June is Black Music Appreciation Month, and every year I try to find a new challenge to participate in to celebrate. I did a challenge back in 2019, but this one takes the cake.
Enter Naima, who put together an amazing list of prompts that were so fun (and a little tough) to work through. Her original post can be found here.
Sure, June is almost over, but it can still be fun to participate!
(A small note about the album cover sources: many of the labels these songs were originally released on have since ceased to exist or were absorbed into larger parent companies. I did the best I could in my fact checking, but I’m no music industry expert.)
Day 1- When you hear this song, you get a strong urge to clean the house
Holding On (When Love Is Gone)- L.T.D.
Day 2- A song you insist people younger than you don’t know nothin’ about
Loves Been So Nice-After 7
Heads up: you’re going to see quite a bit of the Edmonds family in the proceeding songs, specifically Kenneth (aka Babyface.)
Fun fact: Babyface was one the producers on After 7’s self-titled album, he wrote this song, and two of the three members were his older brothers!
Day 3- A song by your favorite songwriter and/or producer
He Don’t Know Nothin’ Bout It- Jam & Lewis and Babyface (coincidentally two of my favorite songwriters and producers. You’re going to see a lot of Jam & Lewis here as well.)
Day 4- You knew the sample first, but now love the original song more
I Love You- East of Underground. This song was sampled in a lot by 21 Savage.
Fun fact about this group: they were a multi-racial group who were stationed in Germany during the Vietnam War and selected through a U.S. Army band contest.
Day 5- A song that immediately eases your mind/mood
Do You Love What You Feel- Rufus & Chaka Khan
Day 6- Your favorite live version of a song
U Will Know- B.M.U. (Black Men United)
In what is probably the strongest tenor section I’ve ever heard in my life, this beautiful anthem written by D’Angelo was featured in Jason’s Lyric and performed at the AMAs in 1995.
Day 7- An album cut that should have been a single
Kryponite- Mario
From his third album Go, “Kryptonite” is one of those songs that would have been right at home on the radio. Honorable mention goes to other B-side songs such as “Why” and “No Definition”.
Interestingly, fans were able to choose between the former two and “Crying Out For Me” for the second single after “How Do I Breathe.” Clearly his fans were mostly comprised of hopeless romantics.
The third single on the album was “Music For Love.”
Day 8- A favorite R&B interlude
Summers Over Interlude- Drake
Honorable mention: Interlude- Don’t Go- Raheem DeVaughn
Day 9- A favorite rap skit
Girls Ain’t Nothing but Trouble- DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince
I really struggled with this one. Technically, this isn’t a rap skit, but it’s a rap song that tells a funny story, which is sort of like a skit, right?
Fun fact: the song was only released on vinyl.
Day 10- A song that wasn’t about what you thought it was about
Best Friend- Ledisi
Day 11- A song with an incredible opening verse (any genre)
Nothing But Love- The Dells featuring Billy Valentine
I’ll be honest, I don’t know if there’s any song I know that has an outstanding opening verse lyrically. However, this movie holds a special place in my heart, and “Nothing But Love” is the song The Five Heartbeats open with, so it gets this spot.
Day 12- A remix that completely changed the song
Primetime (Chloe Martini Remix)- Janelle Monae (feat. Miguel)
Day 13- You know better, but this is still a problematic fave
Step in the Name of Love- Remix- do I really have to say who it’s by?
Day 14- A song everybody loves, but you hate
All I Want For Christmas Is You- Mariah Carey
I’m sorry, but this song gets overplayed way too much for me to ever seriously enjoy it again.
Day 15- If you get challenged to a dance battle, you’re gonna play this song
Here Comes The Hotstepper- Ini Kamoze
Day 16- Celebrate a song by a great Black-owned record label
Golden- Jill Scott
I had to do quite a bit of digging on this one. I wanted to find a song by a Black-owned label that was 1) still active, and 2) not one that we already know (no shade to you, Motown, Def Jam, Cash Money, and the like.)
Jill Scott was the first artist signed to Hidden Beach Recordings, founded by Steven McKeever in 1998. While Scott is signed with a different label now, they still work with a modest collection of artists, including Al B. Sure! (as of 2009) and Kindred (whose song is featured below.)
Day 17- The sexiest song you know
I couldn’t just choose one.
Hate The Club- Kehlani, Masego
Stars- Kindred the Family Soul
Maker of Love- Raheem DeVaughn
Tonight- Kem ft. Maurissa Rose
Day 18- The blackest song you know
Foe tha Love of $- Bone Thugs-N-Harmony
Day 19- When the revolution comes, this will be your anthem
Ball Of Confusion (That’s What The World Is Today)- The Temptations
Day 20- If this song ain’t on your cookout list, it ain’t a cookout
Encore- Cheryl Lynn (produced by Jam & Lewis)
Day 21- A song you’re embarrassed to admit you rock with
Nothing Bout Me- B5
There’s not one song I rock with that I will ever be embarrassed by. With that being said, some may find it weird that I rock with a teen boy band’s songs just as hard today as I did when they first dropped.
And will sing every word of every song with my. whole. chest.
Day 22- You can still remember the first time you heard this song
Great- Fly Union
The year was 2011. I was entering my underground hip-hop era and heard this song on Pac Div radio on Pandora. The rest is history.
Day 23- You give a whole car/shower/mirror performance to this song
You’re Not My Kind Of Girl- New Edition (produced by Jam & Lewis)
Day 24- A song that immediately puts you in a glass case of emotion
Ultralight Beam- Kanye West
Day 25- You’ll die on the hill of this cover being better than the original
This Is For The Lover In You- Babyface, LL Cool J, Howard Hewett, Jody Watley, Jeffrey Daniel
Okay, so I’m not saying this version is better than Shalamar’s per se, but it’s such a great blend of part cover/part remix that also includes the original vocalists. What more could you ask for?
Day 26- A favorite song by a Black artist from outside of the U.S.
Round and Around- Jaki Graham (England)
Day 27- A favorite song with a whole monologue
Jam- Kevin Gates, Trey Songz, Ty Dolla $ign, Jamie Foxx
The “monologue” in question at the beginning of the song comes from the 2002 Jamie Foxx comedy special Unleashed (part starts at 6:10.)
Day 28- A song you didn’t appreciate until you lived a little
Work It Out- Babyface
Honestly, any song on this album. It screams grown and sexy.
Day 29- A song that reminds you of family
That’s The Way of The World- Earth, Wind, & Fire
This song instantly takes me back to being five years old dancing in the yard with my grandpa while he washed his ‘66 Chevy Impala. It’s easily one of my favorite childhood memories.
Day 30- This song might be the most played in your music library
Games- Chuckii Booker
I know it is. Spotify told me so.
This was so much fun! There were so many other songs I could have picked for each day (I tried my hardest to get some Rene & Angela, Alexander O’Neal, and Miles Jaye in here but this article is long enough as is.)
My own personal challenge next year will be to select completely different songs, which should be easy since I have a whole year to choose.
Because you were so diligent to read (or skim) through this long post, allow me to present you with a gift: a nice and pretty Spotify playlist with all of my picks. You’re welcome.
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Kiara Reviews 
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