Loading...
Browsing Tag

Marvin Gaye

13 Songs About Resistance, Protest and Revolution To Listen To Now

“I just want to live. God protect me,” sings gospel artist Keedron Bryant.

The 12-year old Season 4 of  “Little Big Shots” contestant sang the song and posted it on his Instagram page in tribute to the latest unarmed black person to be killed by police, George Lloyd.

I just want to live..:God protect me," sings 12-year old gospel artist and Season 4 "Little Big Shots" contestant…

Posted by Jay Jay Ghatt on Friday, May 29, 2020

Lloyd’s death came after a store clerk called the cops alleging he had used a counterfeit $20 and  protocol usually calls for a suspect to be given a ticket if more bills are not found on them given the fact that it is possible someone who uses one may not actually know the bill used was fake.

Somehow things escalated and he was arrested without resistace yet it ended getting violently and Floyd was killed mercilessly by an officer after being held down by a total of four. It also happened in front of the smartphone cameras of onlookers who plead for one officer, Derek Chauvin, with his knee in Lloyd’s neck to let the man breathe. He did not let up for 9 minutes and eventually killed him.

That officer has been charged with Third Degree murder and Manslaughter after a couple of days of unrest when the Minneapolis DA failed to arrest and charge the Chauvin.

Lloyd’s name and hashtag is added to Georgia jogger Ahmaud Arbery who was hunted down by a vigilante ex cop and his son and EMT and Nurse Breonna Taylor, a Louisana mom who was riddled with bullets when police while serving a warrant on a person they already had in custody barged into her home in the middle of night while she and her boyfriend slept.

There has been protests, which has spread to other cities across the country, from Georgia to DC to Louisiana, and some which have turned violent with looting and destruction of private property.

I do not condone any of that.

I have seen reports that say that anarchist groups with agendas to sully the peaceful protestors have been stirring the pot.

Nonetheless, I do know that the United States was founded on rebellion against the British.

The Boston Tea Party was a riot as was The Stamp Act Riots of 1765, the Pennsylvania Mutiny of 1783 and the Stonewall Riots of 1969, each uprisings of oppressed people in America.

In the course of history, many movements in the world have had elements of violence to them: Apartheid in South Africa, the Civil Rights Movement in the United States, the Arab Spring, Eritrean and South Sudan secessesion from Ethiopia and Sudan, respectively, resulted in resolve after the unrest.

Peaceful protest results in wins but so do anarchist ones.

In any event, I am being moved and motivated by songs of Resistance in history. Here are a few of my faves which are very relevant lines:

1

What’s Going On?” By Marvin Gaye

Picket lines and picket signs

Don’t punish me with brutality

Talk to me, so you can see

Oh, what’s going on

What’s going on

Yeah, what’s going on

Ah, what’s going on

2

We Didn’t Start the Fire” by Billy Joel

“We didn’t start the fire

It was always burning

Since the world’s been turning

We didn’t start the fire

No we didn’t light it

But we tried to fight it”

3

War” by Bob Marley

Until the philosophy

Which hold one race superior and another

Inferior

Is finally

And permanently

Discredited

And abandoned

Everywhere is war

Me say war

That until there no longer

First class and second class citizens of any nation

Until the color of a man’s skin

Is of no more significance than the color of his eyes

Me say war

That until the basic human rights

Are equally guaranteed to all

Without regard to race

4

Revolution” by Nina Simone

And now we got a revolution

Cause I see the face of things to come

Yeah, your Constitution

Well, my friend, its gonna have to bend

I’m here to tell you about destruction

Of all the evil that will have to end.

Some folks are gonna get the notion

I know they’ll say I’m preachin’ hate

But if I have to swim the ocean

Well I would just to communicate

Its not as simple as talkin’ jive

The daily struggle just to stay alive

5

Revolution” by The Beatles

But if you want money for people with minds that hate

All I can tell is brother you have to wait

Don’t you know it’s gonna be

All right, all right, all right

You say you’ll change the constitution

Well, you know

We all want to change your head

You tell me it’s…

6

We Gone Be Alright” by Kendrick Lamar

We gon’ be alright

Do you hear me, do you feel me? We gon’ be alright

7

Ohio” by Crosby Stills and Nash

Gotta get down to it

Soldiers are cutting us down

Should have been done long ago

8

“The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” – Gil Scott Heron

You will not be able to stay home, brother

You will not be able to plug in, turn on and cop out

You will not be able to lose yourself on skag

And skip out for beer during commercials, because

The revolution will not be televised

9

“Soweto Blues” by  Miriam Makeba with Hugh Masekela

The children got a letter from the master

It said: no more Xhosa, Sotho, no more Zulu.

