By Tomas Parzuchowski
Music Columnist
Far too often, the talents and innovations of people of color are overlooked and underappreciated in a mainstream setting. Similarly, it is unfortunate that when these talents are appreciated, they are seen as outliers or exceptions, and their significance is only highlighted during a designated period of time such as February, being Black History Month. This can be limiting and problematic, when this talent is exemplified so clearly throughout the history of modern music. However, in this same way it is powerfully problematic to neglect the impact of these artists, and in honor of their transformative nature, we have compiled 3 outstanding records that powerfully encapsulate the ways in which the last century of modern music has been shaped by Black artists in particular.
(Album 1) – [Ella and Louis by Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong] – |Genre: Jazz| – {Runtime: 54 min}
Ella and Louis is a collaborative jazz album by two preeminent jazz vocalists–and in Armstrong’s case, instrumentalist–widely recognized for their powerful influence on popular music. This album stands as a landmark in music history, combining the full talent of these jazz greats, and producing a uniquely soulful and emotive record. Though not the first, and certainly not the last collaboration between Fitzgerald and Armstrong, this record holds particular weight. Throughout the album one theme is singularly presented: juxtaposition. Within the eleven-song tracklist, the impossibly smooth vocal delivery and melodic decisions of Fitzgerald is starkly contrasted by Armstrongs low register and raspy vocals and striking trumpet lines. On the opening song, “Can’t We Be Friends?” a relatively minimal instrumental supports both vocalists, building subtly into the final refrain. The song “Stars Fell On Alabama” is a slow shuffling romantic tune, including the heavenly harmonization between Fitzgerald and Armstrong, which feels like a lover’s lament. The tender vocal delivery of the vocalists overall presents a beautiful and unexplainably mournful sound.
(Album 2) – [What’s Going On by Marvin Gaye] – |Genre: R&B/Soul| – {Runtime: 36 min}
What’s Going On, by Marvin Gaye, is a socially-conscious concept album produced and performed by a monumental artist during a tumultuous time. Within this album, songs are presented less as individuals, instead as one continuous stream of consciousness. Through this flowing presentation Gaye expresses concerns about social injustice, police brutality, and drug use, backed by instrumentation from soul, jazz, and latin genres. “Flyin’ High (In the Friendly Sky)” discusses heroin addiction using the colloquial term for heroin, “boy,” in the lines: “I’m hooked my friend / To the boy / Who makes slaves out of men.” In the song “Save the Children,” alluring orchestration compliments a solemn monologue which criticizes the societal systems that allow disadvantaged children to suffer. “Mercy Mercy Me,” a wellknown song off this record, calls for environmental action against the “oil wasted on the oceans,” and to save the “animals and birds who live nearby [that] are dying.”
(Album 3) – [Me Against the World by 2pac]- |Genre: Hip Hop/Rap| – {Runtime: 66 min}
Me Against the World is the third studio album by the pioneering West Coast rapper 2pac, whose legacy remains potently impactful and relevant within the modern hip hop landscape. For 2pac, this album is an intentional shift towards forwarding hip hop as an art form, and lyrically this is clearly expressed. This record is an early representation of the potential of rap as a tool for storytelling, as 2pac tackles the topics of poverty and incarceration with gliding flows and striking articulation. On “If I Die 2Nite,” his use of alliteration is masterful: “picture perfection, pursuing paper with a passion.” But in spite of moments of what seems to be material-mindedness, 2pac’s contemplative nature and poignant narration shine through. “So Many Tears’’ is a solemn track about mourning the loss of friends, family, and acquaintances, with hopelessness in the face of systemic oppression, and how his pursuit of material wealth is out of necessity rather than avarice: “Lord, I lost so many peers and shed so many tears / Now that I’m strugglin’ in this business, by any means / Label me greedy, gettin’ green, but seldom seen.”
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