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After college, he helped form the Atlanta chapter of the NAACP and served as its first president, and he remained close with Du Bois throughout his life Du Bois even served on Black Swan's board of directors.Ī postcard from Harry Pace to W.E.B. Uplifting his community was a pivotal part of Pace's mission. While at Atlanta University, Pace studied under Du Bois and learned the concept of the "Talented Tenth," the idea that if society were to invest in the most gifted individuals, their success would lead and inspire the larger Black community. Harry Pace was strongly influenced by his mentor, the activist and sociologist W.E.B. "This is also about, two generations out of slavery, that we are taking up our rightful mantle and uplifting the race." Celebrating the richness and bandwidth of the African American experience "This was not just about making money," says musician Rhiannon Giddens, who seeks to recontextualize Americana as a historically Black artform. The same month that Harry Pace launched Black Swan in Harlem, white mobs destroyed the Greenwood district of Tulsa, killing an estimated 300 people in what's now called the Tulsa Race Massacre.īill Doggett, who is working on a project on race at the dawn of the recording industry for the Library of Congress, says Black Swan's success "was a statement of defiance to systematic racism and Jim Crow." The Tulsa Race Massacre A Century After The Race Massacre, Tulsa Confronts Its Bloody Pastīlack arts, culture and business were booming across the country in urban centers like Tulsa, Memphis, and New York, but that success was often met with violence. "They were making a fortune off these negative portrayals of Black people," says Bill Doggett, a specialist in early recorded sound. White-owned record labels - Columbia, Victor, Aeolian, Edison, Paramount - recorded few Black artists at the time, and when they did, it was often limited to novelty songs and minstrelsy. "Every block between 110th Street and 155th Street buzzed with creative energy," says journalist Paul Slade, author of Black Swan Blues: the hard rise and brutal fall of America's first black-owned record label.ĭespite that energy, when it came to recording and selling music by Black artists, the opportunities were limited. Black artists like Eubie Blake, Florence Mills and Fats Waller were performing in dance halls and nightclubs including Edmond's Cellar and The Lincoln Theatre. “Dangerously hypnotic and devastatingly catchy, the track progresses steadily with danceable intentions as the sounds of Chris Lake and Grimes’ new AI girl group collide.Harry Pace started the first major Black-owned record label in the U.S., but his achievements went mostly unnoticed until recently, when his descendants uncovered his secret history."Ī century ago, around the dawn of the Harlem Renaissance, New York City was brimming with music. And, if it wasn’t already, the track’s opening line of “money, power, beauty, fame” is now guaranteed on-loop in everyone’s minds.” – Dancing Astronaut “Grimes sings amid a startling tech-house beat that blends each respective artist’s notorious signatures together.
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“”A Drug From God” is hedonistic in nature, blending Lake’s signature down-and-dirty basslines with the sumptuous art pop sound of Grimes.” – EDM.com “It goes on to describe the group as “a vehicle for experimentation in new technologies as they become available, such as generative characters and music, different types of animation, AI-assisted art, as well as spiritual technology…” – Under The Radar NPC will eventually be playable, customizable, and able to cater to each individual listener’s unique desires.
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“NPC can do all the things humans cannot. Members are infinite in number and can be voted in or out, except for core members such as the baby Warnymph. girl group “NPC” and premiered it on a release with Chris Lake. Release: Chris Lake & NPC – A Drug From God
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