Run The Jewels's Evergreen Protest, Janelle Monáe's Defining Anthems, And More Songs We Love

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  YG: "FTP (Fuck the Police)"
  
  
  https://www.Youtube.Com/watch?V=_NFJtEqO0HU
  
  
  
  In 2016, YG and Nipsey Hussle dropped the ultimate anthem of the times in "FDT (Fuck Donald Trump)." Its message — clear and simple as it was four years prior — has since been magnified, and YG dropped the song's spiritual sequel, "FTP (Fuck the Police)" this week to support the wave of global anti-police violence protests kicked off by the killing of George Floyd. "Fuck you and your slave shit," he raps over a bassy beat courtesy of Larry June and DJ Swish. "We supposed to be free like the Masons." —Patrick Hosken
  
  
  
  
  



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  Run the Jewels ft. Gangsta Boo: "Walking in the Snow"
  
  
  https://www.Youtube.Com/watch?V=GG8LcqR1kqw
  
  
  
  "And you so numb you watch the cops choke out a gentleman like me / And 'til my voice goes from a shriek to whisper, 'I can't breathe.'" Killer Mike recorded those words in fall 2019; they went wide this week with Run the Jewels's surprise drop of RTJ4, "something raw to listen to as soon as you deal with" the current state of the world (as the sort wrote in a statement). Since their first album in 2013, Mike and El-P's music has habitually captured the fury and discontent of right now. This time, though, a song like "Walking in the Snow" — just one of 11 here that do the job — is impossible to hear without getting your boots ready. "Truly the travesty," Mike raps, "[is] you've been robbed of your empathy." RTJ4 will support help you locate it again. —Patrick Hosken
  
  
  
  
  



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  Janelle Monáe and Wondaland Records: "Hell You Talmbout"
  
  
  https://soundcloud.Com/wondalandarts/hell-you-talmbout
  
  
  
  Seven years soon after its original release, “Hell You Talmbout” by Janelle Monáe's Wondaland Records collective is still as relevant and visceral as ever. A bombastic bass and biting snare set the tone for an anthem that captures the sense of angst and anguish experienced by those who protest in the name of justice for Black lives and respect of Black bodies. Forgoing an established song formula (including lyrics), Monáe and her crew repeat the names of Black Residents of the United States who have been killed by police or rogue neighborhood watchmen. It’s key to note that since its release, more names have been made eligible to be beckoned in the song’s call to action: to mention his/her name. More chant than song, it calls the listener to answer the question America appears to ask the Black community repeatedly involving matters of racialized violence and injustice: “[What the] hell you talmbout?” Black life. Human rights. Black lives — that’s what the hell we’re talmbout. —Virginia Lowman
  
  
  
  
  



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  Sylvester: "You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)"
  
  
  
  
  
  Look — it’s Pride Month, and if this iconic gay national anthem doesn’t put some PrEP in your step, I don’t know what will. Debuting in 1978, "You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)" remains a timeless classic by a legendary artist who defied gender and sexual norms. Don’t wish to take my word for it? Then listen to the Library of Congress, which added the disco hit to the National Recording Registry among other songs that are deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.” According to the Library of Congress, Sylvester’s disco hit "reflected his childhood background in both African-American gospel music and his work as a drag performer in San Francisco, and has become an enduring LGBTQ anthem." Once quarantine is over, I’ll visualize you on the dance floor! —Zach O’Connor
  
  
  
  
  



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  Beyoncé: “Formation”
  
  
  https://www.Youtube.Com/watch?V=WDZJPJV__bQ
  
  
  
  The deeply personalized impact of this song can’t be understated: I still remember the visceral feeling of the initial time I saw Beyoncé drown a police vehicle in the dank waters of Hurricane Katrina, watched a young dancing Black boy command a persons vision of a cop line raising their hands to him, because the camera pans over the phrase “Stop Shooting Us.” That visibility — feeling seen and heard from the very core of your being to your “negro nose with Jackson 5 nostrils” — having one of the big stars in the world recognize your glory, your strife, your black magnificence, all dripped in gothic style and Southern drawl. I still get chills. —Terron Moore
  
