A Brief Train of Thought: Blacks' Magic

One of my favorite album covers is the cover of Salt-N-Pepa’s Blacks’ Magic. I ran across the album last summer and made an impulse buy based on the cover art alone. The other day, I was in the shower thinking about why I like this cover so much, when I had a realization about my attitude toward many issues today.

 

This really is a wonderful cover. Salt, Pepa and Spinderella appear to be having a sleepover in a magnificent library wherein they have discovered a tome of magic. Spellbound, they turn its leaves by candlelight. It’s a cute scene, and a little sexy.

It’s also spooky. Spirits of the dead hang overhead: Nina Simone, Louis Armstrong, Jimi Hendrix and Billie Holiday. Have the girls just chanted a passage summoning these souls from the afterlife? In any case, it’s clear their magic is not black magic of the occult variety but the magic of black musicians.

This is no perfunctory nod to great singers and instrumentalists of the past. No doubt Salt-N-Pepa were inspired by these musicians and hoped to channel a little of their artistry into the hip-hop on Blacks’ Magic. Now take that idea beyond music to all fields from visual arts and literature to science and social reform, and you arrive at an incredibly rich cultural heritage.

At this point in my train of thought, I arrived at Black History Month, which is designed to celebrate exactly this heritage. On social media, the agora of the 21st Century, there is a debate about Black History Month. The dialogue usually plays out with one side promoting the observance, while the other raises objections: If all people are equal, isn’t Black History Month itself racist? Why can’t we have a White History Month? Do we need a History Month for every group imaginable?

I do, of course, take a side in this nitty-gritty free-for-all, but my innermost self, my attitude prior to debate, the part of me that grew up among decent people, simply thinks Black History Month is a nice thing, so why not? The world has plenty of things to celebrate, and why shouldn’t the contributions to cultural heritage by black individuals be among them?

Salt-N-Pepa are interested in black heritage as African Americans, but it strikes me how this heritage is a shared heritage: It’s my heritage, too. Whenever I borrowed my dad’s Woodstock albums as a kid, my favorite tracks were Jimi Hendrix’s “Star Spangled Banner” and “Purple Haze.” The other spirits on the cover of Blacks’ Magic are no strangers either, with Billie Holiday being a particular favorite. Of course, the list doesn’t stop there. In fact, it’s so extensive that listing names would be ridiculous. Whether you feel the need to focus on the racial label or not, black heritage is simply a part of our cultural background, and it has blessed us all.

 

I take this underlying attitude with me to a lot of cultural debates, including but not limited to race issues. The first issues to come to mind are all in popular culture: A black Captain America? Okay, cool! Idris Elba for James Bond? Okay, cool! A Muslim Ms. Marvel? Okay, cool! A lesbian Batwoman? Okay, cool! A gay Star Wars character? Fine by me! A female Thor, who is Thor and even wields Mjolnir? By Valhalla’s gates, yes!

Prior to any debate, I simply approve of a diversity of cool stuff.  

And Blacks’ Magic is cool stuff. Aside from that wonderful cover, it has intelligent lyrics, samples from Public Enemy and James Brown, a bewitching melody borrowed from The Turtles, ubiquitous salt and pepper shaker sounds, hit songs of the nostalgic sort, and a couple songs that even have that perfect hip-hop sound I spent years looking for. “Live and Let Die” is one, but “Swift” is even better:

 

I don’t mean to suggest that there aren’t important issues at stake in the cultural debates of the day, only that it’s also important to step back and simply enjoy what’s out there. This is possible even if you’re the kind of person for whom a progressive social agenda is suspect. There was a time--if only mythic--when we didn’t fight over everything, and if you look, you may find that time exists somewhere within you, too.