Would The Wall Street Protestors Singing A Marvin Gaye's ?

Best Social & Political R&B/Soul Songs

Sing It Loud!

Although R&B is mostly known as lovers' music, there's been a long history of performers using the music to make a point or further a social or political agenda, particularly during the civil rights era. During the 1960s and '70s, various artists not known for "message" songs injected a healthy dose of serious commentary into their songs, and although the tradition has faded with time, it has never completely died. And with that said, here's your R&B Guide's picks for the best social/political protest songs by R&B artists.

A Change is Gonna Come, by Sam Cooke

One of the most powerful songs ever about social change, "A Change Is Gonna Come" was one of the first overtly political songs by an R&B artist. Although it was only a moderately successful commercially when it was released in the mid-1960s, it eventually became a shining, somber anthem for the civil rights movement and has been covered over the years by everyone from Three Dog Night (in 1969) to Seal (in 2008).

Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler), Marvin Gaye

A poignant call for attention to the plight of America's urban areas, as well as a plea for help, "Inner City Blues" vividly depicted life in the bleak ghettos of inner-city America and how such a life can make you cry out in frustration: "Make me wanna holler, the way they do my life, This ain't livin,' this ain't livin'."

What's Goin' On, Marvin Gaye

Released in 1971 on the album of the same name, "What's Goin' On" is a firm, yet gentle protest against the Vietnam War and other societal and global ills of the time.

If You're Out There, John Legend

The politically active John Legend premiered this song at the 2008 Democratic National Convention: "The song is a rallying cry," he said. "When I was writing it I knew I didn’t want to temper it with cynicism. I wanted to be unabashedly hopeful. I think people’s expectations of (President Barack) Obama are very high, which is great, but they also need to understand how Washington works and the push and pull the president always has with Congress."

Everyday People, Sly & The Family Stone

A funky anti-racism sing-along. The song is one of Sly Stone's pleas for peace and equality between differing races and social groups, which was a major theme and focus for the band.

You Haven't Done Nothin,' Stevie Wonder

Stevie gets righteously indignant - and in a very funky way - on this 1974 song which features the Jackson 5 on background vocals. Even today, this frank condemnation of then-President Richard Nixon's lack of attention to the inner-city packs a powerful wallop: "Why do you keep on making us hear your song, Telling us how you are changing right from wrong, 'Cause if you really want to hear our views, You haven't done nothing."

Say It Loud (I'm Black and I'm Proud), James Brown

The title says it all. A funky, funky racial pride - and anti-racism - anthem by the Godfather of Soul.

Respect, Aretha Franklin

A demand for - well, respect - that is strongly associated with the Queen of Soul and has become an anthem for women's rights. Ironically, the song was written and originally recorded by Otis Redding as a plea for respect from a woman.

Big Black Buck, Donnie

With a title like this, you might expect the song to be about slavery or racism. But actually, "Big Black Buck," released by Donnie in 2002, sends a strong message against blind consumerism: "On your town look around it's the first of the month, U.S. economy will get its usual jump, We're creatures of habit, modern slaves, Guaranteed to spend it all in just one place." Ouch.

My People, Angie Stone feat. James Ingram

"My People" is on Angie's 2007 album The Art of Love & War. On the song, Angie and co-singer James Ingram basically gives a pep talk to African-Americans. Various successful and inspirational blacks are name-checked here and held up as positive examples, including Barack Obama, Oprah Winfrey, Michael Jordan and Spike Lee.

Hurricane Song, Allen Watty

This song was released in 2005, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the Bush Administration's poor response to it. It's sung from the perspective of a storm survivor who's stranded on a roftop and can't get help. It's a scathing indictment of the U.S. Government's slow reaction in getting aid to the storm's victims.

 

 

DHL Returns To TV Advertisement After 10 Years Absence With Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell's "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yc1r6G3Pvaw

DHL revisits 'Ain't no mountain high enough' in return to TV

Delivery specialist DHL has launched its first UK TV ad in 10 years as part of a global campaign across 42 markets.

This DHL ad features a cover version of Ain’t No Mountain High Enough, the Tamla Motown classic that was a hit for Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell in 1967, and then again for Diana Ross in 1970. This version, credited to Speed of Yellow, was created by musician and producer Paul Epworth, who, among other things, co-wrote and produced Adele’s single Rolling in the Deep, and was featured here on TV Ad Music a couple of years ago when he produced the music for the Cadbury’s Fair Trade ad. The Speed of Yellow version of Ain’t No Mountain High Enough is available to download via the links above.

