Today, we celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and on Wednesday we inaugurate the next President of the United States. We honor a globally renown civil rights activist while welcoming the new leader of the free world. In this duality of awareness, we recognize the past for its painful lessons and acknowledge the present for all the work that still needs to be done. This week, we asked soul/alternative-rock band, Stop Motion, to curate our #NowPlaying playlist and it doesn’t disappoint. Their mix asks us to question our own awareness on social and political issues through oldies and new-age music. The playlist features Jimi Hendrix, Nina Simone, Noname, Radiohead, Kendrick Lamar and more.
Be sure to check out their playlist below and don’t forget to follow 303 Magazine and like our #NowPlaying playlist on Spotify:
Stop Motion – “Enough”
Sampa The Great – “Time’s Up (feat. Krown)”
Faith Allen, vocals: “Time’s Up” represents the many tipping points that arrived in 2020. It’s a David and Goliath story. “Tick, tock” is the sound of impending justice. This song starts our playlist off with demands for change.
Radiohead – “2 + 2 = 5”
Nina Simone – “Baltimore”
Kendrick Lamar – “i”
Noname – “Prayer Song (feat. Adam Ness)”
Rico Sisney – “Hearts Too Full”
Charlotte Day Wilson – “Work”
Becca Stevens – “Heather’s Letters to Her Mother (feat. David Crosby, Michelle Willis, & Mike ‘Maz’ Maher)”
FA: This song by Becca Stevens details the life and death of paralegal and activist, Heather Heyer, through the letters she wrote to her mother. Heather was killed on August 12, 2017 in a counter-demonstration protesting a neo-Nazi, KKK rally in Charlottesville, VA. The song centers around Heyer’s life motto — “we’ve got nothing without love and one another.”
David Crosby – “Other Half Rule”
EL: In his Tiny Desk Concert, David Crosby said “We wrote this to invite the women of the United States of America to please take over — it should be fairly obvious why.” It’s about time women receive, at the very least, equal representation in our government.
Buffalo Springfield – “For What It’s Worth)
FA: “For What It’s Worth” is a classic protest song that is just as relevant today as it was in 1966. The chorus calls for us to stop, listen, and look at what’s going down. With this, I’m reminded of the Black Lives Matter protesters who had to physically stay alert as tear gas and rubber bullets created a battlefield.
Joni Mitchell – “Big Yellow Taxi”
Lake Street Dive – “Shame, Shame, Shame”
D’Angelo – “Ain’t That Easy”
Sidewalk Chalk – “A Suite For Black Lives”
Jimi Hendrix – “Star Spangled Banner”