NubianEmpress' essay about the "church voice" missing from the music game primarily focused on female singers, but there are a few male singers in contemporary music who possess that raised-in-the-church-on-weekly-bible-study-and-fish-frys sound to their voices. Two that immediately come to mind are Anthony Hamilton and John Legend. Their voices know church and struggle, which makes the fact that both are included on the Soundtrack For a Revolution perfect sense. Both singers lent their talents to the project by providing their own renditions of freedom songs. Legend's contribution, "Woke Up This Morning," gets a music video simply featuring the singer crooning at the piano with footage from the civil rights era mixed in. As Black History Month winds down, watching this and remembering a time that wasn't that long ago is a sobering way to end it.
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