Refusing to comply they sent an answer

That’s when the policemen came to the rescue

Children were flying bullets dying

The mothers screaming and crying

The fathers were working in the cities

The evening news brought out all the publicity

10

A Change Gonna Come” by Sam Cooke

It’s been too hard living, but I’m afraid to die

‘Cause I don’t know what’s up there, beyond the sky

It’s been a long, a long time coming

But I know a change gonna come, oh yes it will

11

Get Up Stand Up” by Bob Marley

Get up, stand up, stand up for your rights!

Get up, stand up, stand up for your rights!

Get up, stand up, stand up for your rights!

Get up, stand up, don’t give up the fight!

 

12

I Want to Break Free” by Queen

I want to break free

I want to break free

I want to break free from your lies

You’re so self satisfied I don’t need you

I’ve got to break free

13

Southern trees bearing strange fruit

Blood on the leaves and blood at the roots

Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze

Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees
Pastoral scene of the gallant south

Them big bulging eyes and the twisted mouth

Scent of magnolia, clean and fresh

Then the sudden smell of burning flesh

“Strange Fruit” by Billie Holiday

 

Loved My Essence + Ford My City 4 Ways Food, Arts, Music and Lifestyle Festival DC Stop Experience

I had quite a busy, yet amazing and awesome weekend at the Essence + Ford My City 4 Ways pre-event dinner and food, music, arts and lifestyle festival’s DC stop.

The second annual event gives both brands an opportunity to bridge their respective audiences in a festive journey that infuses culture, celebs, influencers in an open air venue that is the revitalized  Union Square Market.

Before the Saturday day-long festival, I was fortunate to be invited along with a few bloggers, social media taste makers and the like to pre-game the evening before at a Dine and Paint and Sip and Paint event at ArtJamz, a preeminent creative art space in Dupont Circle, launched by DC’s Capitol File Magazine’s editor in chief Michael M. Clements, in the spirit of independence and innovation of the Washington DC artistic influences of Duke Ellington, Dave Chappelle, Marvin Gaye, Go-Go Music, Chuck Brown, Dave Grohl and more.

Before dinner, I sat down to chat briefly with Raj Register, Head of Brand Strategy and Growth Audience Market at Ford, who shared that Ford came up with the concept with Essence to curate from a “grassroots level” an experience event to be developed to the national level. The concept selected DC, Memphis and Atlanta because of these three cities’ high concentration of women and the opportunity to make maximum impact and reach for the target demo.

Register shared that Ford has a new partnership with the WAZE app “so instead of looking on your phone like we know you shouldn’t be, when you plug in your iPhone, it will activate the app”  and also talked a bit about other forthcoming tech partnerships. Some current and future vehicles will have “Wi-Fi” connectivity. “If you want it, we have it,” she added. Another wonderful addition is the rear view camera tech that will be standard in all vehicles moving forward! That’s great news for families. Good stuff!

During the festival the next day,  participants and attendees would get an opportunity to “Ride and Drive“, e.g., take a test drive or ride along in Ford’s recent vehicles in their fleet, and experience the new technology and other amenities for themselves first hand. It’s all a part of a mission to cultivate new brand affinity in emerging markets.

Back to Friday for a bit: after enjoying a yummy salmon dinner with wine, I and my fellow bloggers headed down to ArtJamz’s studio space to create our very own artistic interpretation of the Ford Mustang Pony. In between brush strokes, we noshed on dessert, a nice sampling of cupcakes and chocolate covered strawberries. It was a fun time!! I loved meeting new friends there and connecting and networking with the wonderful dynamic group of women who organized the event. It was a marvelous sisterhood experience!

Here are a few photos from the evening:

I enjoyed this dinner of blackened Atlantic salmon with grilled asparagus and potatoes au gratin so much, I went home and purchased a few stalks of asparagus to recreate the meal later.

Meeting new blogger baes!

We were joined by renowned artist Hamilton Glass who recreated the campaign’s logo on a wall in the art and dine studio.

At the event the next day, I ventured out in the drizzly day to experience the last stop of the My City 4 Ways tour, after a stop in Atlanta and Memphis late last year, the other two cities on the tour.

I got there just in time to catch a panel of entrepreneurs hosted by friend Tiffany Aliche, The Budgenista that included another friend,  Arsha Jones of Capitol City Mambo Sauce and Tees in the Trap successful multi-million dollar business ventures along with Roc Nation apparel’s Emory Jones on the panel as well.

