奧巴馬總統的夏天播放列表:對自己黑色皮膚驕傲的肯定

Straight out of college, I dated a guy from Washington DC who had just spent a few years working on the redevelopment of public housing projects in Chicago. We met at Harvard, where I was working as a receptionist at the department of Afro-American studies, which was his focus for a graduate degree. He was easygoing and honest, handsome and smart, with outstanding taste in music (I will be forever grateful to him for introducing me to Outkast – in particular, Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik). A light-skinned black man with a palpable sense of racial pride, the man I’ll call Tim would occasionally mention with fondness a friend he’d made during his time in Chicago. The two had bonded over basketball and politics, race and identity, local government policy and community service. His friend’s name was Barack.

直走出大學校門，我和一個來自華盛頓特區的人相遇了。他剛好在芝加哥的公共住房重建項目工作了幾年。我們相遇在哈佛，我在那的非裔美國人研究部門工作，這是他研究生學位的研究點。他很隨和，誠實，英俊又聰明，在音樂領域有突出的嗅覺（我將永遠感謝他把我介紹給流浪者合唱團 - 尤其是Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik）。一個淺黑色男子，帶着明顯的種族自豪感，我總是叫他蒂姆。我偶爾會欣賞性地提起這位芝加哥的好朋友。我們兩個總是一起參與籃球和政治，種族和身份，地方政府的政策和社區服務等各種場合。他的朋友的名字是巴拉克。

Now, do I know for a fact that Tim had an influence on the president’s musical preferences? No. But judging from Obama’s summer playlist, released on Thursday, I’m willing to posit that it’s not out of the question. Both Tim and the president have black fathers and white mothers, while firmly identifying as black, as opposed to biracial or mixed – which, given the current climate for black men in America, is not an unfraught declaration. Still, as Obama wrote in his book Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance, he didn’t get there overnight, and he often turned to books and friends and black cultural markers for guidance.

現在，是否我知道一個事實是，Tim對於總統愛好音樂方面起了很大的影響？不是，但從奧巴馬的夏季播放列表，上週四公佈的情況來看，我斷定是。蒂姆和總統，都有黑人父親和白人母親，但都被被堅決地認定爲是黑人，而不是混血兒- 這，鑑於目前美國黑人所處的環境，是讓人擔憂的宣言。儘管如此，奧巴馬在他的書中《我父親的夢想：種族和繼承的故事》寫道：他通宵都沒能到達，他經常求助於書籍和朋友和黑人文化標誌。

There’s no black cultural marker more abiding than our music, and if Obama’s playlist indicates nothing else it’s that reaffirmation of one’s blackness can always be found right there in the bars. It also strikes me that although he has been frequently criticized for his handling of race and policies regarding the overall inequities experienced by black folks in America, among the most important aspects of his legacy is that he is going to leave that Oval Office as blackity black as he was when he entered. And that means mic drops, an entire absence of fucks, and dope playlists.

沒有比我們的音樂更持久的黑人文化，而如果奧巴馬的播放列表沒有標明任何事情，對於黑人的重申總是可以在酒吧裏找到。這也讓我覺得，雖然有關於他處理種族問題和美國黑人經歷了不平等政策時，總是被批評指責，他的饋贈中最重要的方面之一是，他將要離開和當時進入白宮橢圓形辦公室的時都是黑皮膚。這意味着麥克風下降，整個沒有亂搞的，而酷斃的播放列表。

Most satisfying to see from the nighttime list is I’ll Be There for You (You’re All I Need to Get By) by Method Man featuring Mary J Blige. Who among us of a certain age can forget the dark beauty and elegant, sublime emotion in the video for this song – Method in cornrows, Mary with her bucket hat pulled down low over her eyes, just the gloss of her lips making out the lyrics, head bobbing, both sitting on the pavement, backs to the wall surrounded by a menacing cityscape. It’s the blackest, most glorious, magnificent display of camaraderie, love and loyalty. There isn’t a day that has gone by with Obama in the White House that it hasn’t been resolutely clear that Michelle is all he needs to get by: “Back when I was nothing/You made a brother feel like he was something/That’s why I’m with you to this day boo no fronting.” We will miss them.

從夜間列表中看到最滿意的是Method Man最具特色的瑪麗•布萊姬：爲了你我會在那裏（你是我需要的一切）。我們中間某些年齡段的人會忘記在這首歌的視頻裏那些黑色的美麗和優雅，崇高的情感 - Method in cornrows，瑪麗把她的帽子拉得低低的，蓋住她的眼睛，只有她的嘴脣輕吟出這些旋律，搖着頭，大家都坐在人行道上，背對着牆，被來勢洶洶的城市景觀包圍着。這是最黑暗、最輝煌、最氣勢磅礴的友情、愛情和忠誠的展示。沒有一天奧巴馬在白宮沒有明確堅決地表明米歇爾是他的支柱：“回來時，我一無所有/你讓哥哥有了自我/這就是爲什麼直到今天我們還在一起。 “我們會想念他們。