LAURYN HILL – “Black Rage (Sketch)” … Self-released MUSIC via @lisafordblog
On a surface level, Lauryn Hill’s version explains to outsiders the source of black community angst. But its purpose is not public relations. After all, the armored troop carriers have already stopped rolling through Ferguson, and CNN no longer offers round-the-clock coverage; if white America looks the other way, the movement will continue. Instead, the record is a defiant reclamation of black rage, one that does not ask for tolerance of this rage, but suggests it plays a primary, essential role in maintaining constant pressure on the system. That law enforcement murdering black people can be casually shrugged off as accidental, the-way-things-are, marginalizing sensible human beings as “mad for complaining,” is to reinforce fear. To combat that fear, Lauryn Hill has reoriented the conversation around a quality that had fallen out of favor, derided as counterproductive or unfashionable: black rage. Cooler heads will not prevail. (Read more at Pitchfork)
