From negro spirituals to protest songs, Black music has traditionally been used as a catalyst for social change . During the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, popular artists like James Brown encouraged people to stand in their Blackness with songs like "Say It Loud – I'm Black and I'm Proud" and Nina Simone challenged politics with "Mississippi Goddam." The revolution in the songs ever-present as systemic change was being widely demanded. By the turn of the decade, songs became more fun as Black artists moved from obvious protest-inspired lyrics to funk, disco and what is now known as classic soul, where they buried the revolution under infectious grooves. Parliament-Funkadelic laced in extraterrestrial costumes and psychedelic drugs told audiences to lay their socio-political burdens on the funk. And smooth-crooning, sex symbol Marvin Gaye challenged the Motown machine to put out a Vietnam War-themed project that followed his brother Frankie home from war to the land...