DHL: unveils first TV ad for a decade

The 'International Specialists’ campaign, created by 180 Amsterdam with media planning and buying by Vizeum, includes TV, print, radio and digital advertising.
Its UK TV ad debuted yesterday (5 September) during ITV’s new 'Red or Black?' game show.
The ad shows key events being completed across the globe thanks to DHL, including a designer putting the finishing touches to a dress in New York, and a circuit board being delivered to space.
TV and radio spots also feature a modern cover of the song ‘Ain’t no mountain high enough’, which first featured on DHL ads in 1991.
Spots will also air on Dave, Sky Sports, Sky Movies and Sky News over the next two weeks.
The campaign will run across both national and global media, and has been translated into 25 languages and screened on 280 TV stations globally.
Shannon Diett, marketing director of DHL International, said: "The aim of this campaign is to re-establish our brand personality and marketing leadership, by showing how DHL is truly at the heart of businesses all over the world.
"DHL Express connects more businesses to more people in more places around the world than anyone else, and we feel this campaign will really showcase us as the international experts that we are."
The executive creative director at 180 Amsterdam was Alan Moseley, and Dan Brooks was copywriter, and James Sadler art director. Antoine Bardou-Jacquet at production company Partizan directed the TV ad.

The Occupying Wall Street Hypocrisy

Everyone Is Passing Around This Picture Mocking The Anti-Corporate Protests

Erin Burnett got a lot of flack for pointing out that protesters were wearing Lululemon and carrying iPhones.

But she's not the only person pointing out hypocrisy.

This graphic has been making the rounds

From Naive Occupy Wall Street People:- Try Tell This To The People In Africa, Middle East, China, South Asia etc.

From "occupying Wall Street" :-

 

Chicago Traders Send A Message To The Occupy Wall Street Protesters

This is the Chicago Board of Trade. Look at the windows in the top right.


It says "We are the 1%"

John Paulson Told Off The Occupy Wall Street Crowd- The 1% Actually Is Paying A Lot  for the Other 99%

John Paulson commented on the Occupy Wall Street protests today.

Paulson's message for the protesters: "Don't vilify our most successful businesses."

As the movement spreads, many on Wall Street are starting to speak out against the protesters. Some argue they've accomplished nothing. A poignant moment occurred when a trader in Chicago said that the protesters are arguing for the same things that got us into this mess in the first place, while some men dressed like Robin Hood protested nearby. Traders in Chicago proudly put a sign in their windows saying, "We are the 1%."

Finally, someone big on Wall Street said what many are thinking.

The full statement from Paulson & Co:

“The top 1% of New Yorkers pay over 40% of all income taxes, providing huge benefits to everyone in our city and state. Paulson & Co. and its employees have paid hundreds of millions of dollars in New York City and New York State taxes in recent years and have created over 100 high paying jobs in New York City since its formation.

New York currently has the highest income taxes of any state in the country and thousands of businesses have fled New York to states with no income taxes such as Florida, Texas and Nevada, or moved offshore.

Instead of vilifying our most successful businesses, we should be supporting them and encouraging them to remain in New York City and continue to grow.”

UPDATE: It looks like the protesters have responded. The protesters are on a tour of "Wall Street" homes in New York City right now and they just marched to John Paulson's house, where (if it's actually his) Paulson had a police barricade waiting for them. The protesters left him a present, a novelty tax cut check for $5 billion.


A WSJ Reporter's Observation Of Robin Hoods At The Wall Street Protests Crystallizes The Movement In 30-Seconds


The legendary tale of Robin Hood is being re-created at the Occupy Wall Street protests.

To steal from the rich to give to the poor** is, at least in part, the goal that protesters hope to further as they proclaim to the U.S. government, the media, banks, and anyone walking past them, that "Banks Got Bailed Out, We Got Sold Out." Many protesters argue that taxpayers sacrificed for the rich, represented by "Wall Street," in 2008, and now it's their turn to pay.

Though one of the organizers told us that he supports the Millionaire's Tax and eliminating tax deductions, the protesters have no concrete goals. However if the movement could be crystallized in one 30-second exchange, let it be what happened in Chicago yesterday, according to a WSJ reporter --

Twelve Occupy Wall Street protesters dressed up as Robin Hood's Merry Men chanted "We are the 99%," in Chicago as the movement continues to spread to big cities around the country. As they chanted, a nearby event for the Futures Industry Association hosted a group of traders, who took pictures of the protesters with cell phones and waved. Jay Brown, an independent trader from Chicago attending the expo, told the WSJ, "They're protesting for the things that got us into this mess in the first place. They want free handouts, unions."

