Songs to Inspire and Uplift Black Women
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With all the songs folks request on the radio, watch as videos and dance to in the club, you’d think they would be uplifting to black women. Well, you guessed wrong. If we’re not getting called hos and being told to drop it and shake it and bounce it every five minutes in a song, other black women are calling each other hos, or doing the dropping, and shaking and bouncing in little to no clothing in YouTube videos seen by millions. But not everybody goes out of their way to degrade black women in music. Some people have proclaimed their love for chocolate (of all shades) sistahs out there and have done so in an eloquent manner. You already know we love “Brown Skin Lady” from Black Star, now check out some of the other tracks that put shower us with praise. Feel the love ladies!
Bilal “Soul Sista”
“You are so fine, like spaces that fall in my soul/see baby that has no rhyme/do you like how it feels when I smoke you out, head down to your toes?/Making you, making you scream and shout/You must be my soul sista, soul sista, you’re my…”
“Soul Sista,” not “Soul Sister.” You might be thinking about that other song by that one group of white men, but there’s no mistaking the smooth vibes you get the minute this joint comes on. A slow beat accented by whining acoustics and the Hot straining vocals of Bilal (sometimes inaudible) , “Soul Sista” is a dedication to the love of a good black woman. And you know we give good love, am I right!? Exactly. And it takes an extra special love to have a man begging to “Love you in the right way…”
Queen Latifah “UNITY”
“Instinct leads me to another flow
Everytime I hear a brother call a girl a Itchbay or a ho
Trying to make a sister feel low
You know all of that gots to go”
I’ve always adored hip hop music produced amongst the backdrop of jazz, and the saxophone that opens “UNITY” is like a soothing siren to prepare you to get schooled by the Queen. “UNITY” is a direct rebuttal to the misogynist side of hip hop and men in general, proclaiming that you are neither a Itchbay, nor are you a ho, a punching bag or a wannabe thug-misses–you’re a proud black woman, so act like it. Plus, Queen’s flow was sick on this one…
Raheem DeVaughn “Woman”
“Like there’s no you, no me, if there’s no us,
(thank you)
And if she ever hears an urgency
She’ll come in a rush
(thank you)
To the rescue, man you better find you a
Woman, woman, woman
Strong woman, woman, woman…”
Raheem has been a sucka for a good black woman from day one (see “You” and of course, “Customer”), and nothing changed when he dropped the song “Woman.” Not only a declaration that black men need to do what they can to find one, but also a shout out to the mothers, single and with help holding it down with that nurturing love. A merged thank you for staying up late waiting on phone calls, for turning the other cheek, yet snapping off when you need to, there’s no shame in a black woman’s game. And DeVaughn proves such.
Alicia Keys “Superwoman”
“When I’m breaking down
And I can’t be found
As I start to get weak,
‘Cause no one knows me underneath these clothes,
But I can fly, we can fly…”
Keys has always been good for the uplifting tracks, whether she’s letting men know about a “Woman’s Worth,” or letting everyone know the unstoppable spirit of black women. A light ballad tickled by the ivories in only the way Alicia could do it, “Superwoman” is one of those songs you close your eyes, raise your hands, bob your head and sing the chorus proudly to. For all you do for everyone else, this one’s for you boo!
Dead Prez “The Beauty Within”
“Down to earth like greens and cornbread
She don’t need no weaves or contacts
Not judging other girls that got that
Im just sayin’ you’re the truth never doubt that”
An ode to the natural girl! You don’t even have to finish listening to the whole thing to love it, right? Well worth the three minutes of your time, “The Beauty Within” re-affirms the fact that women with short natural hair, big natural hair, or damn near no hair at all are beautiful. Dead Prez, always great for going against the grain, openly applaud the women defying Hollywood and mainstream beauty standards. Turning out B.o.B.’s “Nothing on You,” “The Beauty Within” tells Africana sistahs to keep doing them. And while you might not get to hear about or see yourselves all over Wacka Flocka and Drake videos (not that you would be caught dead in them), it’s nice to see that natural girls can get some love too!
