“I am a Yolngu Man from North East Arnhem Land. I am angry. I am scared. I feel every negative emotion that there is to feel about what happened to George Floyd” - Australian hip-hop star Baker Boy wrote in his Instagram post about police violence in the USA. As he wrote, it also happens in the, seemingly, much fairer communities - “I feel these emotions EVERY DAMN DAY... This is my life and I am scared, I have anxiety about going to unknown places like a different cafe from my usual, not to mention the challenge of touring from the fear of racism, that, yes, is still rampant here in Australia too”. He shared advice - "I truly hope your activism goes further than your social media. Activism starts at home, with hard conversations”.

On Saturday, at the height of protests over George Floyd's death, hacker group Anonymous has tapped into Chicago Police Department’s radios and played N.W.A.’s 'Fuck Tha Police'. Later, on Sunday evening, somebody blocked the Chicago police scanner by playing Tay Zonday’s song-turned-meme 'Chocolate Rain', too.

The US music industry is largely shut down for 24 hours today in memory of George Floyd, and in solidarity with those protesting his death. All the major labels are participating in a day of industry silence along with indie labels, publishers, and distributors. Interscope also announced that it's blacking out its entire release schedule for this Friday, GMA reports. UK radio stations and TV channels have also changed their programmes to mark "Blackout Tuesday", reflecting on George Floyd's death in police custody, BBC reports. BBC Radio 1Xtra is hosting a series of discussions and debates, MTV will go silent for eight minutes (the length of time a white police officer knelt on Mr Floyd's neck), 4 Music will pause its output once an hour throughout the day.

Jay-Z has called on Attorney General Keith Ellison to prosecute those responsible for the killing of George Floyd to the “fullest extent of the law”, after reaching out directly to Minnesota Governor Tim Walz to talk about the state’s handling of the crime. Jay-Z wrote Justice for Floyd is “just a first step” for healing the country, adding - “I am more determined to fight for justice than any fight my would-be oppressors may have”.

“We were peaceful, hands up, not moving, not breaching the line. [Police] opened fire of rubber bullets and tear gas multiple times on us" - Halsey wrote after she was struck by rubber bullets and shrapnel and gassed while participating in a Black Lives Matter protest in Los Angeles on Saturday. The wounds did not brake her - “most of us were simply begging them to have empathy, to reconsider humanity and our nations history and future. The frontline did not relent. I will be returning”.

Rapper Killer Mike made an impassioned plea to residents of Atlanta asking them to not vandalize their city while also expressing rage over the murder of George Floyd. “We have to be better than burning down our own homes because if we lose Atlanta, what else we got?” - Killer Mike asked. “It is your duty to not burn your own house down for anger with an enemy. It is your duty to fortify your own house, so that you may be a house of refuge in times of organization. And now is the time to plot, plan, strategize, organize, and mobilize”. He condemned the murder of Floyd, calling for a better system - "we don’t want to see targets burning, we want to see the system that sets up systemic racism, burn to the ground”. Bon Iver's Justin Vernon has shared a similar sentiment: "A police state cannot fix what a police state has broken. Only equal freedom and protection of all citizens can begin to reset the scales of justice”.

"[Freedom] is about living the life you want … I feel free and freedom is priceless” - French-Algerian rapper Soolking told Guardian about that fundamental element of everyone's life, the one that so many lack. Young people of Algeria felt like that when they started protests against the regime last year, with Soolking's song 'Liberté' being the unofficial anthem of the year-long protests.

"It's difficult to imagine us getting together in the thousands anytime soon, so I think we should be prepared for that this year" Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti told CNN. Earlier, New York City mayor Bill de Blasio called large public gatherings "one of the last things that we bring back... The last thing I want to do is gather 10,000, 20,000, 50,000 people in one place, that's like the exact opposite of social distancing".

