Happy Black History Month! Every day in the month of February, WXPN is taking to the airwaves to highlight an essential album from the stylistic spectrum of Black music history from the 1960s to present. You can reconnect with old favorites and discover new classics, beginning with the week one rundown below. Keep listening all month long for more explorations!
February 1: Baduizm by Erykah Badu
Recorded in part at Philadelphia’s legendary Sigma Sound Studio, the 1997 debut album by neo-soul star Erykah Badu is atmospheric, expansive, poetic, and pristine. Its four singles are classics, establishing a new sonic middle ground between hip-hop and R&B, tinged with a bit of psychedelia, and its lyrics unpack life, love, and Black womanhood in a singular way. (Listen: Spotify / Apple / Tidal)
February 2: Live in Europe by Otis Redding
King of soul Otis Redding burned bright in his brief time impacting the pop music world, and 1967’s Live In Europe is his only concert album to be released during his lifetime. Taped during a tour of Europe with his labelmates on the legendary Memphis imprint Stax/Volt, it kicks off with his version of “Respect” — which would later on become a defining anthem for Aretha Franklin — and also features covers of The Temptations (“My Girl”), The Rolling Stones (“(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction”) and commanding performances of his signature tunes “These Arms Of Mine” and “Try A Little Tenderness.” (Listen: Spotify / Apple / Tidal)
February 3: Stankonia by OutKast
A fever dream tableau of American life at the end of a frenzied century, the unstoppable Stankonia follows OutKast’s two powerhouse voices André 3000 and Big Boi as they explosively redefine what it means to be a hip-hop star, what it means to be from Atlanta, what it means to exist as endlessly creative individuals who refuse to be pigeonholed. From bombastic drum and bass to captivatingly chill funk and crunk, to the soaringly melodic “Ms. Jackson” with its cosmic music video starring cats and puppies and owls singing along, OutKast’s five-times platinum 2000 album sounds like nothing that came before it and nothing that’s come since. (Listen: Spotify / Apple / Tidal)
February 4: The Archandroid by Janelle Monáe
A singer, rapper, songwriter, and dancer who seemingly arrived on the scene fully formed from a Kansas City childhood, Janelle Monáe is a vibrant and eclectic force of nature, and the best place to experience that is her 2010 full-length debut The Archandroid. Drawing inspiration from the silent film Metropolis and establishing a narrative saga about a robot named Cindi Mayweather, the record takes listeners on a hip-hop sci-fi journey through an Afrofuturist aesthetic and bumping dancefloor beats. (Listen: Spotify / Apple / Tidal)
February 5: There’s A Riot Goin’ On by Sly and the Family Stone
There’s A Riot Goin’ On was released during a turbulent political and social climate of the early 1970s, and it sounds like it. Gone was the uplifting funk and soul verve of the band’s famed Woodstock set from two years previous, and in its place was murky and forlorn production and cynical, scorned lyrics. But also: moments of hope and love, like the number one pop single “Family Affair.” (Listen: Spotify / Apple / Tidal)
February 6: Kind of Blue by Miles Davis
A record stacked with superlatives — the masterpiece of visionary trumpeter / composer / band leader Miles Davis, the best jazz album ever recorded, and so forth — Kind Of Blue is a true example of music in the moment. As legend has it, Davis and his quintet recorded it in 1959 with no rehearsals and not much in the way of sheet music to prep with, other than chord changes they’d riff around. But it went on to wildly impactful and influential, a cornerstone of jazz aficionados’ collections and a solid entry point for new listeners, and (along with Bitches Brew) Davis’ best-selling album. (Listen: Spotify / Apple / Tidal)
February 7: 1999 by Prince
His star had been rising for five years, but on the 1982 album 1999, Prince Rogers Nelson fully arrived. With an unstoppable title track that finds synthesizers soaring and drumbeats blasting as the pleasures of the flesh wrestle with eternal spirituality as the clock ticks down to nuclear apocalypse — “War is all around us, my mind says prepare to fight / So if I gotta die I’m gonna listen to my body tonight” — the record is ready to party, get philosophical, and have a little fun with love and lust along the way. (Listen: Spotify / Apple / Tidal)
