Disney recruits Rapsody, others for EP honoring Black lives
NEWYORK» Grammy-nominated gifted lyricist Rapsody has written “maybe 15 verses this year to reflect the times”— as she put it— about the Black experience. So when Disney asked the rapper to pen a new tune foranewEPhonoringBlack lives and social justice, she thought to herself: “How else can I talk aboutwhat’s going on?”
She began to think from the perspective of a mother who lost her son to police brutality. Or a father whose daughter died simply because of the color of her skin.
Recorded under quarantine during the pandemic, Rapsody came up with the soulful rap tune “Pray Momma Don’t Cry.” She said she pulled from Sam Cooke’s “A Change Is Gonna Come” and Marvin Gaye’s “Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology),” calling the classic songs “beautiful music but it was also heavy and real at the same time.” Crafting the lyrics after receiving the beat from veteran producer and frequent collaborator 9th Wonder, Rapsody thought of “Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, Sandra Bland, TrayvonMartin.”
“What does it feel like when you go to those funerals? All theseblackcars and trucks, everybody dressed in black. The emotion. How does that feel after you’ve gone through that and you go home and that person is not in your life anymore? That’s kind of the energy or emotion I wanted to touch on,” she said.
“PrayMommaDon’tCry” is one of four songs featured on “I Can’t Breathe/Music for the Movement,” a foursong album that is a joint venture between Disney MusicGroup and TheUndefeated, ESPN’s platform for exploring the intersections of race, sports and culture.
Rapsody is hoping the album can unite people.
“Sometimes music does more than sitting across the table trying to hammer something into somebody’s headwho just doesn’t get it because they don’t live your life,” she explained. “Music is a universal language in that way.”
Rapsody’s song is thesole original track on the EP — to be released Friday — with the rest of the album focused on covers of historically significant songs like Billie Holiday’s “Strange Fruit,” The Impressions’
“People Get Ready” and Gaye’s “Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology).”
Grammy-winning soul singer Bilal adds vocals to “PrayMommaDon’tCry” to bring it to life, while other stars on the album include Robert Glasper, Terrace Martin, Alex Isley, Jensen McRae and Keedron Bryant, the teen who turned heads on socialmedia with his passionate performance about being a young Black man in today’s world with the song “I Just Wanna Live.”
“The goal is to explore the uncanny similarities between the past and present, speak directly to the Black community and drive the conversation forward and to getout thevote,” saidJathan Wilson, the creative director and A&R representative for the EP. “We are upon probably one of the most consequential presidential elections of our lives. Wewanted to speak to all of that.”
Black artists, including NUWARHOL, Al-Baseer, Blue the Great and Laurence “Sketch” Cheatham, were commissioned to create artwork for each track to highlight the deep messages in the songs.
Wilson, whoseofficialDisneyMusicGrouptitle ismanager of partnership marketing and synergy, said as a Blackemployeehe’shappyto seehiscompanyget involved in themovement.
“In the wake of George Floyd I think a lot of companies, not just Disney, had to dosome soul searching inregards tohowthey addressed their Black consumers and their Black employees. The company is a company that wants tobeon theright side of history and do the right thing. To have themstep up in theway that they didwas great forme as a Blackman but thenalsotokindofbe in support of projects like this that helpdrive the conversation forward,” he said. “It just became a special experience.”