Awesome Sauce Music Friday! #Ferguson Edition

I’m sure by now you’ve heard of the turmoil in Ferguson, a suburb of St. Louis, MO. Protests erupted after a police officer shot and killed Mike Brown, a black youth. That alone is tragic enough, but since then things escalated, in no small part because of a confluence of race tensions and police militarization.

Luckily, things seem to be calming down. However, it’s important to not look away. That’s why this week we’re featuring two songs. One is by Jonathan Mann, who has been writing a day for over 2,000 days. The other (which I lack the technical skills to actually embed) is by hiphop icon Lauryn Hill. Mann’s song is called ‘The Ferguson Army’ and questions the need for a small town to have military-grade weapons. Hill’s song is called ‘Black Rage.’ It’s sung to the tune of ‘My Favorite Things’ and it outlines the litany of injustices perpetrated on the African American community. ‘Black Rage’ can be found here, and ‘The Ferguson Army’ is embedded below. There is definitely NSFW language.

These may not be songs you enjoy, so to speak. Rather they are songs you should listen to, learn from, and think about.

Want more music? Check out Lab Tracks on Mad Art Lab!

Do you have a delightfully nerdy recommendation? Leave them in the comments, or contact us here.