It’s easy to take a look at my iTunes and stereotype me as a typical white country-boy with delusions of the ghetto. Whether it’s the frequency of seeing artists with “Young” in the name (Young Thug, Young Gangsta, Young Jeezy, Young Dro, Young Roddy) or the overwhelming prevalence of ebonics in the song titles (“Mo
Stevie Wonder and
Martin Luther King, Jr. in the two-hour, two-part special
Unsung Presents: Music & The Movement airing tonight, Monday, January 18, 2021 at 8 p.m. ET/7C.
In the documentary that provides a timeline denoting how music from Black artists served as the soundtrack to the Black experience in America, civil rights leader
Rev. Al Sharpton describes the impact of Wonder’s 1980 MLK tribute “Happy Birthday,” tour featuring Scott-Heron, and historic rally at the Washington DC monument in 1981.
Sharpton recalls former
President Ronald Regan initially opposing creating a holiday in honor of King and Wonder and Scott-Heron helping to bring more attention to the cause. “The president at that time was saying, ‘That’s absurd we’re not going to do that,’” Sharpton says in the television special. “In fact, Ronald Regan had called Dr. King at some time a communist at some point in his life. As those of us in the King movement started to petition, Mrs. King
Jeezy ”Not every rapper who identifies with “trap” music has shown an eagerness to evolve into community leadership outside of their storied street-entrepreneurial beginnings.
Yet trap music impresario
Jeezy has gone from encouraging a “Trap or Die” mentality to providing political thug motivation in recent years, endorsing President-Elect Joe Biden in the 2020 election, tweeting support for Hillary Clinton in 2015, and giving fans on both sides of the tracks the unforgettable song “My President Is Black” in time to inspire energy in Barack Obama’s historic 2008 victory.
The Georgia resident and “Recession 2″ rapper tells “Rolling Stone” how he came to endorse Obama and record the political rap record which became an unofficial campaign theme song (and whose video featured a cheerful cameo from the late John Lewis), how monetary policy factored into his political awakening, and the importance of the upcoming Senate runoff in Georgia on January 5th.