Today is the 25th day of Black History Month. Over the course of the month, I’ll spend some time paying tribute to Black artists across a wide and diverse array of genres and styles. My hope is that these posts should serve as an important reminder that the Black experience is the American experience, that Black culture is American culture — and importantly, Black lives and Black art matter. You can’t love Black art and Black artists without giving a shit about Black people.
This month won’t be a comprehensive study of Black music. It’ll be more idiosyncratic because — well, JOVM after all. Now, if you’ve been following this site, you may recall that so far I’ve paid tribute to:
- Chaka Khan
- Reverend Al Green
- The Whispers
- Rick James
- Aretha Franklin
- Sylvester
- Sister Rosetta Tharpe
- Chuck Berry
- Donna Summer
- Janet Jackson
- Prince
- The Isley Brothers
- James Brown
- Whitney Houston
- Bob Marley whose birthday was also on February 6
- Syl Johnson, who we lost earlier this month
- Louis Armstrong
- Ella Fitzgerald
- Roy Ayers
- Queen Latifah
- Mary J. Blige
- B.B. King
- Earth, Wind & Fire
- John Lee Hooker
- Billie Holiday
- Nina Simone
- Public Enemy
- Marvin Gaye
- Stevie Wonder
- Miles Davis
- John Coltrane
- Patti LaBelle
- Mos Def/Yasiin Bey
- A Tribe Called Quest
- J. Dilla, whose birthday was on February 7th
- Grace Jones
- Tina Turner
- Bill Withers
- Pete Rock and C.L. Smooth
- Run DMC
- Salt-N-Pepa
- Jimi Hendrix
- Sly and The Family Stone
- Big Mama Thornton
- Howlin’ Wolf
- Muddy Waters
- Fela Kuti
I think jazz, the blues and hip hop may arguably be the greatest and purest American forms of music. They’re decidedly Black music forms — and they’ve inspired every single genre and style of music created.
Bo Diddley was one of the greatest and coolest bluesmen to ever do it. George Thorogood loved him and covered his work many times throughout his career. And he was just a lot of fucking fun.