  
  
  
  



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  BeBe Zahara Benet: “Body on Me”
  
  
  https://youtu.Be/L6nb_q3SFmw
  
  
  
  BeBe Zahara Benet, the winner of RuPaul's Drag Race Season 1, made us roar with her ferocious 2018 track, “Jungle Kitty.” Nevertheless right now the Cameroon queen has released Broken English, a five-song EP full of bouncy bops like "Banjo" and her newest single, "Body on Me." BeBe says Damaged English "really reflects a fusion of my two homes: West Africa, my birthplace, and the U.S., My chosen home.” The Caribbean melodies and Afrobeat rhythms will have you dreaming of Mai Tais on the beach as you self-isolate in your bedroom. Feel your summer fantasy and put "Body on Me" on repeat. —Chris Rudolph
  
  
  
  
  





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  Janelle Monáe: “Django Jane”
  
  
  https://youtu.Be/mTjQq5rMlEY
  
  
  
  Janelle Monáe is a Black queer woman, and this is her palace. “Django Jane,” and Dirty Computer, the epic, unapologetically feminist “emotion picture” from which it hails, came out in 2018, nevertheless it just as well could have dropped this week. Monáe’s outrage — at the entertainment industry making racist evaluations of her worth, at Black femmes being silenced and denied platforms — seeps into every syllable. “Runnin' outta space in my damn bandwagon / Remember once they used to mention I look also mannish?” She raps. “Black girl magic, y’all can’t stand it.” If the Black woman is “the most unprotected person In America then Monáe is steadying her shield. —Sam Manzella
  
  
  
  
  



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  Terrace Martin ft. Denzel Curry, Kamasi Washington, G Perico, Daylyt: "Pig Feet"
  
  
  https://www.Youtube.Com/watch?V=4VXa28_pWL4
  
  
  
  Terrace Martin, fresh off creating a disco EP with Ric Wilson, recently assembled another all-star collaborative team for "Pig Feet," an anti-police violence anthem. On it, Kamasi Washington's full-throated saxophone soundtracks the activism from both Denzel Curry ("They want us crucified with stones and hard rocks") and Daylyt ("I'm here to remind n----s we kings"). The video ends with a long, long list of Black males and females that have been killed by police. As Martin told Complex, "The message of 'Pig Feet' that I'm attempting to get across is A, awareness, B, strength, and C, fearlessness." —Patrick Hosken
  
  
  
  
  



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  Kanye West ft. Chance the Rapper, The-Dream, Kelly Price, Kirk Franklin: “Ultralight Beam”
  
  
  
  
  
  “So why send oppression, not blessings?” Kelly Price involves of God nearly two minutes into “Ultralight Beam,” a protest anthem of another kind, a sparsely produced calling for prayer in the front of the devil, a “God dream” in the midst of persecution. All five of the song’s narrators wrestle with how to be able to see the light in the darkness, its crux being Kelly’s war with her faith immediately followed by Chance’s irritated mix of song and rap. Any time once he chants “This is my part, nobody else speak!” To go into a rendition of “This Little Light of Mine,” he absolutely out-Kanyes Kanye on a song where West doesn’t even rap.—Terron Moore
  
  
  
  
  



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  Tracy Chapman: “Talkin’ ‘Bout a Revolution”
  
  
  https://www.Youtube.Com/watch?V=Xv8FBjo1Y8I
  
  
  
  It makes sense that Tracy Chapman’s second single­ — right after her iconic debut “Fast Car” — has the word “revolution” in its title. Immediately considering that, the simply stated Black songwriter was revolutionary in the late 1980s, breaking the rules of pop music with her sparse folk arrangements and truthful lyrics wrought with stories. “Talkin’ ‘Bout a Revolution” carries the same sort of timelessness as her other hits, painting a picture of dissatisfaction and injustice in the world with a whisper of hope. It might feel quiet at first, however as people rise up and run, the stakes escalate in an anthemic chorus. Finally, the tables are beginning to turn, indeed. —Carson Mlnarik