Over one billion Africans on the continent. 200 million in the diaspora. 18% of the world’s population. Thousands of artists with a gazillion listeners every day. What will it take for Black music to truly liberate Black people?

Warning: This episode contains very strong language and language that may offend.

Credits:

Written by George the Poet

Soundtrack:

Mahalia Jackson - Summertime / Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child

00:57 - 07:36

Dave & Stormzy - Clash

09:39 - 11:26

Nas - If I Ruled The World (Imagine That) ft. Lauryn Hill

12:34 - 13:04

Bobi Wine - Maama Mbile ft Juliana

14:17 - 14:46

Damian Marley - Welcome to Jamrock

19:01 - 20:20

Jazmine Sullivan - Pick Up Your Feelings

20:42 - 21:41

Solange - F.U.B.U (feat. The-Dream & BJ the Chicago Kid)

22:47 - 24:47

Benbrick - Falling Tide (performed by the BBC Concert Orchestra)

24:57 - 29:04

Thank you to:

My team: Sandra, Vidhu, Birungi, Luke AG. BBC Sounds: Dylan and Jason. BBC Concert Orchestra. Evan Rogers, who worked with Benbrick on the orchestrations and prep for Abbey Road, Tom Kelly, our conductor, and Adam Miller, our engineer, for those Abbey Road sessions. The Common Ground team. Zeze Mills and Trend Centrl. My PHD team Mariana Mazzucato and Karen Edge. The Fisk Jubilee Singers.

A very big thank you to Kasana and Jade for their contributions on Common Ground which we included in this episode used at 08:35 and 08:50. Want to contribute? www.GTPCG.com

Archive:

The clips of George chatting with Zeze Mills used first at 00:34 are taken from George’s appearance on The Zeze Mills show.

The clips of George chatting with economist Mariana Mazzucato used first at 01:36 are recorded by George.

The clip of Sam Cooke used at 05:28 is taken from his interview with Dick Clark on American Bandstand.

The clip used at 06:29 is taken from the ABC News 20/20 Hip Hop special report from 1981.

The clip used at 07:02 is taken from the BBC News documentary London’s Bleeding.

We used various clips from different Chapter 3 episodes:

The clip from Episode 20 used at 11:52 featured Benbrick’s remake of My First Song, originally by Jay-Z.

The clip used at 12:34 is taken from Episode 21 .

The clip from Episode 22 used at 19:01 features archive of Damian Marley from his interview with Seani B on 1Xtra, and a clip of Bob Marley taken from his interview with Gil Noble for WABC-TV’s “Like It Is”.

The clip from Episode 23 used at 13:28 featured Dot Rotten’s BBC 1Xtra Westwood freestyle.

The clip used at 14:17 is taken from Episode 23.

The clip used at 20:42 is taken from Episode 25.

The clip from Episode 26 used at 15:17 featured the music Sounds & Vibrations, and The State of the Ends both by Benbrick. The archive clip used is taken from the BBC documentary “Roots, Reggae, Rebellion”.

Have You Heard George’s Podcast is a George the Poet production for BBC Sounds.

Commissioning Assistant Producer: Adam Eland