My sophomore year at Syracuse University, NABJ hosted a discussion with Steve Stoute about his book The Tanning of America: How Hip-Hop Created a Culture that Rewrote the Rules of the New Economy. While I always had a fixation on hip-hop and its culture, it wasn’t until that moment I recognized the true power and impact Black entertainers, and honestly just Black people in general, had on society and the economy at large. It was a moment that dictated the direction of my career intentions and goals from that point on.
Black American Culture has undoubtably become the blueprint for popular culture as a whole. We define what is cool and what is next. Simple things like what we listen to, how we move, the way we look, our style, etc., permeate every aspect of society and dictate how people live, spend their money, and how brands market their products in hopes of appealing to the audience that curates the culture, coincidentally the same demographic that has an enormous buying power.
In Pharrell’s 2014 Fast Company cover profile, I vividly remember him stating the music industry is “the only industry where artists have historically been considered to be at the bottom of the totem pole that they built.” While that is true as it stands, I think it also speaks to the Black experience as a whole. Although Black people built this country and continue to directly influence the direction and sustainability of it, we still benefit the least and must watch the majority profit from the very things we create and naturally embody.
With racial tensions intensifying due to a disproportioned amount of unfortunate circumstances and incidents that are now more noticeable to the masses because of social media (because we have always known what was up,) there is a prominent trend of entertainers using their art and platform to deliberately speak directly to their Black audience, advancing larger movements while simultaneously offering comfort, validation and empowerment to their people.
Beyoncé paid homage to the Black Panthers as she performed her unapologetic call-to-action single Formation during her Super Bowl Halftime show, a day after she dropped the music video for that same single that overflowed with visual political statements. Shortly after, Kendrick Lamar stormed the Grammy stage in chains, reciting lyrics from “The Blacker The Berry” as his band performed behind bars, giving everyone a vivid illustration of the systematic incarceration that has plagued the Black community for as long as we can all remember.
These moments should serve as not only a reminder, but also as a boost of encouragement to reclaim your power. My favorite line in Drake's 5AM in Toronto is "the part I love most is they need me more than they hate me." Black people are to culture what artists are to record labels; one simply cannot thrive or function without the presence of the latter. We should recognize that and take claim to the value our authenticity brings to any table.