Black Music Month 2021: Opportunities

Having reviewed many musicians and been friends with some, I already knew something about how hard "making it" can be.

Examining all of these stories close together (and not long after Simon Tam's Slanted) gave me a better idea of the racism factor. 

That was not so much the treatment from individuals, either, though it related. It was more the factors that shaped the environment, and what could be expected for those lives.

It was about the economic opportunities available, not just for those individuals, but for their parents and grandparents. It was about the economic level they lived at in terms of nutrition and health care and what jobs were available. 

It was the violence.

These were some very diverse circumstances too. Nutbush, Tennessee in the '40s is going to be a lot different from Compton in the '70s or Yonkers in the '80s, but racism and economic inequality still often managed to create hardships that were often exacerbated by substances. It was hard on families and youth. It is easy to judge, and there are pundits and leaders who do, but rarely have they needed to deal with similar life circumstances.

No one set out to make Ike Turner a likable or sympathetic character, but the story of his father's death is told briefly in I, Tina and it is horrifying. It doesn't make his abusiveness right, but it seems more likely that he would be violent and angry than not. Then, being a musician during a time period when cocaine use was very normal... you can see how it happens and still hate it and hate the pain it caused.

Thinking about all of that, I then think about how much being able to be musically successful meant for people like Tina Turner, Nile Rogers, Dr. Dre,  and Mary J. Blige. This becomes a way not just to be able to support themselves, but also to support the people they live. Buying houses and cars for mothers is a big step on a lot of these journeys, as is that the fathers are so often already dead.

There is a limit to what it can fix. Money does not heal the trauma along the way, at least not on its own. Money can be a fabulous tool, but even knowing how to use it requires some understanding that a lot of people just don't have.

In addition, I think about how talent is not enough. There are fabulously talented people who never make the right connections. There are people who may have potential but don't get chances to develop it. They get left behind. 

Finally, I think about how wonderful it is to be able to do creative things, and express thoughts and feelings and make something new, which has value whether it is monetized or not. Again, sometimes people just don't know how to get there.

So while I have additional affection for many musicians now, and have found their stories harrowing and inspiring, my overall impression is how there is the need for so much more. There need to be more resources for the entire hierarchy of needs for everyone.