I have looked at various songs after doing some research
http://www.ocweekly.com/music/10-best-black-empowerment-songs-6605281
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Song: Fabulous
Artist: Jaheim
Genre: R&B/ Soul
This song has no copyright that I'm aware of (it has been uploaded by someone other than the official Jaheim account and has been up on YouTube for 7 years so I can assume it's okay, but if I pick this song I'll run my own tests to make sure it doesn't get taken down) It's all about being fabulous as you are with lyrics such as
"Was just us and mom, single family home, She did the best she could, did it all alone, Met a man but he won't raise a child thats not his own, Oh, no, oh, no, no"
Prepaid CELLIES for local calls
little dons and divas up at the mall
rockin cornrow twists, thats how we BALL
But don't hate on us, were fabulous
We're all that we've got
and no matter whatever together we'll weather the storm
IT AIN'T A LOT, we all we got, it might get rough, but
it's alright
Cause U-N-I-T-Y is all we need
To get our R-E-S-P-E-C-T
And never G-I-V-E U-P
And keep your H-E-A-D U-P
And never G-I-V-E U-P
And keep your H-E-A-D U-P
And never G-I-V-E U-P
And keep your H-E-A-D U-P
And never G-I-V-E U-P
And keep your H-E-A-D U-P
And never G-I-V-E U-P
And keep your H-E-A-D U-P
And never G-I-V-E U-P
And keep your H-E-A-D U-P
We're all that we've got
and no matter whatever together we'll weather the storm
IT AIN'T A LOT, we all we got, it might get rough, but
it's alright
Cause U-N-I-T-Y is all we need
To get our R-E-S-P-E-C-T
And never G-I-V-E U-P
And keep your H-E-A-D U-P
And never G-I-V-E U-P
And keep your H-E-A-D U-P
And never G-I-V-E U-P
And keep your H-E-A-D U-P
And never G-I-V-E U-P
And keep your H-E-A-D U-P
And never G-I-V-E U-P
And keep your H-E-A-D U-P
And never G-I-V-E U-P
And keep your H-E-A-D U-P
This song talks about black women usually ending up as single parents raising a family on her own and how incredible they are for doing that.
Cornrow twists are a type of hairstyle black girls tend to wear but this song is saying "don't hate on us, we're fabulous" "we're all we've got but we'll get through this all together" This is the first song I remember thinking "yes, I am fabulous being me"
For this song, I'd need to cast some children as there are children singing in the song which could be risky as children aren't always reliable for doing what you need them to do.
Copyright however, isn't a problem.
Song: Canal St.
Artist: A$AP Rocky ft. Bones
Genre: Hip-hop/ Rap
Cornrow twists are a type of hairstyle black girls tend to wear but this song is saying "don't hate on us, we're fabulous" "we're all we've got but we'll get through this all together" This is the first song I remember thinking "yes, I am fabulous being me"
For this song, I'd need to cast some children as there are children singing in the song which could be risky as children aren't always reliable for doing what you need them to do.
Copyright however, isn't a problem.
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Song: Canal St.
Artist: A$AP Rocky ft. Bones
Genre: Hip-hop/ Rap
Canal St. talks about life being a struggle when you're black, having to hustle and try to work your way up to the top when all the odds seem to be against you. Canal St is the home of 'Popular Jewellery' where A$AP Rocky bought his chains and jewellery for the music video, this jewellery would've been very expensive so this is a milestone for him and his journey, knowing that he made it enough to buy from expensive jewellery stores.
Copyright isn't an issue with this song as lots of people have uploaded this song. It's not one of his newest songs and there isn't an official music video to it meaning I can easily interpret it any way I see fit without being distracted by a pre-existing one.
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Song: PohLease
Artist: KAMAU
Genre: Contemporary R&B/ Rap
Artist: KAMAU
Genre: Contemporary R&B/ Rap
Another possible song choice is PohLease by KAMAU, this music video is completely about police brutality and focusses more on those events than empowering black people, but the way KAMAU words things such as "Killing cubs just because, Colour is a credible cause To make that bird caw, Incredible cost to a mother to To get that cursed call" shows the struggle people are going through just because of the colour of their skin, so if I pick this song I will record an empowering, emotive music video.
There's no copyright on this song as KAMAU is a fairly new artist. I have also messaged his instagram account out of courtesy to ask for permission to use the song and he said yes.
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Song: Scarface
Artist: Jaden Smith
Genre: Contemporary R&B / Hip-Hop
Scarface is definitely up for interpretation, but with references to villain 'Lex Luthor' and lyrics such as 'The government will not be killing me' followed by the sound of a gunshot, I see this as reference to police brutality. The song is slightly shorter than other songs, but it seems to work well.
The above video is a fan made video mixed with original clips from Jaden Smith's music video. This shows that copyright will not be an issue as other people have uploaded the song.
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Song: Dear Mama
Artist: 2Pac
Genre: Hip-hop
Artist: 2Pac
Genre: Hip-hop
This song is a tribute from 2Pac to his mum who raised her on his own, again, something that stereotypically happens to a lot of black mothers. It also touches on the point that young black men can get into trouble with the police which also means that police brutality is a subject I could explore with the music video. I could do this song through the eyes of women and the pain they go through when they lose the fathers of their children, and then possibly their children because of police brutality.
Copyright could be an issue with this song, but there are lots of videos up on YouTube uploaded by various accounts of lyric videos and copies that haven't been taken down so this could be ok to use.
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Song: Hey Mamma
Artist: Kanye West
Genre: Hip-hop
This is another song about strong black single women raising children on their own, and how thankful the children are. My parents split up when I was young and my Mum raised me on her own so I have a personal connection to this song and feel I could show emotion through my direction and filming.
Unfortunately, as Kanye West is such a big star, copyright could be an issue, however, someone uploaded this song in 2008 and it hasn't been taken down so this seems okay to use.
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