Also, I am a new fan of Melissa Butler, the founder and creator of a line of vegan lipsticks called The Lip Bar. She too was on the panel. Her brand was there offering all attendees a free matte lip stain!

Our Bellyitch Bumpwatch alum Kelis served up some of her specialties from her new cookbook, “My Life on  A Plate, then later participated in an on-stage Q&A talking her new line of sauces called Bounty and Full,  and balancing motherhood with a recording career and entrepreneurship.

Here are some photos from the My Ford City DC event at Union Market nabbed from social media, my own personal pics and a few official photos below:

Yas!!! #BlackAlley #myfordcity #mycity4ways

A post shared by ChefJamieG (@chefjamie) on



Southeast-DC born and bred band Black Alley shared their brand of  unique musical elixir that the group describes is made up of hip-hop, soul, and rock to create  a genre-bending sound called #HoodRock”, adding some authentic DC flare to the event.

DC’s own Grammy-nominated, BET Awards-winning recording artist Raheem DeVaughn swooned the audience with some soulful R&B crooning of his own power hits and a few other well-known covers.

Chef Resha of the very popular Carnal Dish blog provided a sampling of delicacies from her kitchen.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bi-F887AehM/?tagged=myfordcity

I am in the market for a new SUV myself and our first family car was a Ford Explorer. It was also awesome to get to ride in a 2017 Fusion because I never realized how roomy the 4-door sedan was inside and so much so that it could sub for the larger vehicle we were planning to get. I really dug the dual control temperature system and the fact the new 2018 versions will be Wi-Fi-enabled.

Also, I checked out the latest version of the Explorer. It has been upgraded substantially since with a quad tip exhaust and 20-inch machined aluminum wheels with painted pockets,a powerful 3.5L EcoBoost® engine, sport-tuned suspension and a best-in-class 15 365 V6 horsepower with a six-speed SelectShift® automatic transmission.

And practically speaking, the seating remained pretty spacious with lots of cargo room in the back for family road trips, hauling furniture or groceries. I love the hands-free, foot-activated liftgate feature as well as the 180-degree camera with Split-View and Washer.

For safety purposes, the vehicle also comes with a branded Ford Safe & Smart® Package feature that alerts you of unintentional lane drifting  and allows you to set cruise control and select the speed and distance you want to maintain from the vehicle in front of you.

Lots of good stuff. We definitely will be exploring (pardon the pun) this option on our search.

The Lip Bar did lipstick makeovers.

I listen to WKYS-FM on the radio in the evenings at times so it was also great to see one of the DJs on there I admire, DJ Little Bacon Bear (real name Khalia Canty). I asked the petite curly haired DJ about the origins of her name and she shared it came from a childhood friend for a fictional dynamic duo they formed.

That friend is now a flight attendant. “I’m sure she’s no longer going as our childhood name,” the 5’1′ 100lb young talent  laughed!

Captiol City Mambo Sauce and Tees in the Trap vended and I copped a fab “Thug Wife” Tee!

Overall, it was a wonderful weekend experience that I highly recommend everyone attend if they can the next time the tour makes a stop. There are new cities being added as the festival expands! Keep an eye and ear open for them when announced! I’ll keep you guys updated when I hear again!

@essence @ford “My City 4 Ways” DC #MyFordCity ??

A post shared by ?BJ? #TeamRelentless #Da202s (@lifeiswritten01) on

 

Batman138 Bro138 Dolar138 Gas138 Gudang138 Hoki99 Ligaciputra Panen77 Zeus138 Kilat77 Planet88 Gaspol168 Sikat88 Rupiah138 Garuda138 Gacor77 Roma77 Sensa138 Panen138 Slot138 Gaco88 Elanggame Candy99 Cair77 Max7 Best188 Space77 Sky77 Luxury777 Maxwin138 Bosswin168 Cocol88 Slot5000 Babe138 Luxury138 Jet77 Bonanza138 Bos88 Aquaslot Taktik88 Lord88 Indobet Slot69 Paus138 Tiktok88 Panengg Bingo4d Stars77 77dragon Warung168 Receh88 Online138 Tambang88 Asia77 Klik4d Bdslot88 Gajah138 Bigwin138 Markas138 Yuk69 Emas168 Key4d Harta138  Gopek178 Imbaslot Imbajp Deluna4d Luxury333 Pentaslot Luxury111 Cair77 Gboslot Pandora188 Olxtoto Slotvip Eslot Kuy138 Imbagacor Bimabet