The Music Industry pledges solidarity with BLM, will they tackle Misogynoir?
2020 has been a year like no other. The World has stood still since early March when the Coronavirus took its stronghold over all the four corners of the Earth.
The impact of Coronavirus also referred to as Covid19 has been unimaginable, resulting in Government imposed Travel bans across borders, to the public being urged to stay at home and only leave their houses in the case of an emergency or to get basic amenities.
Simple forms of communication like greeting one’s neighbour to wear protective face masks to help ease the spread of this new breed of Covid19.
This extreme isolation has led to the whole world being on Lockdown or Quarantine as some fondly refer to it.
Whilst the negative impact of the lockdown has been missing loved one’s, especially the elderly and sick as its been advised to stay away from them as they are deemed particularly vulnerable.
Boredom, anxiety and cabin fever have also been a major factor.
The class of 2020 missed out on Graduation ceremonies worldwide and the Yearly Prom night that so often fills our Instagram and Twitter timeline won’t be seen due to strict rules on gathering and social distancing.
Festivals such as Afronation and Afropunk were also cancelled.
A positive side effect has been, the world as a whole has slowed down and issues of injustices that would’ve otherwise been ignored started to receive the attention they so justly deserved.
The main outcry being about another incident Police brutality captured yet again on film.
On May 25th 2020 George Floyd a 46-year-Old Black man was killed in Minneapolis Minnesota during an arrest for allegedly using a counterfeit $20.
The Viral video shows Floyd begging and pleading for his life saying “I can’t breathe” as 3 police officers knelt on his back, with the fourth officer kneeling on his neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds.
The Video sparked Global outrage and protests calling for the arrest of the officers involved. Protests led by the activist group BLM #BlackLivesMatter headed by three Black women Alicia Garza, Opal Tometi and Patrisse Cullors were organised worldwide from America, Europe, Asia and Africa to bring awareness to Police brutality suffered by Black people globally and to start a real conversation about systemic racism in society which historically dates back to Slavery.
This movement was mainly driven and directed on Social media. Other cases of Police Brutality were also highlighted such as Philando Castile, Ahmaud Arbery, Stephon Clark, Botham Jean, Alton Sterling, Freddie Gray, Eric Garner, Akai Gurley, Tamir Rice and Michael Brown.
The world watched as videos of marches and protests circulated the internet with some resulting in violent confrontations with the police and looting by some fringe groups infiltrating the movement trying to derail the message.
These infiltrations resulted in President Trump’s order for Governors to implement curfews and the Army to take to the streets to calm the situation down with many fearing the implementation of Martial Law.
But an important point was raised, and that was the absence of outrage for the Black women who had also been brutalised and killed by the police such as Breonna Taylor, Atatiana Jefferson, Aura Rosser, Sandra Bland, Michelle Cusseaux, Janisha Fonville, Tanisha Anderson and Gabriella Nevarez.
Which leads to a bigger discussion about “Misogynoir” a term coined to describe the anti-black, racist misogyny that Black Women experience.
Not to mention the complete lack of media coverage of the murders of Black Trans women and men like Tony Mcdade who was killed by the police and Brayla Stone 17, Riah Miton, Nina Pop, Dominique Fells whose murders have been ignored by mainstream media.
As the world protests these issues each country has used the movement to shed light on stories unique to them including the lack of coverage in some cases none at all, of injustices pertaining to Black Women.
Eg in the UK they protested the Government’s failure to investigate the Death of Belly Mujinga and Shukri Abdi a 12-year-old Somali refugee.
In Nigeria, the focus was on the rape and Murder of Uwaila Omozuwa, Bakarat Bello and Shomuyiwa Azeezat prompting the Nigerian Police to set up a special task force targeting Violence against women in Nigeria.
With all this going on, celebrities of all ethnicities began to post messages of outrage and called for justice for the victims’ families.
Organisations especially those who admittedly benefit financially from black creators and the Black culture began to follow suit, acknowledging the part Black culture has played in their success and offering messages of solidarity with Black Lives Matter.
Many record labels released statements such as Atlantic, Warner, Island and EMI giving messages of solidarity pledging their support for their Black staff and their support for “fairness and Unity” within the music and entertainment industry.
Many of these organisations pledged to donate to organisations raising funds to pay bail and legal fees for protestors but also to charities and causes supporting the Black community.
