“This is precisely the time when artists go to work. There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. That is how civilizations heal”.
The words of Nobel Prize winner Toni Morrison could not be more relevant for today. The graphic deaths of Black men at the hands of police officers and election of Donald Trump among many other things has created a tense social climate. Nevertheless, this is precisely the time when artists rise to the occasion to paint their canvases, find their voices and create masterpieces over a backdrop of division, fear and grief. Jovan Mackenzy is a 31-year old hip hop artist who hails from Duval Florida who has answered the call of the artist with his latest album “Crooked 10”. Mackenzy doesn’t shy away from his Christian faith and describes his purpose as glorifying Jesus Christ and magnifying the voice of people living in the inner-city. As a Christian who navigates the world as a black women and is grappling with my racial identity I found “Crooked 10” to be a breath of fresh air. It dealt with complex issues such as fatherlessness, police brutality and community violence etc. without oversimplifying them. I think it’s easy to adopt very stringent views regarding racial issues. Either as a leftist who regards ALL issues affecting the black community as the result of the “system” or chattel slavery with no accountability on the part of people, or a right-leaning conservative who sees African Americans as victims of their own debased culture. None of these views do the Black American community justice and are a disservice to the collective upliftment of the community. We must acknowledge the legacy of chattel slavery, Jim Crow and racial terror on Black America today, while recognizing the tremendous resilience, ingenuity and capability African Americans have to reform their culture in order to make them competitive for the 21st century. Crooked 10 recognizes the duality of these issues by highlighting police brutality in songs such as “Blue Lights” while calling out the gun violence on the South Side of Chicago. Mackenzy takes it further by recognizing the scars fatherlessness has created in our communities in his song “Ripple Effect”. He does well to honor the life of Aiden Michael McClendon, a young boy whose life was tragically cut short after being hit by bullets in a drive by shooting in Jacksonville Florida by condemning community violence. The world needs to hear the voices of inner city men and women. Enough reading. Take a listen for yourselves: https://itunes.apple.com/album/id1311943698?ls=1&app=itunes Until the ink drips, Akua B
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AuthorMy name is Akua B and I'm a lover of all things Africa, natural hair and poetry... Archives
March 2017
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