Pullin from the Stacks - BLACK LIVES MATTER

Had to take a break from the podcast this past month - there's so many more important things happening now that deserved, and continue to deserve, everyone's focus. As I come back to the records, I want to make clear a few things for all the listeners of this podcast and my mixes, if it wasn't clear before: BLACK LIVES MATTER - and have ALWAYS mattered - to me, and I am forever in debt to the role that Black people, and Black art, music, and culture have played in my life. As a white DJ playing majority Black music, I have never felt I could sit back and somehow separate music from the people, politics and issues contained within. In fact, my attraction to hip-hop music was much in part because of the political and social education I received from the Black people creating it. And as a white person, I am a guest and a visitor in many places and spaces, and I will never know what it means to be Black or be able to understand the full power or meaning behind much of the music I play. That doesn't mean Black music and art hasn't had profound effects on who I am and my music and politics. The records that I collect and play have furthered my dedication to fighting white supremacy on all levels - individual to systematic - which includes being self-critical and hearing criticism from others in how I might perpetuate white supremacy in my own work or music. I FULLY support the ongoing efforts to ABOLISH POLICE AND PRISONS, as well as calls for REPARATIONS for Black people. If you are white and you listen to my podcasts, and you don't understand why I stand for these things, or have questions, I recommend checking out m4bl.org (Movement for Black Lives) for more information, and also feel free to reach out. I'd rather build on anti-racism and anti-white supremacy with folks who are open than immediately shun anyone. BLACK LIVES MATTER. This should be plainly evident, especially to us DJs and record nerds, but unfortunately that's not always true. This episode contains music from several records created by Black artists that had incredibly important impacts on who I am as a DJ and person. Tracklist on Soundcloud.