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Lauryn Hill dedicates new song 'Black Rage' to Ferguson

Singer posted the sketch to her website with the message 'Peace for MO'

Daisy Wyatt
Friday 22 August 2014 13:57 BST
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Lauryn Hill performs on stage at the Amnesty International Concert in New York
Lauryn Hill performs on stage at the Amnesty International Concert in New York (Getty Images)

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Lauryn Hill has dedicated a new version of her song “Black Rage” to Ferguson following the race riots in Missouri.

The US singer and rapper uploaded the song to her website, writing: “An old sketch of Black Rage, done in my living room. Strange, the course of things. Peace for MO.”

Set to the tune of “My Favourite Things” from The Sound of Music, the lyrics take on a much darker tone than those sung by Julie Andrews.

The lo-fi recording, which includes sounds of children in the background, features lyrics that refer to incidents that inspire “black rage”.

Lauryn Hill sings: “Black Rage is founded on two thirds a person / Rapings and beatings and suffering that worsens / Black human packages tied up in strings / Black Rage can come from all these kinds of things."

“Black Rage is founded on blatant denial / Squeezed economics, subsistence survival / Deafening silence and social control / Black Rage is founded on wounds in the soul,” she continues.

The outspoken political artist wrote an extended blog on her Tumblr page last year talking about “reverse racism” in response to being sent to prison for tax evasion.

“Most, if not all of the negative responses from people of color toward white people, are reactions to the hatred, violence, cruelty and brutality that they were shown by white people for centuries,” she wrote.

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