round — a continuous, glorious journey of discovery to warm us through the coming winter months. Given the riches already listed and the new releases from the likes of Busta Rhymes, Loski, Ariana Grande, Dutchavelli, Mica Paris, the Kanneh-Masons, perhaps we’ll be looking at a Black Music Year round-up after all….
You can enjoy a selection of tracks from our BHM celebration on our Blokur Spotify playlist: CELEBRATING BLACK HISTORY MONTH
Silvia Montello, with huge thanks to Emilie Petersen
