15041611Voices: A World Forum for Music Therapy1504-1611GAMUT - Grieg Academy Music Therapy Research Centre (NORCE &
University of Bergen)10.15845/voices.v21i1.3260Album ReviewReview of Adrian Dunn’s The Black MessiahJohnsonKennedi A.kaj12@iu.eduIndiana University, USANorrisMarisolWilliamsBrittonGipsonLeahVirgoD'Angelo204202121116220212322021Copyright: 2021 The Author(s)2021This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, which permits
unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the
original work is properly cited.https://voices.no/index.php/voices/article/view/
The Black Messiah album is a sonic meditation on Black life that confronts the
histories of anti-Black racism in the U.S. Showcasing a powerful group of Black
artists, the album combines multiple genres including gospel, rap, jazz and opera.
The Black Messiah offers a counter to George Handel’s Messiah and a timely response
to the Black Lives Matter protests of summer 2020.
Adrian Dunn & The Adrian Dunn Singers. (2020). The
Black Messiah [Album]. HoperaWorld Music/Black Music Experience
While dealing with the grief and uncertainty brought on by a global pandemic, the world
was also confronted with the histories and realities of anti-Black racism. We
collectively heard as George Floyd called out for his mother while the life was being
snuffed out of him. We read that Ahmaud Arbery was going for a jog in a neighborhood
when he was pursued and killed. We watched as the police officers who shot a sleeping
Breonna Taylor were acquitted of any wrongdoing.
After the inauguration of President Joseph Biden, my Facebook page seemed to be filled
with people voicing their relief at a supposed return to normalcy. An understandable
reaction considering the past four years under the Trump administration; however, I have
always been skeptical of calls for this return.
Black death at the hands of law enforcement has been a constant in my life. Waking up,
seeing yet another Black person has been murdered by police, witnessing folks bend over
backwards to vilify the victim and justify their killing, and coming to grips with the
fact that no one will be held accountable is my normal. Why would I, or anyone else,
want to return to that? Instead of settling for the normal, why would we not want to
imagine and curate a world in which Black life is cherished? A society that is unified
in its quest for Black liberation? What would it look like for Black joy, grief, anger,
and frustration to be centered? Composer, performer, and producer Adrian Dunn gives us
an idea of what that world and society could sound like in The Black
Messiah.
Both serving as a counter to George Handel’s faithfully performed Messiah
and responding to Black Lives Matter protests over the summer, The
Black Messiah rejects calls to return to normalcy. This rejection is made
clear by Dunn within the opening lines of the album’s first track “Intro”: “I am the
person that has come to remind you that this year, we need to do this differently. This
year, we cannot simply sing the same Christmas songs that you’ve sang for years before
because of Breonna Taylor, Rayshard Brooks, Elijah McClain, Sandra Bland, George Floyd.
All lived.” He continues by telling the listener that this album serves as the “Gospel
according to the Black Messiah”—a messiah in a quest for Black liberation, a messiah
that recognizes the multitudes contained within the Black experience. Dunn finishes the
introduction with the following: “Blackness is brilliance. Blackness is grace. Black is
beautiful. Black is genius…Black is the reflection of me…Black is everything.”
For the rest of the album, Dunn is accompanied by the Adrian Dunn Singers—a vocally
powerful group of twelve pulled together by Dunn. Together they create a sound that
cannot be confined to a singular genre. Billed as a gospel album, the sounds heard on
Dunn’s latest release might be considered a blend of gospel, rap, jazz, and opera. This
fusion does not come as a surprise considering that Dunn, a trained opera singer, is the
founder of HoperaWorld Entertainment—a production company that explores and presents the
union between rap and opera.
This Hopera sound is best exemplified on the songs featuring the rapper
Tony Famous, “Black Messiah” and “Rise Up.” In the titular track, Famous gives voice to
the Black messiah—a person who was not conceived immaculately, was raised by a single
mother, and led a difficult life to be in service of the people. The Dunn Singers echo
the words spoken by Famous building up to an explosive ending. “Black Messiah” is
immediately followed by a more “traditional” sounding gospel song, “Behold” featuring
Erica Renee. The song begins with the Singers and gradually intensifies to only fade off
to make way for a beautifully performed solo by Renee. Other featured artists would
include soprano Darshaya Oden and violinist Caitlin Edwards on the sweetly performed
“Rejoice” and Laquentin Jenkins on the emotionally stirring “Holy.” The featured
artists, Dunn, and the Dunn Singers fluidly and satisfyingly move through the spectrum
of Black aurality.
It should also be noted that this album is intended to be an audiovisual experience.
The Black Messiah was recorded live in Chicago and can be viewed on
Dunn’s Black Music Experience TV (BMETV). According to the BMETV website, the company
works to “amplify the narratives of Black musicians, Black culture, and justice for
Black Lives” (Black Music Experience TV, n.d., para. 1). The final song of the album, “Amen,” reminds us that the sentiment of
honoring Black life is the heart of this very project. Dunn leaves us to reflect on
these words: ‘Cause you’re Black. ‘Cause you’re loved. ‘Cause you’re everything.
Black is everything. Amen.
The Black Messiah is a sonic meditation on Black life, loss, love,
resistance, and community that folks should take time and listen to.
About the Author
Kennedi's Johnson is 4th year PhD student in Ethnomusicology with a PhD minor in African
American and African Diaspora Studies at Indiana University—Bloomington. Her present
interests can be broadly listed as Black feminisms, education/critical pedagogy, and
sound studies. Her current research centers around the ways in which race and gender are
perceived sonically in the United States. More specifically, she looks at how the
(mis)hearings of Black girls/femmes as sassy, angry, or disrespectful impede their
learning in the US school system.
Black Music Experience TVn.d.https://blackmusicexperience.uscreen.io/pages/about-bme