The presence of Robin Hood's Merry Men does suggest that the protesters want free handouts, but it resonates with the message -- whatever it is -- that everyone is starting to decipher from the growing protests. Robin Hood stands for an unjust level of wealth inequality, as well as for kindness and giving back to the poor.*

The trader who says that free handouts got us into this has a point too. Many on Wall Street cite the cause of the subprime crisis not as evil speculation or tricky Wall Street finagling, but as the government's push in the early 90s to provide affordable housing to low-income households. Federal lawsuits aimed at firms that did not provide affordable home loans to low-income borrowers provided an incentive for lenders to provide loans to people with lower credit scores. The Federal Housing Enterprises Financial Safety and Soundness Act of 1992 required Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to devote a percentage of their lending to support affordable housing.

They argue that predatory lending grew out of that federal requirement, which required that banks lend to people that historically didn't pay off their loans. Public banks had to make a profit for their shareholders. An angrier Wall Streeter might say, blame the crisis on the people who didn't pay off their loans.

One bank employee we spoke to was bewildered to learn that the protesters are being compared to the Tea Party movement, which accomplished much more, in dozens of national elections for example, than the Occupiers have so far.

But while it's cited as an example of what might be their biggest problem, which is not government policies that favor the rich, but laziness, the protesters flaunt their lack of a coherent goal, and their message resonates. Everyone is blaming the media for giving the movement more attention than it deserves, but maybe they get heard by millions, and they get credit for doing more than they have because it's something that resonates with anyone who has a sense that the taxpayer bailout stole from the poor to give to the rich, and that the poor are the worse off for it. Witnesses to the movement might be willing to listen and give them credit for doing nothing because they get the sense that even a proactive pity parade can change something, even if it's just a intangible, like country's moral compass.



*Robin Hood is also the name of one of the most prominent charity funds in the U.S., the Robin Hood Foundation, founded by one of the richest hedge fund managers, Paul Tudor Jones.

**A few commenters have pointed out that this is not what Robin Hood stood for. Regardless, it's what pop culture remembers about him. This paragraph from a very enlightening Wikipedia page about Robin Hood which pulls some of its words from JC Holt explains further:

The political and social assumptions underlying the early Robin Hood ballads have long been controversial. It has been influentially argued by J. C. Holt that the Robin Hood legend was cultivated in the households of the gentry, and that it would be mistaken to see in him a figure of peasant revolt. He is not a peasant but a yeoman, and his tales make no mention of the complaints of the peasants, such as oppressive taxes. He appears not so much as a revolt against societal standards as an embodiment of them, being generous, pious, and courteous, opposed to stingy, worldly, and churlish foes. Other scholars have by contrast stressed the subversive aspects of the legend, and see in the medieval Robin Hood ballads a plebeian literature hostile to the feudal order.

Occupy Wall Street's Fiscal Team Lost $100K And Blamed It On Visa, Only To Find Out It's Their Own Fault

 

The rapidly growing Occupy Wall Street movement taking place in Manhattan's Financial District and spreading with satellite versions popping up in cities nationwide recently lost a whopping $100,000, The New Haven Independent reported. 

The $100,000 loss happened when attempted online credit card donations were rejected because the account was frozen for over three days.

After a series of finger pointing and blaming other companies, the reason for the freeze turned out to be the fault of Occupy Wall Street's designated fiscal agent, the Alliance for Global Justice, a D.C.-based not-for-profit.

About a week ago, AFGL said that an account already containing about $40,000 to $60,000 in donations collected through online credit card payments was frozen for three days, the report said.
Initially, the AFGL pointed its finger at a Visa subsidiary called Authorized.net citing political motives for freezing the funds. 

Here's what a founding member wrote on the not-for-profit's site [via The New Haven Independent]:

“I can’t help but believe that politics must be involved somewhere,” said Kathy Hoyt, a founding member of AfGJ, in a statement posted online. She noted that Authorize.net is owned by CyberSource Corporation, which is owned by Visa, which is traded on the New York Stock Exchange.

A Visa spokesperson denied those allegations saying it only handled the transactions.

Eventually, the AFGL directed its blame toward E-onlinedata, who handled the money, and asked its supporters to call the company and demand that they release the frozen funds.

It finally realized its own fault in the situation because they failed to understand the level of liability expressed in the contract with the online payment company.

AFGL issued an apology.

“We apologize to E-Onlinedata for any actions on our part that may have been construed as reflecting negatively on their company.  Following extensive conversations with the company today, we are confident that the situation is on its way to a rapid resolution. Please stop making calls to E-Onlinedata.” 

The released money is expected to be posted to the AFGL's account today.