Power vs. Powerlessness Mixtape

Christopher Martin

Dr.Harris 

African American Literature

Dec.01.2025

Power vs. Powerlessness Mixtape

I wanted to talk about power vs. powerlessness and how these two concepts have relations where both of their meanings differ from each other. These two alternatives are connected to things we have gone over, This opens up how identity and voice are set up through struggle against systems of tyranny. 

1.’’ I, Too’’- Langston Hughes

2. ‘’ Strange Fruit’’- Billie Holiday 

3. ‘’ To be Young, Gifted and Black’’- Nina Simone

4. ‘’ Say it loud, Im black and im Proud’’- James Brown

5. ‘’ Mississippi Goddam - Nina Simone 

6. ‘’ The revolution will not be televised’’- Gil Scott-Heron

7. ‘’ Alright’’- Kendrick Lamar 

8. ‘’ Formation’’- Beyonce 

9. ‘’ Glory’’- Common and John Legend 

10. ‘’ freedom’’- Beyonce ft. kendrick lamar

11. ‘’ Black Parade’’- Beyonce 

12. ‘’ The Bigger the picture’’- Lil baby 

13. ‘’ Black Man in a White World’’- Michael Kiwanuka 

This Mixtape shows the different things Langston hughes talks about in the ‘’ The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain’’. It takes the pressure from black artists to hide or try to destroy their culture to the point where they fully accept their identity and turn it into strength. Power vs. powerlessness isn't just two things, it is something that each artist is challenged with and deals with in their own way. The first song in the play list helps explain what Hughes is trying to argue. Other artists like Billie Holiday and Nina Simone indicate the age Hughes was speaking to during the Harlem renaissance. They expressed their true selves without being scared or in shame, and not trying to create what the white audiences wanted. Their way of not backing down to what's true to them shows how they turned being silenced or belittled into fitting in, into real power by using their voices to embrace their culture. The songs from James Brown and Gil Scott-Heron show the change towards direct Black pride and political awareness. These artists do what  Hughes wanted black people to do, They use their black identities as the center of their music and embrace it. Scott-Heron represents Hughes' criticism of black people that would  follow white people's ways instead of their own standards. He speaks straight forward to black people  and calls out watered down versions of black culture.  The Artist kendrick lamar and beyonce shows that Hughes was imagining what the future would be like.  They show how the new colored artists have grown and black culture is shown through their music. He believed that people who are wealthy don't have to go through hard things to get there. Beyonce's growth is a good example, she went from her music being for mostly white people to releasing songs like’’ Formation and black parade, which show black southern culture and disregard white people's perception. This shows how Hughes thinks of a poet who wants to be seen as a black poet and how being black is beautiful. Lil Baby's song is a good representation of power in music that crosses class lines. Hughes always applauded the regular people, the people who created jazz and blues shaped black culture. Music now gets judged just like how Blues were judged but lil baby’s song still got impressive numbers. Lil baby shows that common people could gain power. The last song in the mixtape is kiwanuka’s song, His songs shows the difficulties between power vs powerlessness and that it still goes on in today's time. Black artists now are dealing with the same thing Hughes was talking about, but the mixtape shows how if you embrace yourself you can gain power from it no matter what white people would think. All the artists that are  in the mixtape turn their own powerlessness into strength and their music stands on its own. Every song celebrates black art that doesn’t try to please other societies, hughes believed in being who are and that is power