Last night’s event at Dinah Washington Cultural Arts Center was wonderful even with all of the technology hiccups in the digital art installation. The highlight was sharing the playlist mix curated by students enrolled in my “Bebop to Hip Hop: Young America and Music” class. The actual mix, which narrates their own hypothetical road trip and the journeys of actual people figuring into my research on prewar and postwar black migration to Miami, can be heard on Mixcloud.com. Check it out here.
Special thanks to Kalisha Buckhanon for sharing an excerpt from her latest book Solemn, which is set in Mississippi and offers several characters moving through space for a number of reasons. One character in particular wants to escape the troubles of her own life. I won’t give away the plot. Read it.
The students’ songs are:
The Rearview Mix
Maybe This Will Be My Year – Train
Uranium Rock – The Cramps
Like a Rocket – Reverend Horton Heat
See The World – Gomez
Let it Go – James Bay Phantom Limb – The Shins Summertime Sadness – Lana Del Rey Ghost Rider – Rush
Going to California – Led Zeppelin
Devil’s Pie – D’Angelo
Controlla – Drake
It’s My Life – Bon Jovi Electric Feel – MGMT Let Me Go – Cake
Buffalo Soldier – Bob Marley
Summer Friends – Chance the Rapper
One Love – Bob Marley
Bohemian Rhapsody – Queen
Wanna Be Us – Lil Yachty featuring Burnberry Perry
1979 – Smashing Pumpkins
Keep on Singing My Song – Christina Aguilera
No Problem – Chance the Rapper
Alexander Hamilton – Hamilton, The Musical soundtrack
Still Here – Drake
Can’t Stop the Feeling! – Justin Timberlake
Alone in My Home – Jack White
Eye of the Tiger – Survivor
Thinking Out Loud – Ed Sheeran
Real Love Baby- Father John Misty
Sweet Home Alabama – Lynyrd Skynyrd
When the Stars Come Out – Chris Stapleton
Take It to the Limit – The Eagles
44 Bars – Logic
Forrest Gump – Frank Ocean
The Migrating Body Mix
Big Rivers – Johnny Cash and the Tennessee Two
Maybe – Sick Puppies
I Ain’t Got Nobody – Hattie Ellis
People Make the World Go Around – Marc Dorsey
FourFiveSeconds – Rihanna featuring Kayne West and Paul McCartney
Old Man River – Jim Croce
Love in Vain – Rolling Stones
Mississippi Poor Boy – The Canton Spirituals
Danny Brown – 25 Bucks featuring Purity Ring
Home Sweet Home – Motley Crue
Move On Up – Curtis Mayfield
The Gambler – fun
If I Was President – Wyclef Jean
That Power – Childish Gambino
Girls – The 1975
Straight Outta Compton – N.W.A.
Pursuit of Happiness – Kid Cudi
Blessed – ScHoolboy Q featuring Kendrick Lamar
Runaway – Kanye West
Blackbird – The Beatles
Never Gonna Break My Faith – Aretha Franklin and Mary J. Blige
Alright – Kendrick Lamar
A Change is Gonna Come – Sam Cooke
Landslide – Dixie Chicks
Mary – Patty Griffin
New York – Jay-Z featuring Alice Keys
Every Teardrop is a Waterfall – Coldplay
Hood Politics – Kendrick Lamar
Amazing Grace – any version
As Crazy As It Is – ZHU x A-Trak x Keznamdi
What’s Going On – Marvin Gaye
Homecoming – Kanye West C.R.E.A.M. – Wu Tang Clan
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