Today is the sixth 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 today. Can you think of artists, who are more beloved and more influential than Marley? It’d be very difficult. I’d say maybe Fela Kuti, George Clinton, Aretha Franklin and James Brown — and that would be about it, really.
Of course, Marley is one of reggae’s pioneering artists, responsible for helping to popularize the beloved sound across the world. Is there anyone out there, who doesn’t know at least three Bob Marley songs? Is that possible? But honestly, along with that Marley was often a profound man, with observations about human nature and character that belied his relative youth. He also had a rare gift of writings songs from the perspective of an ardent, urgent revolutionary fighting for the rights of Jamaicans and Black folk across the world, of a swooning Romantic, full of the recognition that life is often very hard — and that all of us, including the revolutionary need an escape into a sweet love song, to dance with a lover, to be madly in love, and to bond with others over how much our favorite singer’s song means everything to us. All of these are true, valid and necessary to be human.
Happy birthday, Bob! Happy birthday wherever you are!
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