A jazz-leaning playlist filled with "the kind of grooves that lovers of R&B, Soul, and Funk enjoy so much"

by Marlon West (FB: marlon.west1 Threads: @stlmarlonwest IG: stlmarlonwest Bluesky: @marlonweststl.bsky.social Spotify: marlonwest) Happy Music Monday! I hope this missive finds you smiling and well. It’s your musical motorist back again with a new collection to enjoy today and all week long. Here’s over ten hours of duets and collaborations between artists of many styles.  From the rock and soul collabs of…

by Marlon West (FB: marlon.west1 Threads: @stlmarlonwest IG: stlmarlonwest Bluesky: @marlonweststl.bsky.social Spotify: marlonwest) Happy Music Monday, you all. It’s your pal and selector, Marlon, back once more with a collection to brighten your month. We are into July and for my money, a particularly good time to enjoy some sweet reggae music. This "Fresh Reggae Tracks" playlist is devoted to new reggae.

Happy Music Monday, you all. And welcome to this second week of Black Music Month. Back in April, PBS dropped Independent Lens: We Want the Funk! Director Stanley Nelson and producer Nicole London’s documentary features the history, stars, themes and theory behind this most Blackest and inclusive style of music. Everyone can shake a tail feather on “The One”.

Born 100 years ago today as Malcolm Little on May 19, 1925 in Omaha, Nebraska and known primarily as Malcolm X,  El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz‎ was an African-American minister for the Nation of Islam and a human rights activist who rose to national and international prominence in the 1960s. He was a courageous advocate for the rights of Black Americans and Black people around the world, a man who indicted white America in the harshest terms for its crimes against Black Americans, and was one of the greatest and most influential African American activists and intelletuals in U.S.

by Marlon West (Bluesky: @marlonweststl.bsky.social, Spotify: marlonwest) Happy Music Monday, you all. It’s your pal and musician marshal is back with another dose of fine tunes. After Fruitvale Station, Rocky spin-off/reboot Creed, Black Panther and its sequel, Wakanda Forever, Ryan Coogler has proven himself one of the most masterful filmmakers working today. Though Sinners, which arrived in theaters three weeks ago, is his first film not derived from real life or other properties.

by Marlon West (Bluesky: @marlonweststl.bsky.social, Spotify: marlonwest) Greetings! It’s your friend and selector, Marlon, again. Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson’s joyous, crisply edited and well observed documentary about Sly Stone dropped in February on Hulu and Disney+. SLY LIVES! (aka The Burden of Black Genius) is a worthy follow-up to the Oscar-winning documentary Summer of Soul, and examines the life and lasting legacy of…

The House minority leader became the highest-ranking Democrat to demand the defense secretary be terminated, saying he was “unqualified” and a national security risk.

by Lori Lakin Hutcherson, GBN Founder and Editor-in-Chief It’s commonly known if Aretha Franklin covered a song you wrote and/or recorded, it from her recording forward be known as her song. Otis Redding, composer and original performer of “Respect”, said as much at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967: “a girl took [‘Respect’] away from me, a friend of mine, this girl she just took this song.”

Born on this day in 1915, Rosetta Tharpe revolutionized the sound of electric guitar by using distortion with her unique phrasing & picking, inspiring Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Johnny Cash & Elvis Presley by Lori Lakin Hutcherson, GBN Editor-in-Chief Born in 1915 in Cotton Plant, Arkansas to musical parents who also worked as cotton pickers, Tharpe was a musical prodigy who is reported to have picked up a guitar at four and began performing at age six with her mother, …

John Fulton and Anthony Mitchell were teenagers when they were coerced into giving false confessions in a 2003 murder in Chicago.

by Marlon West (Bluesky: @marlonweststl.bsky.social, Spotify: marlonwest) In 1945, Lionel Hampton spotted a five year-old boogying so hard during his concert in Los Angeles, that the legendary the …

by Marlon West (Bluesky: @marlonweststl.bsky.social, Spotify: marlonwest) In 1945, Lionel Hampton spotted a five year-old boogying so hard during his concert in Los Angeles, that the legendary the vibraphonist handed young Roy Ayers his first pair of mallets. Roy Ayers went on to establish himself as a pioneer of jazz-funk and soul. He was hugely influential on the neo-soul and hiphop movement.

As President Trump addresses Congress, organizers host a 24-hour livestream on what they call the negative impact of his polices.

Dr. Adam Banks flies from the Bay Area to Cleveland most weekends to teach. Black studies in a neighborhood cafe.

Dukes had been politically active up until her death

Raymond Santana was wrongly imprisoned. Now, he wants to join Yusef Salaam, also wrongfully accused in the rape of a Central Park jogger, on the City Council.

A growing number of Black consumers are collectively boycotting Target and other retailers that have recently reversed DEI programs following backlash from President Donald Trump and his conservative ...