ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½

Available for over a year

Good morning. The repeated tension between the police and black communities in America, has given rise to the group, Black Lives Matter. While being a peaceful movement, to some it has been associated with violence. Now, a new campaign, within the music world, is also working for change. Black Lyrics Matter is a fledging group of urban music artists, dedicated to returning substantive themes to black music. This artistic movement, views itself as the polar-opposite of the hyper-masculine, braggadocios, and sometimes nihilistic norm that dominate much of mainstream hip hop and RnB. The Black Lyrics Matter movement is new, but it has historical precedent in America, coming out of the soul music and the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, and more recently through socially-conscious artists in rap, who have sacrificed mainstream success for promoting justice in their music. (Hey, and like an astute child of Jamaican parents, I should also remind you that Jamaican reggae made this music-politics link well before its American cousins). Underlining the Black Lyrics Matter movement is a belief that language shapes reality – a viewpoint that resonates with scripture. The New Testament makes bold comments on the role of language in the pursuit of cultivating meaningful relationships with people and God. But the Christian scriptures require more than just mouthing the right words, they also demand a correlation between motives, speech and right action - the life-affirming way that we live in a world where so much has gone wrong. Black Lives Matter is possibly the first major mass movement in the black community in American that has not emerged directly out of the black church. So, it’s not like it was when the Southern Baptists and Martin Luther king ran the show. But now as then, the relationship between motives, language and actions remain important. Jesus warns his disciples, ‘the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.’ In other words, get your motives and attitude right because they shape your words and actions. Placing these New Testament views in conversation with Black Lyrics Matter, raises some important issues to consider for all of us, not just songwriters and performers. While we should applaud artists who take the bold step to stand out from the crowd, and challenge us all to do better, words on their own are not enough. What we believe in our hearts, and cultivate in relationships, must also shout loud.