In celebration of Black Music Month & Pride, for Juneteenth, DJ LiKWUiD re-releases BBJ as Black Boy Joy, a moving audio graphic in collaboration with Harlem's Kendrick Daye.
"Black Boy Joy was a beat that I created during the height of the pandemics (racism and disease), I was feeling frustrated, stressed and afraid for my nephews- other black men that I love and cherish as friends...myself, my sister- strangers- due to the amount of mass graves dug by civil servants and covered by politicians.
It was a dark time. I was at my computer in a bit of a misty "writer's block". I looked up and saw my nephews playing and was immediately happy (happier, I should say)- and somewhat at [temporary] ease. I thought about how many times the ancestors danced through despair, and the elders sang freedom songs through the struggle, and then, I just thought about our joy as a people as protest.
And when I say 'the people" it's deeper than race, it's deeper than gender, classism- all the isms. No matter how much they try to beat us down- joy, existing and marching on is a radical act. And it's one that is beautiful."
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