Today is the seventh day of Black History Month. Because the current administration is racist, fascist and wants to deny the existence and histories of anyone that isn’t cis-het and white, there are some important things everyone should remember during this month — and every single month:
- You can’t love Black artists and their work, and not see them as people
- Black lives — and Black art matters
- Black culture is American culture
As we go through the month, I’m going to talk about a collection of Black artists. It’ll be fairly comprehensive and eclectic list — although it won’t be a complete list. Of course, there are some important Black artists, who were also born during Black History Month.
So far, I’ve talked about the following, extraordinary artists:
- Big Boi, who also celebrated his 50th birthday on February 1
- Rick James, who was born 77 years ago on February 1
- James Brown, the legendary Soul Brother #1
- The Temptations‘ Dennis Edward, who also was born 82 years ago on February 3
- Sister Rosetta Tharpe, the godmother of rock ‘n’roll
- Bobby Brown, who also celebrated his 56th birthday on February 5
- The legendary Bob Marley was born 80 years ago on February 6
James Dewit Yancey, best known to the entire world as J. Dilla, one of the most influential and important hip-hop producers and beatmakers was born 51 years ago today. Much like Coltrane, Jimi Hendrix and lengthy list of pioneering Black artists, Dilla through his tragically short career transformed how we listen to music — and how it’s made. And his influence goes far beyond hip-hop: Back in 2020, just before the entire world shut down, I covered that year’s NYC Winter Jazz Fest and almost every young, contemporary jazz musician was essentially a Dilla acolyte.
We lost Yancey 19 years ago, but his work continues to be vital, soulful and absolutely transcendent.
Happy birthday, Dilla! Happy birthday, wherever you are!
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