Playlist: Juneteenth

THE REVOLUTION WILL NOT BE TELEVISED - Gil Scott-Heron
This is ultimately a fight song. Its revolutionary tones resonate everywhere. But in an ironic twist, lest we forget, it homages how the abolition of slavery wasn't 'televised' in the South: you had to keep your ears open for it or risk it passing you by.




FREEDOM - Various Artists ("Panther" soundtrack)
From its negro spiritual intro, to the hard-driving bass that blends '90s New Jack swing with Marvin's blues, this is more than a freedom cry: it's an emancipation song.




BLACK'S RECONSTRUCTION (75 BARS) - The Roots
The Roots' Thought (known as "Tyreke" on network TV for obvious reasons) drops 75 Bars of anger and frustration over military drums. Though Juneteenth takes place before the Reconstruction period, the song pays homage to a people recently freed who have been told who they are by others for so long, they don't know how to be for themselves. Thought speaks in flames:
"And them niggas ain't change/ them niggas can't change/
Their moms shake their heads, saying it's such a dang shame"




GAINING ONE'S DEFINITION (G.O.D.) - Common f. Cee-Lo Green
Common spits not-so-Common Sense on this track about self-awareness, and Cee-Lo's voice is its typical haunting self. This song is a tribute to the newly freed slaves as well, encouraging them to now seek out their own definition and purpose in life, specifically by looking to a Higher Power.




INNER CITY BLUES (MAKES ME WANNA HOLLER) - Marvin Gaye
You can't make a Juneteenth playlist without a Marvin Gaye song. This standard embodies the struggle to come, the struggle that still exists for many on the daily. If freedom really isn't free, then Marvin tells us what the price is for these future freed slaves. Getting the shackles off was one thing; learning to live without them, quite another.

- Bradford Howard