2025 Black History Month Special

On this week's Sonic Cycle, Kaamil dives deep on some of the resources that he's used to learn more about Black History in Canada and the United States. We explore Lupe Fiasco's DROGAS WAVE and the theory of The LongChains, Questlove's "Summer of Soul (...or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)", and a bunch of content that Kaamil looks forward to watching, reading and listening to in the future.

Here are more resources to learn even more about Black History:

Kaamil's Recommended Reads, Watches and Listens:

- “Can’t Stop Won’t Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation”

- “We Still Here: Hip Hop North of the 49th Parallel”

- "Mo Metta Blues"

- "Summer of Love (...or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)"

- "13th"

- "Diary of a Naija Immigrant" (Produced here at CJSW!)

- "Historical Figures, Icons & Others" (Specifically "Episode 2: Harriet Tubman" and "Episode 6: John Ware"; fun fact, I went to school at the Junior High named after John Ware!)

- "Questlove Supreme" (the entire series is great but the Black History Month Celebration episodes may be a good place to start)

- CBC Gem's "Black Stories" Section: https://gem.cbc.ca/collection/black-stories

- UCalgary's Section on "Books by and on Black Canadians": https://www.ucalgary.ca/equity-diversity-inclusion/literacy-education/anti-black-racism/books-and-black-canadians

- CBC's "25 books about being Black in Canada":https://www.cbc.ca/books/25-books-about-being-black-in-canada-1.5596949

- Goodreads' book list for "Canadian Black History Month": https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/66605.Canadian_Black_History_Month

- Dive Deeper into Lupe Fiasco's DROGAS WAVE and the lyrical and symbolic messaging on Genius.com:

https://genius.com/albums/Lupe-fiasco/Drogas-wave" rel="noopener noreferrer">

https://genius.com/albums/Lupe-fiasco/Drogas-wave

- Watch "Summer of Soul (...or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)" on CBC Gem: https://gem.cbc.ca/summer-of-soul



Playlist:

• Capital Steez - Free The Robots
• J Dilla - JLJ Intro
• J Dilla - Yesterday
• Black Star - Astronomy (8th Light)
• Black Star - Intro
• Oscar Peterson - East Of The Sun (And West Of The Moon
• Lupe Fiasco - In the Event of Typhoon
• Lupe Fiasco - WAV Files
• Lupe Fiasco - Don't Mess up the Children
• Curtis Mayfield - Move on Up
• Roberta Flack - Tryin' Times
• Marvin Gaye - Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)
• Sly & the Family Stone - Everybody Is a Star
• Oliver Jones - It Never Entered My Mind
• Nina Simone - Backlash Blues