PRS for Music’s Tracy Lane remembers Maya Angelou who sadly passed away last week…
Dr. Maya Angelou was a pinnacle of the black community, a woman who has left a massive and inspiring footprint, not only on the music industry, but on the arts as a whole, in many different ways.
Maya was the inspiration behind some of the biggest names in black music. She relentlessly and effortlessly sang, penned and danced her way through over four decades of racial discrimination, sexual discrimination, abuse and general intolerance while remaining dignified, classy and beautiful.
Her hard work began paying off when she found a regular spot in a club called The Purple Onion, a bar in San Francisco. This was the starting point of her popularity, fan following and debut album called Miss Calypso co-written by Angelou and released in 1957.
Miss Calypso is a beautiful album of calypso beat drenched bliss and totally pleasing on the ear although the sounds are at odds with the darkness of the lyrics of the tracks.
Dr. Maya Angelou touched the lives of many inside and outside the music industry. Her poem Still I Rise shows just how powerful the influence of her art. The work is uplifting for anyone dealing with hardship and an amplifier of when you are going through the good. It is also quite obviously written with a very serious message in overcoming the turbulence of racial inequality while also being full of hope in the face of adversity. Secondly, it also has to be the driving force behind the title of the late, great Tupac Shakur’s album of the same name. Angelou and Tupac had met on the set of a movie some years before.
I found that aside from Tupac, she has indefinably influenced Common, Dilated Peoples, Lupe Fiasco, The Roots, Kanye West, Nas, Teena Marie and Akrobatik to name a few. All have mentioned her in their vocals, albums, tattooed her words on themselves or paid homage to her via social media. I would like to add that’s just to name a few.
She has remained proud yet humble, strong yet loving and generally deserves to have a moments respect paid to her for her contribution to all artists.
Tracy Lane
Maya Angelou passed away at her home in Winston-Salem, North Carolina on Wednesday 28 May aged 86.
Dr. Maya Angelou was a pinnacle of the black community, a woman who has left a massive and inspiring footprint, not only on the music industry, but on the arts as a whole, in many different ways.
Maya was the inspiration behind some of the biggest names in black music. She relentlessly and effortlessly sang, penned and danced her way through over four decades of racial discrimination, sexual discrimination, abuse and general intolerance while remaining dignified, classy and beautiful.
Her hard work began paying off when she found a regular spot in a club called The Purple Onion, a bar in San Francisco. This was the starting point of her popularity, fan following and debut album called Miss Calypso co-written by Angelou and released in 1957.
Miss Calypso is a beautiful album of calypso beat drenched bliss and totally pleasing on the ear although the sounds are at odds with the darkness of the lyrics of the tracks.
Dr. Maya Angelou touched the lives of many inside and outside the music industry. Her poem Still I Rise shows just how powerful the influence of her art. The work is uplifting for anyone dealing with hardship and an amplifier of when you are going through the good. It is also quite obviously written with a very serious message in overcoming the turbulence of racial inequality while also being full of hope in the face of adversity. Secondly, it also has to be the driving force behind the title of the late, great Tupac Shakur’s album of the same name. Angelou and Tupac had met on the set of a movie some years before.
I found that aside from Tupac, she has indefinably influenced Common, Dilated Peoples, Lupe Fiasco, The Roots, Kanye West, Nas, Teena Marie and Akrobatik to name a few. All have mentioned her in their vocals, albums, tattooed her words on themselves or paid homage to her via social media. I would like to add that’s just to name a few.
She has remained proud yet humble, strong yet loving and generally deserves to have a moments respect paid to her for her contribution to all artists.
Tracy Lane
Maya Angelou passed away at her home in Winston-Salem, North Carolina on Wednesday 28 May aged 86.
