Following the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police, Seattle has seen night after night of protests and KEXP DJs have responded by playing music by Black artists — music with a message. One of those DJs is Larry Mizell, Jr., host of Friday night’s Street Sounds. He reflects on yet another death in the Black community, discusses the power of music to spread a message, and shares the songs he turns to during these times.
“I think there’s nothing older, more central to music than delivering a message. That’s what it’s always been,” Mizell says. “Whether it is being used in a spiritual dimension, or it’s used, as it was early employed in the African American experience, by slaves in the fields who literally communicate plans, news that their overseers couldn’t decipher.”
Songs discussed:
