Throughout time musical artist have used their platform to convey messages to their audience. Music has served as an way to convey political and social issues in a way thats less abrasive than a speech or a news article. The first traces of this practice was folk music and negro spirituals; these artists used their platforms to appeal to their communities and others the issues they were currently facing no matter how big or small. Folk artists like Oddetta played songs containing messages about black oppression and slavery to white audiences. She also sang old folk songs created by white men to appeal to her audience while still conveying her central message. Negro spirituals originally served as way of communication and motivation to keep on going, but as time passed it developed into a form of art that was able to convey the true struggles of slaves. Even if the audience couldn’t fathom what these artists were going through they were still able to receive the message due to it being delivered musically. Artist today like J Cole and Kendrick Lamar touch on social and political issues currently going on in their music while still being able to maintain popularity across countless communities. Without music we would be left to portray these social and political issues in ways that might nit be receptive across different communities of people. Music will continue to serve as a platform to illustrate messages that are complicated to truly grasp and understand as long as people are receptive to the idea.
