Listen. Can you hear that? It’s the soundtrack of our lives. As the late, great Ray Charles once said, “I was born with music inside me. Music was one of my parts. Like my ribs, my kidneys, my liver, my heart. Like my blood. It was a force already within me when I arrived on the scene. It was a necessity for me—like food or water.” There is no more immediate and effective way to connect with the human experience than through the power of good music.
Whether or not they were given the credit they deserved, Black artists have been at the forefront of most major musical movements since the age of recorded records began. We certainly wouldn’t have The Beatles or The Rolling Stones without Bo Diddley, Little Richard, and Chuck Berry. And as time passes, artists like these remain influential to emerging musicians as well.
Still, the story of Black musical history marches on, with newly emerging artists standing on the shoulders of those who came before. This Black History Month, we want to call out a few of the many Black artists who have made musical waves in recent memory. Time passes, and generations come and go, but, if you look at the whole of popular music history, you can see a common thread linking the greatest artists together. These three musicians from three different generations can each be heard across the landscape of modern pop culture, creating the soundtrack to the times in which we live.
Janelle Monáe
A singer, rapper, and actress, Janelle Monáe has received eight Grammy Award nominations to date. The multi-talented performer has been honored for not only her work as an artist, but also her social leadership. Known for her philanthropic efforts, she founded Fem the Future, an organization that provides young women and girls with the resources and support they need to overcome the challenges associated with growing up in under-resourced communities of color. Monáe also dedicates a significant amount of time to advocating for and providing resources to the LGBTQIA+ community.
Nipsey Hussle
The late Nipsey Hussle (born Airmiess Joseph Asghedom) emerged from the West Coast hip-hop scene in the mid-2000s, releasing his first independent mixtape and eventually finding his way to major label status with 2018’s long-awaited Victory Lap. As his adopted moniker implies, Hussle was known for his entrepreneurial spirit, often experimenting with unique sales and marketing techniques, which proved to be very successful. Hussle co-founded the Marathon Clothing store in 2017, opened his own record label, and established a shared office space venture called Vector 90. A co-working space and STEM center in the Crenshaw district, Vector 90 was opened with a mission to serve as a conduit between underrepresented groups and corporate partners in Silicon Valley and beyond. Often speaking openly about his personal experiences in gang culture, he hoped to give both solutions and inspiration to young Black men like him by (amongst other things) denouncing gun violence in his music and funding improvements to neighborhood schools. Sadly, Hussle was fatally shot in March of 2019. His music endures, having earned him two posthumous Grammy awards.
Aretha Franklin
Though she passed in 2018, it’s impossible to avoid the influence of the appropriately dubbed “Queen of Soul.” In today’s music, Aretha Franklin still stands as the shining example. Her long, storied career began as a child, singing gospel in Michigan. She went on to do it all—music, major concert tours, movies, awards—and no one did it like her. After selling over 75 million records, Franklin made Rolling Stone’s “100 Greatest Artists of All Time” list twice (and the magazine declared her the number one singer of all time as well). Decade after decade, she engaged the pop culture consciousness, reinventing herself for new audiences time and time again. With 112 Billboard-charted singles and 20 number-one R&B tracks in her pocket, Franklin also boasted 18 Grammys, a Lifetime Achievement Award, the National Medal of Arts, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom—and she was the first female artist to enter the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. R-E-S-P-E-C-T. She wanted it. She got it.