The German federal government has allowed aid package for the country’s creative and cultural sectors with €50 billion in grants and loans, Artnet reports. Culture minister Monika Grütter said “the creative courage of creative people can help to overcome the crisis... Artists are not only indispensable, but also vital, especially now”. In the US, songwriters, along with other “gig economy” workers in the music industry ranging from producers to roadies, will be eligible for grants and loans under the $2 trillion (that's a 1 with 12 zeros following) stimulus bill passed by the US Senate in response to the coronavirus pandemic, Variety reports. The coronavirus stimulus bill gives the music industry a fighting chance, Rolling Stone comments.

Britney Spears shared a graphic by the writer Mimi Zhu on her Instagram, which included the line: “We will feed each other, re-destribute wealth, strike”. Spears captioned the graphic: “Communion moves beyond walls” and added three red rose emojis, a symbol associated with the socialist cause online, Complex reports. Zhu said on Twitter that she was “really grateful” that "comrade Britney" had shared the post, because "she moved me a lot while I was growing up". Spears has been under her father’s conservatorship since February 2008 and does not control her own fortune or business decisions, including her lucrative Vegas residency.

Bernie Sanders has drawn endorsements from a wide range of Gen X and millennial rock musicians - from Vampire Weekend, the Strokes and Portugal. the Man to Jack White, Best Coast and Bon Iver, as well as a number of hip-hop artists, among them Public Enemy, Cardi B., Lizzo, Run the Jewels’ Killer Mike, Anderson .Paak, Lil Yachty, rapper T.I., and pop stars including Miley Cyrus, Zedd and Ariana Grande. It's not only Sanders who musician like - Cher, singer/actress Rita Wilson and her husband Tom Hanks are stumping for former Vice President Joe Biden, while John Legend, Melissa Etheridge, Rosanne Cash and Aimee Mann are backing Sen. Elizabeth Warren. LA Times discusses what does such support mean in the age of social media?

Public Enemy have parted ways with their charismatic MC Flavor Flav, after more than 35 years, Rolling Stone reports. The dismissal came two days after the rapper sent a cease-and-desist letter to Bernie Sanders' campaign after his bandmates said they'd appear at one of his rallies in Los Angeles. Frontman Chuck D suggested on Twitter the disagreement over Sanders' rally was financially, not politically, motivated - "i there was a $bag, Flav would've been there front & centre. He will NOT do free benefit shows". Flavor Flav's cease-and-desist letter accused the campaign of using his "unauthorised likeness, image and trademarked clock in promotional materials" for a Los Angeles rally, even though the rapper "has not endorsed any political candidate". Public Enemy later performed at Sanders' LA rally, under the Public Enemy Radio banner - featuring Chuck D, DJ Lord, Jahi and the S1Ws.

Jay-Z has filed a civil lawsuit against the Mississippi Department of Corrections on behalf of 152 inmates at a state prison, alleging “abhorrent conditions, abuse and constant violence, inadequate health care and mental health care, and overuse of isolation", CNN reports. It is the second lawsuit brought against the prison by Jay-Z - he filed a suit, in tandem with Ya Gotti, on behalf of 29 other inmates in January. Jay-Z has frequently involved himself in African American civil rights cases using his philanthropy arm Team Roc.

"There's a lot of people and entities out there who are deathly afraid of a world that is less vanilla and more chocolate" - soul singer Zeshan B told the Fader about his new song and video 'Brown Power'. He explains further on - "but no matter what, I feel that no one - no matter how hard they try - will have the power to halt this 'caramelization' of vanilla and chocolate. Whether it be interracial marriages, business partnerships, artistic collaborations, elections, sports-people are slowly starting to embrace a more brown paradigm that is more inclusive, more dynamic and more accountable to the complexities of the human race". In the Adeel Ahmed-directed video, several politicians and celebrities like Hasan Minhaj, Rev. Jesse Jackson, and Hari Kondabalu make cameos.

Washington D.C. mayor has signed into law a bill that makes go-go music the official music of the district. "This is a musical genre that originated here, and we want to make sure it lives on for generations to come" - Muriel Bowser said. Go-go is a popular music subgenre associated with funk originating in the Washington, D.C., area during the mid-60s to late-70s. Go-go is a blend of funk, rhythm and blues, and soul music. Go-go's place at the heart of D.C.'s culture has come under increased threat over the years as a younger, whiter population has moved in and changed the city's landscape.

