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Song Exploder

Michael Kiwanuka - Black Man in a White World (Re-Issue)

Song Exploder

Hrishikesh Hirway

Music

4.86.4K Ratings

🗓️ 4 June 2020

⏱️ 22 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Instead of a new episode this week, revisiting this episode originally published in May 2017. Please consider donating to local and national organizations engaged in the work of racial equality. Here are some links:

Michael Kiwanuka is a singer/songwriter from London. His second album, Love and Hate, came out in 2016, and was named one of the Best Albums of the Year from the BBC, NME, The Guardian, GQ, and more. One of the songs on the album was used as the theme for the hit HBO series Big Little Lies. In this episode, Michael breaks down the song "Black Man in a White World."

songexploder.net/michael-kiwanuka

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

You're listening to Song Exploder, where musicians take apart their songs,

0:04.0

and piece by piece tell the story of how they were made.

0:07.0

I'm Rishi Kei Kesh Hirwe.

0:10.0

I'm recording this on June 3, 2020.

0:13.0

This week, with protests against police brutality happening all across the world,

0:18.0

there's an urgency, there's a life and death urgency, in fact, in the discourse

0:21.4

that's taking place right now. It seems unbelievable in 2020 that something is simple and true

0:26.7

as the idea that Black Lives Matter has to be asserted over and over again. But here we are,

0:32.3

it still does. I was thinking of letting Song Exploder be silent this week. It's hard to feel like

0:37.4

a show about the creative process is necessary in a moment where

0:40.9

everyone's attention should be focused on trying to carve justice out of an unjust world.

0:45.7

But music can accomplish things that other forms of expression can't, and it can make you

0:49.8

feel things with the power that can't be replicated.

0:52.3

And that is important.

0:53.7

And I thought of this episode

0:54.7

from 2017 with Michael Kuunuka and his song Black Man in a White World. I love this song, and there

1:00.9

are things that Michael said about it that I really wanted to hear again. Before the episode plays,

1:05.3

I want to mention that Michael also put out a new record in 2019 called Kuhunuka, and it's also great,

1:10.6

and you should definitely

1:11.1

go listen to it. And if you want to get involved in the fight for basic human rights and equality,

1:16.2

please do it in whatever way you can. Donate, listen, learn about the realities of racial injustice,

1:22.3

call your government representatives, and demand that things change. If you do want to donate,

...

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