I have decided to do an analytical research piece on Tobe Nwigwe’s song ‘Hella Black’, featuring The New Respects. I chose this song because it focuses on music, how it is the common language spoken by everyone, and most importantly, Black representation in society of both the past and present. The articles I chose to aid with this analysis are Mia M. Kirby’s ‘Tell It Like It Is: Black Power Era Music And The Construction Of The Strong Black Woman Archetype’, and Ronald Radano’s ‘The Sound of Racial Feeling’. Unfortunately, after a relentless search using the library resources, I was not able to find a third article that best suited the basis of my research paper.

Mia M. Kirby’s ‘Tell It Like It Is: Black Power Era Music And The Construction Of The Strong Black Woman Archetype’, in summary, embodies the struggle the Black women of the African American community along with the diaspora at large have encountered through the years. The article makes mention of how music was utilized during the Black Power era in order to change the narrative of how Black women were portrayed and perceived. Moving away from the idea that Black women were only to be seen as a mammy, matriarch, Jezebel, and so on. The author also did her own analysis of various songs from the Black Power era to make more positive sense of who a real strong, Black woman is and how she ought to be represented.

From Ronald Radano’s standpoint in his article ‘The Sound of Racial Feeling’, to summarize, he dealt with the matter of the different genres of music and the Black influence that was present in each genre. He highlights that in every arena of music that was blessed by the hand of the black, one would be able to feel the racial impact it left, be it in the sound of the instruments or the lyrics, especially if there is to be a visual display. He summed it up to say in music, everyone was able to share a piece in a Black experience.

These articles are relevant to my research paper because they help to shed more light on the current influences Black pop culture and music has in the continued movements of today.