Nina Simone and Billie Holiday were very powerful black women in America at a time where you would think someone like her could have no platform at all. Listening to just two of thier songs, “Strange Fruit” and “Mississippi Goddamn” and seeing a short video of them performing showed me how much effect she did have in civil rights. They didn’t care about the fame or money they got from singing, she really just wanted to make a difference in the world. They would begin to inspire other blues artists to speak about civil rights and other sensitive subjects in America. I thought I never heard Holiday’s music when I saw her name but I realized I did when we started listening to Strange Fruit. I heard this song when it was sampled by Kanye West in one of his songs called “Blood On The Leaves”. I thought that is really cool to see someone I listen to be influenced by someone I have never heard of before today and keep her music alive by using it in their own songs. In the song “Mississippi Goddamn” Simone sings about how she is mad at how everyone knows how awful blacks are getting treated but no one does anything about it and when you watch her live you can feel how upset she really is and how she moves the crowd. Seeing how these two songs influenced the country, I can imagine how all of her work inspired the civil rights movement to make a giant step forward and why they are considered legendary.
I wrote about the same thing as well. You're right they both didn't care for the money and the fame they both was trying to send out a message. It was heard as well. It's crazy how the African American community is being treated and it isn't fair. Women, children, men and etc shouldn't have to fear the people that we call if they're in danger or anything but I guess that's just how it is now.
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