Black is Beautiful

My Life: Rapping For Change
To Mathare in Nairobi, to meet Young Fortune and Juala Superboy, both just 8. They had collaborated on a track about their hometown, got to record in a studio, and put on a big street show, despite weather and electricity concerns. Mathare looks a troubled place given the scale of rubbish dumped in its river. But with such hopeful voices of the future, maybe things will improve?

Untold: From Rap to Riches
Lady Leshurr, Krept and Wretch 32 discuss how they've had to diversify their music careers into other commercial enterprises. They amusingly named someone called Dame Dash alongside Diddy and Jay Z, though I'd not previously heard of him - to their credit, they did get to include him in this show.

Fight The Power: How Hip-Hop Changed The World
Chuck D was a main voice here, through a 4-part history trip from the 1970s onwards, mainly from a US perspective. Politicians generally were a big bunch of no help, so various guys from Grandmaster Flash to Public Enemy to Eminem to Will.i.am fought back. Dozens of folk took part, from KRS-One and LL Cool J, through Fat Joe and Monie Love, to Ice T and Killer Mike. Nelson George was one of the execs behind the enterprise.

Juneteenth on CNN
Actually, a post-show effort with Sara Sidner and Van Jones, in which they discussed the main concert, and talked to some of the performers about it, including SWV, Davido and some other people I didn't know.

Juneteenth: A Global Celebration for Freedom
You might well have thought this LA concert being on CNN was the most important thing. Miguel and Jodeci got to join the above names, Nelly did Hot In Herre despite me assuming he surely wouldn't, and someone called Charlie Wilson headlined. Coi LeRay was booked to do her over-rated hit Players. Kamala Harris was there, but Joe and Jill Biden sent a video message.

Get On Up - The Triumph of Black America
David Harewood gets a 2-part documentary to cover the last 50-60 years of music and the movies, with help from consultant Nelson George, and plenty of others. Smokey Robinson is still around to talk Motown, and the first half ran up to Thriller, with Jeffrey Daniel getting to be credited with the Moonwalk. The second half covered more of hip-hop and through to modern times with Black Panther. A well made show.

The Stream: Blackness In Opera
Femi Oke chaired a discussion about Fire Shut Up In My Bones, apparently the first time the Met has put on an all-black opera, with composer Terence Blanchard, soprano Karen Slack and director Michael Mohammed. This show was from October 2021.

Summer of Soul (or, when the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)
A lengthy look at the Harlem Cultural Festival, a multi-week extravaganza held in Mount Morris Park in the summer of 1969. Acts ranged from Stevie Wonder and the Staples Singers, through the 5th Dimension and Sly and the Family Stone, to BB King and Nina Simone, not forgetting Hugh Masekela and the Edwin Hawkes Singers. Some surviving performers were present to recall their time, some attendees had stuff to say, and others were vocally impressed. Sounds impressive, and the idea that the tapes sat unloved and unseen for half a century seems all too plausible.

Black Music Wales
Lemfreck looks into why black acts struggle to get taken seriously for being Welsh. The shadow of Shirley Bassey's success was considered, but things are changing with acts like Sage Todz and Aleighcia Scott, and Lemfreck himself. The two most interesting stories were Benji Webbe (of metal gods Skindred), and Eric Martin, aka DJ Eric of 90s hitsters Technotronic.

Africa Rising, with Afua Hirsch
Ghanaian broadcaster visits Morocco, Nigeria and South Africa to look at cultural pioneers in art, good, music and so on. She meets musicians like Sigou and Falz the Bahd, and looks into movements like amapiano. Afrobeats seems to be swelling in success in the UK, so there's likely to be more where this all came from.

misery guts wrote:
MOBO Awards - Access All Areas
DJ Target was ably holding things together again, with the show at Wembley Arena, marking its 25th anniversary. There was music from Flo, Kojey Radical, Beenie Man, Black Sherif, and Emeli Sande did a tribute to the late Jamal Edwards. Target spoke at varying lengths to many of the guests and some of the performers, such as Nile Rodgers, Craig David, Knucks and Tion Wayne.

MOBO Awards - Access All Areas
DJ Target on presenting duties once more, talking to co-host Indiyah Polack as well as performers like DJ Spoony, Ghetts and Jazzie B. There were also performances from Cristale, Sugababes, King Promise & Camidoh too.