keep livin

This is one of my favorite songs of all time. It has sustained me, caressed me, fed me, uplifted me. Jean Grae has created some of the most beautiful and honest music in this decade. I listened to this song everyday for more than a year, in Chicago, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, West Bank Palestine, Washington, DC etc. This is the song that I would play on my ipod whenever I needed to support my desire to speak my mind. As I write this I feel that it sounds cliche-ed.

I remember walking through the streets of Goma, DRC, Chicago, USA, and in my bedrooms as I was getting ready to go in the world. I would dance to this song in my living room after a hard day, after interviewing rape survivors, after ordinary office racism. She reminds me that the daily struggle to live, to love, to travel, and to forgive is not an isolated event. This daily struggle is what we as artists and black women share.

Jean Grae gives me the language to love and fight for my body and my story. My story may be broken, it may be inappropriate for polite conversation, and it may be difficult for folks who have lived soft lives to hear, but it is a story that needs to be told. Her story is told, through her voice, so clearly and lyrically. So often we want to tell the ideal happy tale, but hip hop reminds us that story is only a tiny part of the human experience. The story of oppression, of heartache, and of redemption through survival is authentic and valuable.