Blood Harmony Volume 5: Summer Mix
Welcome to Summer 2020 all! Life continues to be intense!
This summer mix is composed of all Black artists. Before I get to the track list, I have two recommendations for you:
1619 Podcast: Episode 3: The Birth of American Music. This entire podcast about the legacy of American slavery is incredible but this particular episode about the Black origins of yacht rock (and basically all popular American music for the past 100+ years) is just so, so great.
Song Exploder: Mobb Deep: Shook Ones, Pt. II. Song Exploder is a beautiful podcast on which an artist or group breaks down one of their songs starting from the original inspiration through the production to the final product. Song Exploder’s creator, Hrishikesh Hirway, makes each episode with so much love and attention to detail. This episode, about a classic 90s hip hop track by New York artists Mobb Deep, is particularly powerful. It’s about two kids growing up in Queensbridge, one of the biggest public housing projects in the country, who desperately wanted to make music but didn’t have access to instruments or years of lessons or production training. They took pieces of old music and made a masterpiece. A must listen.
And on to the mix (click here)…
Heart-Shaped Box by Amber Mark. New York-based R&B artist covers Nirvana and makes this song her own.
Stop Dem by SAULT. Mysterious band has just released this incredible album UNTITLED (Black Is) that includes this intense track.
might bang, might not by Simz. British hip hop artist drops lines like “I'm fuckboy resistant, looking like a bulletproof vest” in this catchy af track.
MY POWER by Beyonce ft. Tierra Whack, Moonchild Sanelly, Yemi Alade, Busiswa and Nija. Beyonce loves a track name in all caps! This is from the Lion King soundtrack (which is very interesting!) and was produced by South African DJ Lab. It’s based on gqom, a style of music originating in Durban. It features lyrics in English, Zulu and Xhosa. It kicks ass.
Come Back to Me by Teyana Taylor ft. Junie and Rick Ross. Two of my coworkers introduced me to Taylor’s recent full-length album (released on Juneteenth!) and now we listen to it whenever things get too intense. It’s a lovely R&B album spanning multiple aspects of the genre and incorporating Taylor’s influences including Erykah Badu, Lauryn Hill and Missy Elliot. This song features vocals from her daughter and lyrics from rapper Rick Ross. His verses are…fine…but I love the sweeping sounds of this track.
Blk Girl Soldier by Jamila Woods. From her 2017 album, Chicago artist Jamila Woods has this to say about her song "I wanted to celebrate the power and resilience of Black women but also highlight the importance of allowing space for more quiet, vulnerable moments where we can refuel ourselves and each other," she adds. Beautiful song, great video.
BLACK PARADE by Beyonce. What to say? Queen Bey dropped this surprise track on Juneteeth. My question is “Where is the video???”
Rise Up-Discomix by Tyrone Evans. Evans was a Jamaican artist who recorded in the 1960s-70s in Jamaica and New York. This really is a successful merging of reggae and disco.
You’re Slipping Away by 24 Carat Black and Vicki Gray. Back in April, I had the pleasure of being a Zoom guest during the WTJU Rock Marathon on a show hosted by my friends Nick and Jordan called “Soft and Warm: Quiet Storm”. They introduced me to this track and it’s been stuck in my head ever since. You can check out their wonderful show every Saturday at 2pm on WTJU. 24 Carat Black was a project helmed by Dale Warren who was an arranger for Motown and Stax Records. The always wonderful Numero Group has this lovely write-up on the band.
Blowin In The Wind by The Staple Singers. Dylan wrote this tune in 1962 and The Staple Singers made this wonderful cover soon after. It’s not my favorite Staple Singers cover (that’s “Slippery People”!) but it remains terribly relevant today.