Prince, YG, Public Enemy: the songs defining Black Lives Matter protests in the US
- Rapper YG’s recently released ‘FTP’ – which stands for ‘f*** the police’ – has become a de facto anthem for anti-racism protesters
- Classics from Gil Scott-Heron and Public Enemy have also seen a resurgence
Anti-racism protesters have rolled out a creative batch of chants to soundtrack the ongoing US demonstrations, but both fresh music and timeless classics are also front and centre.
Rapper YG’s recently released FTP – which stands for “f*** the police” – has become a de facto anthem for the thousands of people pouring into the streets, whose demands include sweeping reforms of law enforcement after the latest death in custody of an unarmed black man, George Floyd.
Spotify’s “Black Lives Matter” playlist – a 66-track song list that includes justice-minded hits from James Brown, Killer Mike, Nina Simone, NWA, Childish Gambino, Beyoncé and Kendrick Lamar – has won over nearly 1 million subscribers.
And the streaming platform’s daily “Viral 50” list has seen classics such as Gil Scott-Heron’s The Revolution Will Not Be Televised – a spoken-word song from 1970 whose title came from a slogan used by US Black Power movements – break into the top 10. Public Enemy’s Fight the Power has also seen a resurgence.
Meanwhile, the Prince estate released a new video centred on police brutality for the late artist’s song Baltimore, which he originally wrote and released in 2015 after the death in police custody of Freddie Gray, who was black.