“Talking ‘bout the Revolution” (1988) by Tracy Chapman (b. Cleveland, 1964)
“I Find It Hard to Say (Rebel)” (2002) by Lauryn Hill (b. East Orange, New Jersey, 1975)

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 Robert Hughes, Goya (2003), p. 261.
Geoffrey Best, War and Society in Revolutionary Europe, 1770-1870 (1982), p. 174.

Funk, folk-rock and neo soul meet the symphony with these three great hits from the 1970s, ‘80s and early 2000s, all three carrying a strong political message.  

The short-lived band The Lumpen, formed by members of the Black Panther Party, was formed in Oakland.  One of their most memorable concerts, with the participation of Muhammad Ali and Curtis Mayfield, was performed at San Quentin, where the performance was interrupted by the prison guards.  “No More,” written by band member Bill Calhoun, shows a strong blues influence; it was one of two songs The Lumpen recorded on a 45-rpm record released by Black Panther Party Productions.

Tracy Chapman’s “Talking ‘bout the Revolution,” written when Chapman was still in high school, became one of the most influential American protest songs of all time and spent many weeks at the top of the charts. 

Lauryn Hill’s “I Find It Hard to Say (Rebel)” was written in memory of Amadou Diallo, a young man from Guinea who became a victim of mistaken identity when he was fatally shot by police in New York City on February 4, 1999.  Hill first released the song in 2002, and presented it in a new version in 2016, after several more tragic killings of Black people at the hands of the police.