Sounds of Blackness has been making uplifting music that represents Black culture for over 50 years. Photo Courtesy of soundsofblackness.org
Sounds of Blackness has been making uplifting music that represents Black culture for more than 50 years and the Grammy Award-winning music ensemble from Minneapolis doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon. One of its latest songs, “Time For Reparations,” has been nominated in the Outstanding Gospel/Christian Song category for the 53rd NAACP Image Awards.
Released in June 2021 to commemorate Black Music Month, “Time For Reparations” includes lyrics that depict the systematic racism, oppression and brutality Black Americans have been subject to in the U.S. The lyrics note that for Black Americans, reparations are not a privilege but a right that has been earned.
“Pay up, time to pay up. Right now reparations. Time for reparations. Right now time for reparations,” the vocalists sing. “300 years of free labor, we ain’t asking for no favors. … Reparations are overdue, 40 acres and a mule.”
Singers on “Time For Reparations” include Sounds of Blackness artists Andrea Macklin and Yulanda, according to Insight News. The song was written and produced by Sounds Music Director Gary Hines and recorded at Atomic K Studios, Winterland Studios Minneapolis and BabyHoney Studio in Kansas City, Mo.
Other songs competing in the NAACP Image Awards Outstanding Gospel/Christian Song category include Kirk Franklin’s “Overcome 2021,” CeCe Winans’ “Believe For It,” Tamela Mann’s “Help Me” and H.E.R. and Tauren Wells’ “Hold Us Together (Hope Mix).”
Click here to visit the NAACP Image Awards Gospel/Christian category.
The song is available to stream on most major platforms and the group is donating a portion of the proceeds to the George Floyd Scholarship Fund.
Photo Courtesy of soundsofblackness.org
