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If history has taught us anything, it’s that music has played an integral part in the pursuit of social justice for a long time. James Brown’s ‘Say It Loud – I’m Black And I’m Proud’, U2’s ‘Sunday Bloody Sunday’, Rage Against The Machine’s ‘Killing In The Name’ and – more recently – Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Alright’ are just a few of the songs that have soundtracked revolutionary action over the years. 

Over the past week, thousands of people have taken to the streets in the US and across the world to protest following the death of George Floyd, an African-American man who was killed on May 25 when a white police officer, who has now been charged with second-degree murder, knelt on Floyd’s neck for almost nine minute as he lay on the ground during an arrest (his alleged crime? Possession of a counterfeit $20). Floyd’s horrendous killing has reignited widespread Black Lives Matter protests, online and in the streets. 

‘Run The Jewels 4’, the much-anticipated new album from hip-hop duo Run The Jewels – comprised of rapper Killer Mike and producer/rapper El-P – couldn’t be more appropriate for the times we’re living in. “And you so numb you watch the cops choke out a man like me/ Until my voice goes from a shriek to whisper, ‘I can’t breathe’,” raps Killer Mike, RTJ’s beloved social activist, on the defiant ‘walking in the snow’. It’s a track that also sees them question the school system, biased news reporting and unruly religious mobs. 

Mike is no stranger to speaking out on social issues. Just last week the community leader delivered an impassioned speech during a press conference in Atlanta in which he pleaded with the protesting residents of his home city to not “burn your own house down for anger with an enemy”. Instead, he suggested it was time to “plot, plan, strategise, organise and mobilise.” - NME