With all good intention is shown many feared the statements and gestures made by these companies appeared to be a knee jerk reaction to the outrage as the statements all seemed to sound alike as if to tick a social equity box.
The question being asked is when all the hysteria and hype of the Black Lives Matter movement disappears from the timeline what real changes are these companies actually making to show that Black Lives really do matter to them.
One major announcement from Republic Records In a statement released June 6th said they would stop using the word “urban” to describe music “effective immediately, Republic Records will remove “URBAN” from its verbiage in describing departments, employee titles and music genres” the label said on Twitter using hashtag #WeUseOurVoices.
Whilst this was a welcomed development many felt it didn’t go far enough Considering less than 10% of music Executives are from Black and Ethnic Minority backgrounds which fail to reflect the workforce demographic. If we bring Black Women into the discussion the number falls to less than 1%.
Black women have been at the forefront of the music industry since Madame Rainey in the 1920s, Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald in the ’30s, Nina Simone in the ’50s all decedents of slaves, to the Supremes and Diana Ross in the 60’s and 70’s who set the foundation for the sounds we hear in commercial music today.
We also cannot forget the emergence of African popular music spearheaded by Women such as Miriam Makeba, Letta Mbulu from South Africa and Dorothy Masuka from Zimbabwe in the 50’s and Grammy winner Angélique Kidjo from Benin in the 80s who paved the way for Female African Pop stars such as Tiwa Savage, Simi and Yemi Alade who have gained huge local and international success and pushed African pop music to a global audience.
African Pop music landed on the international scene in the ’70s with Fela Kuti whose particular genre was called Afrobeat, a genre originating from Nigeria. African pop music notable re-emergence came in 2011 with U.K Ghanaian Fuse ODG’s hit Azonto, Nigerian Dbanj’s Oliver Twist in 2012 and Drake’s One Dance featuring Nigerian Popstar Wizkid in 2016.
The international market started to take notice of the Afrobeats genre.
However, women have not featured in most of these historical moments.
Much like what feels like an erosion of the Black female experience when discussing issues of Police brutality and systemic racism, the music industry seems to have been slow to embrace and feature Black African women in the Afrobeats conversation.
When Yemi Alade became the first African Artist to reach 100 million views on a video on YouTube this accomplishment was receiving with the underwhelming response, unlike her male counterparts.
Female artists have often complained about the lack of female representation on shows and projects within Africa but it seems the trend continues outside of African Shores.
So, It was a welcomed development to hear that the Beyoncé led Lion King Sound Track would feature its fair share of Female African Artists perhaps signalling the start of a change in the international arena.
The signing of Niniola and Tiwa Savage to major International Publishing and Label deals respectively also points to an acknowledgement that African women should be included and respected in this movement.
A common argument for the lack of development of Female artists in the industry is that if “only they’d work together they would be further along” whilst this might have some merit, it also must be acknowledged that if the organisations that write the cheques, approve the budgets and sign the artists have a complicit bias and culture of misogynoir would Female collaborative efforts be enough to change the landscape?
African Female artists have been asking for fair treatment since Billie Holidays song “Strange fruit” protesting the Lynching in the 1930s.
Nina Simone wrote the song “Mississippi Goddam” after Klansman bombed a church in Birmingham Alabama which killed four Black girls in 1963 with lyrics that say “All I want is equality for my sisters, my brother my people and me…” these lyrics ring truer today more than ever.
Whether the industry as willing to put meaningful actions behind their words of solidarity or not, the fact remains that Black women have been and will always be at the forefront of the Civil Rights movement, and what has now morphed into the Black Lives Matter movement we know today.
Black women are no longer willing to be quiet and are ready to challenge patriarchal norms within an industry that has failed to reward Black women fairly.
Acknowledging the work and struggle that many Female artists like Whitney Housten, Aretha Franklin, Beyoncé and Nicki Minaj have endured getting to this point one cannot ignore the fact that these women being so small in number is an indicator of the vast underrepresentation of Black women in the industry.
It’s time for the industry to wake up to this issue and the Black Lives Matter movement is here to ensure that it does.
Lastly, stay up to date with all you need to know about African music at SOA, right here.
Written by HRH Ifeanyichukwu
The Music Industry pledges solidarity with BLM, will they tackle Misogynoir?
