Inspired by the ongoing chaos in Ferguson, MO., several artists have released songs reflecting on the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown and the aftermath. The latest artist to offer a musical rumination is Lauryn Hill, who tweeted a link last night to a track called “Black Rage”:
But while artists like J. Cole and T.I. wrote and recorded entirely new tracks in response to Ferguson, Hill instead reprised a song she’s been performing live for a few years.
The emotional song is a reworking of “My Favorite Things” from The Sound of Music, taking the originally upbeat and flowery song and transforming it into something much deeper and darker. “Black rage is founded on two-thirds a person,” Hill sings. “Rapings and beatings and suffering that worsens / Black human packages tied up in strings / Black rage can come from all these kings of things.”
Read the complete lyrics on Hill’s website.
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