Today is the second 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
You can’t talk about Black History Month and not mention James Brown, the legendary Soul Brother #1. And you can’t get more Black and more righteous than James Brown performing “Say It Loud (I’m Black and I’m Proud)” in Zaire. It’ll be an annual tradition here as long as JOVM is a thing.
James Brown is arguably one of the important and influential Black artists who have ever lived. Funk, soul, hip-hop, pop, disco, R&B, Aforbeat, Afrobeats, Afro pop, and rock artists of all stripes across the globe owe the soul brother #1 a debt of immense gratitude.
I’ve got many things I could say to this administration but the first one would be “I’m Black — and I’m extremely fucking proud of it!”