2Pac “Keep Ya Head Up”
“And since we all came from a woman
Got our name from a woman and our game from a woman
I wonder why we take from our women
Why we rape our women, do we hate our women?
I think it’s time to kill for our women
Time to heal our women, be real to our women”
Don’t let “How Do U Want It” and “Toss It Up” fool you, everyone knows Tupac Amaru Shakur had a soft place in his heart for the plight of the African-American woman. He’s a man, so they don’t proclaim their true feelings very often like that. But when Pac did, he add all eyes and ears on him as he spoke ever so poetically. In “Keep Ya Head Up,” Pac throws inspirational words in the direction of single mothers, including his own mother, as well as women being beat down emotionally and physically by the men that should be protecting them. Using the reassuring chorus from the classic Five Stairsteps hit “O-o-h Child (by the way, do you remember it in Crooklyn when Troy left her cousin in Atlanta?),” it’s definitely one for the fed up black woman looking for that extra push to keep going.
India Arie “I Am Not My Hair”
“At the turn of the century
Its time for us to redefine who we be
You can shave it off
Like a South African beauty…
Its not what’s on your head
Its what’s underneath and say HEY….”
For black women struggling to come to grips with the fact that hair is simply a source of creativity rather than something you should feel bound to, India Arie finally said what a lot of sistahs were thinking but afraid to shout out loud. And as someone in the music industry, with hard to achieve beauty standards and the ever-present, “it’s-okay-to-get-butt-naked-to-sell-an-album” belief floating around, Arie boosts not only her own confidence, but every beautifully kinked up, permed, curled, and dreaded headed chick listening and singing along.
Joe “What if a Woman”
“What if a Woman,
Took the keys to your whip
Said I’ll be right back
Don’t trip
What if a woman
Left you home with the kids
Changing diapers and Shyte
What a twist”
Think about “If I Were a Boy” being told from the lips of a man, Joe to be specific. “What if a Woman” is supposed to be directed at the fellas who can’t seem to do right, but it is also a song ringing in the ears of the devoted girlfriend or wife. In true Joe fashion, the underrated crooner is like Tyler Perry in all his films–the do-right, all knowing man who can break things down for the stubborn, wayward and confused. A definite head bobber, “What if a Woman” is just what an under-appreciated sistah needs to hear on a bad day, especially the part when he says, “What if she knocked you up and said it aint mine?” ALRIGHT!?
Mary J Blige “Work That”
“Just because the length of the your hair aint long
And they often criticize you for your skin tone
Go on and hold your head high cause you a pretty woman
Get your runway stride home and keep it goin’
Girl live your life”
Not every Mary J song you learn something from has to be an emotionally charged ditty about her many misses in love. Mary can be happy and still be moving to the soul, and that’s where “Work That” comes in. A banging beat accented by what comes off sounding like the pings of a xylophone, you’ll definitely be dancing somewhere in your draws, hair a mess, but a huge smile on your face as you get ready in the morning to face this hot mess of a world. An anthem for the constantly misunderstood black woman (cause “they gon’ hate anyway don’t you get that?”), stop crying in a hair brush to “My Life” and go “Work That.”
Talib Kweli featuring Jean Grae “Black Girl Pain”
“My mama said life would be so hard
Growin up days as a black girl scarred
In so many ways though we’ve come so far…
So please hold your heads up high
Don’t be ashamed of yourself know I
Will carry it forth ‘til the day I die
They just know the name they don’t know the pain black girl”
There’s something about little kids singing on a track that makes it all the more powerful. There is such a thing as black girl pain (like black girl rage), especially when you know the minute you step on the streets you’re judged for looking the way you do, or for having the name you do, and on and on. Talib Kweli and femme-lyricist Jean Rae embody that pain through the song “Black Girl Pain.” Not another mopey lesson through song with sing-along-lyrics, the track has an upbeat sound and an ever better message to send to both little girls and and big ones too.
