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The Black Movement Playlist

This is not Martin Luther King Jr.’s playlist, so prepare for some brutal ultimatums.

Dayjah Lee

Feb 13, 2018

Indiana University

646

Pexels

It is February! You know what that means? I’m not talking about a certain holiday that looks like red and pink puke attacked the country. I’m talking about a celebration of an oppressed group that lasts all month long. Not an average month, of course. The celebration I speak of is Black History Month. A recognition cultivated out of Negro History Week, which began in 1926. However, by the 1960's, Negro History Week had grown to be Black History Month at many colleges before President Gerald Ford made it official in 1976.

Despite the month being recognized officially, it is still so unrecognized. It often takes a backseat to the holiday that is all about spreading love and being romantic (which you should honestly do all the time, not just one day out of the year).

Anyways, the irony of the celebration is in a month of love is that African Americans still don’t get any love. I mean, people still say things such as, “Why don’t we have a white history month?” To that, I would say: “You do... It is 11 months of the whole year. Get over yourself.”

In the light of the rise of the Black Lives Matter Movement, music has become integral to the Black Movement. A means of an expression to say what words cannot. These songs not only incorporate sounds with African roots but also from the modern day; as if to unify the two as one. Artists such as Kendrick Lamar and Solange have vividly captured what it means to be Black in America and what we as a people experience every day of our lives. For example, police brutality, discrimination and the hypocrisy from those around them.

To do African Americans justice, I have decided to put a pause on my Greek Life segment and speak on an issue that is dear to my heart. To get you in the mood, here are some songs that will fully equip you to be an active supporter of African American justice and rights. A playlist that will, in fact, keep you “woke”.

Your Woke Anthems

1. “Don’t Touch My Hair” by: Solange

2. “Mad” by: Lil Wayne, Solange (Let’s be honest, the whole album, A Seat at the Table, really)

3. “Formation” by: Beyonce

4. “The Blacker the Berry” by: Kendrick Lamar

5. “Alright” by: Kendrick Lamar

6. “Glory” by: Common, John Legend

7. “Rise Up” by: Andra Day

8. “Bo$$” by: Fifth Harmony

9. “Conqueror” by: Estelle, Jussie Smollett

10. “Almost There” by: Anika Noni Rose

11. “Powerful” by: Alicia Keys, Empire Cast, Jussie Smollett

12. “Get Up, Stand Up” by: The Wailers

13. “Not My President” by: Oshun

14. “Black Sheep” by: Mick Jenkins

15. “Fight the Power” by: Public Enemy

16. “People Get Ready” by: The Impressions

17. “Blacks and Browns” by: Sad Boy, YG

18. “Blk Girl Soldier” by: Jamila Woods

19. “Vry Blk” by: Jamila Woods

20. “Ku Klux Klan” by: Steel Pulse

21. “Forgive Them Father” by: Lauryn Hill

22. “Optimistic” by: Sounds of Blackness

23. “Keep Ya Head Up” by: 2Pac

24. “All Black Everything” by: Lupe Fiasco

25. “My Petition” by: Jill Scott

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The Black Movement Playlist

This is not Martin Luther King Jr.’s playlist, so prepare for some brutal ultimatums.

Your Woke Anthems

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No one best represents the struggle like our favorite 90s squad.

1. When course schedules are released and you have a conflict between two required classes.

2. When there is only one section of a popular course.

3. Receiving the 18,000 emails reminding you to register ASAP.

4. When you need to see an advisor, but they are too busy/unresponsive.

5. Trying not to dress like a bum for your appointments with your advisors/department heads.

6. When you have a perfectly planned out schedule, and one class ruins it.

7. Carefully moving things around to accommodate a different class/section.

8. Waking up at 6:00 a.m. for your enrollment time.

9. Concocting a new schedule at your enrollment time after your original plan gets changed.

10. Getting into a class and filling the last available seat.

11. When all of your classes finally go through.

12. Realizing that you forgot a class that was a pre-requisite for everything else.

When your capability of "adulting" is put to the test

Nobody deserves to be living in poverty.

"Nobody living in one of the most influential nations in the world should be worried about making ends meet."

What is the current minimum wage at the federal level?

What are the benefits of raising the minimum wage?

What are the states that have set a $15/hour minimum wage?

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Because who understands your bitterness better than April?

1. When you have to provide an "interesting fact" for your first day ice-breaker.

2. When your professor is babbling on and on in his lecture.

3. When you edit your friend's paper and they get an A.

4. When it's 2 AM and you remember you have a test tomorrow.

5. When you finish taking the test and you're pretty sure you failed...

6. ...but then you get the test back and somehow passed.

7. When you've been up for 12 hours straight writing a paper.

8. And then you manage to stay awake in class the next day.

9. When you have to butter up your professor for an extra credit opportunity.

10. When you're assigned a group project.

11. And your group-mates are trying to chat about life instead of the assignment.

12. When it's your last class of the day and you're about to go home.

13. But then you remember rent is due tonight and the anger comes back.

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