Where’s the music for our liberation?

This video, now 20 years old, sparked a conversation on my Facebook page recently about rap music and its ability to influence with positive messages. One person asked in essence, “Where are those messages now?”. Like Avery R. Young from the Hetertosexism and Hip-Hop panel podcast I uploaded last month (which you should definitely hear), I agree that those messages are still here in today’s music. Now, what you will not experience as much anymore are major labels picking this music up and distributing it to the masses anymore. While that’s okay to a point because the underground sound is unfiltered and can be full of energy, even underground artists enjoy eating and a roof over their head.

When I think about music in our country’s social movements, I believe it to be a crucial element to bringing us together. In fact, several books have been written about it. Where would the Civil Rights Movement have been without the musings of Curtis Mayfield and Pops Staples, and the voices of Aretha, Marvin, and Mavis? Though Malcolm X in his 1964 speech, The Ballot or the Bullet, said once that “you can’t sing up on freedom, but you can swing up on some freedom”, I believe that even he knew the power of music to ignite and unite.

So in the LGBT/Queer Liberation movement, where are our songs to ignite and unite? Where are the songs during our protests and marches? Which clubs are purposefully playing solid tracks by openly queer artists and inviting them to perform live? Now even though I used a hip-hop example, our list can be jazz, pop, gospel (!), as well as hip-hop. So leave your comment on a song you feel sums up our movement for liberation as queer people.

Related posts:

1. Liberation 2010: a new national LGBTQ spiritual conference.
2. Out-and-proud soul music artists, where are you?
3. Assisting our African gay family’s efforts for liberation.