Editor’s note: The following article is an op-ed, and the views expressed are the author’s own. Read more opinions on theGrio.
What started out as an off-handed comment made by one of my closest friends about a person she was seeing turned into an hours-long debate that has since spanned group chats, households and maybe even made its way into an NAACP field office or two. I’m not saying this is the most important question of this generation, but it’s in the top 10.
You ready, Biv? I’m ready, Slick, are you? (Neither of those is the question.)
Is Kirk Franklin’s & the Family’s “Melodies From Heaven” a song all Black people know?
(That’s the one.)
The easy answer is, of course not. However, there are people out there who are surprised when Black folks don’t know it. That list of people includes Joe Budden, which is how this very conversation (in my home, group chats and potentially the NAACP) started. On episode 584 of “The Joe Budden Podcast,” Joe discovered (and was surprised to find out) that co-hosts Ice and Ish weren’t familiar with the song. Apparently, my friend (while discussing the Joe Budden podcast episode) was also surprised to hear Ice and Ish were unfamiliar only to discover that the person she was seeing ALSO wasn’t familiar with it. She, like Joe Budden, thinks it’s the kind of song that all Black folks know. “They play it in clubs!” (More on this later.) Now, when I hear folks talking about songs we should all know that means that I’m looking at a person sideways who DOESN’T know the song.
I protested that while I know this song — I grew up in the church and sang in the choir and Kirk Franklin songs were used…
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