PJ Harvey documentary 'A Dog Called Money', about her trips to Washington D.C., Kosovo, and Afghanistan, will have its US theatrical premiere at Film Forum in New York City on March 18. Those trips inspired the Seamus Murphy documentary, as well as PJ Harvey’s 2016 album 'The Hope Six Demolition Project'. It's not hard to connect the dots on the map - destinies of both Kosovo and Afghanistan were heavily influenced by Washington politics...

Homosexuality in Spain was only decriminalised in 1979. Spanish women had long been subject to a patrician curfew, which made most streets and bars an entirely male domain by 9pm. The country’s Civil Guard could detain anyone whose clothes, hair, or face gave them the flimsiest pretext under the prevailing law of “dangerousness and social rehabilitation”. The country was still being effectively run by soldiers and priests when a ragged lineup of young punks staged a free concert at Madrid Polytechnic on 9 February 1980, and everything changed, for the better. Forty years later, that night is remembered as the event that launched La Movida Madrileña, a countercultural eruption in the city during the country’s volatile “transition” to democracy.

The Resistance Revival Chorus is a New York collective of women protest singers, founded in the wake of the 2017 Women’s March. Since then, they’ve backed Kesha during her chill-inducing Grammy performance, sung Spanish lullabies to detained migrant children outside a New York holding facility, and been shouted-out by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. This spring, the female activist collective will play Bonnaroo and release their debut album.

In the country music industry, there is a saying “You don't want to be 'Dixie Chicks-ed", meaning you don't want to say one thing that's going to blow up your whole career. Dixie Chicks went from global stars, to being "canceled" (no albums, sporadic concerts, low radio-airplay), to heroes. The crucial moment was their political comment, which they didn't apologize for, didn't regret it, and, in the end - "it paid off, for them, and for everyone else who refuses to shut up and sing".

In March 2016, Major Lazer played an outdoor concert in Havana for half a million people. Then the Rolling Stones gave their first-ever show in Cuba, a massive free event that for many Cubans symbolized the dawn of a new era. Since 2017 a series of travel regulations and economic sanctions have been put in […]

Brian Eno has released a new song 'Everything’s on the Up with the Tories', a political satire aimed at UK's Conservative Party (colloquially known as The Tories). It's a fun song, about some not-so-funny subjects like Brexit, National Health Service, unemployment, the pay gap, Donald Trump. All proceeds from it go to aid the homeless.

BBC has an interesting social article about what happened to the music and people in Berlin after the two sides of the city reunified. "It was not people from East Berlin dancing to music that was already around or going to spaces that were West Berlin spaces, but it was really that people from the […]

Danica Roem, the lead vocalist of thrash metal band Cab Ride Home, made history in 2017 when she became the first openly transgender official to be elected to a state legislature in the US, in conservative-leaning Virginia, Brooklyn Vegan reports. This week the history repeated itself - Roem won her re-election campaign against anti-LGBTQ and anti-abortion challenger […]

‘Glory to Hong Kong’ was written by a local musician named Thomas in his mid-20s, a producer known only as K mixed the track after answering Thomas’ online call for extra volunteers. Thomas told the BBC he hoped the song would "unite Hong Kongers and boost public morale". The song began spreading in August, thanks […]

BBC has a political piece with South African rappers about elections being held May 8, since six million young eligible voters in South Africa didn't even bother to register earlier this year. Rapper Lex Lafoy puts it simple and correct: "What use are these freedoms if we don't know how best to use them".

Spin has combed through USA government documents and compiled a list of popular musicians who have donated this quarter to Democrats. Individual contributions are limited to 2,800 dollars to a candidate. Here's some donators: Norah Jones donated 2,500 dollars to "socialist" candidate Bernie Sanders, Foo Fighters guitarist Chris Shiflett gave him 1,000 dollars, Jackson Browne […]