Jamila Woods’ “VRY BLK” Is R&B Genius
Jamila Woods is billed as many things: singer, songwriter, poet, activist. But her most unheralded attribute may be her role as an alchemist. Her recent debut album, HEAVN, transmutes the rage of protest songs into lullabies for the woke. “VRY BLK” is a great example of her powers. Built on the melody of the “Mary Mack” clapping game, it comes off as a ditty with big, sharp teeth that are hidden behind a lead-along poetic conceit of unsaid rhyme: “Black is like the magic, and magic’s like a spell/My brothers went to heaven, the police going to… yeah, they’re going to/Hello operator, emergency hotline/If I say that I can’t breathe, will I become a chalk/Line up to see the movie, line up to see the act/The officers are scheming to cover up their, cover up their/Ask me no more questions.”
As a singer, Woods’ voice is thin but strong, and her producers—labelmates oddCouple and Kweku Collins—provide her with a track that’s bubbling with subtle warbles, shy drums, and mix of happy sounds that mask the song’s anger, but not the star. Chance the Rapper collaborator Noname shows up for a verse full of lyrical shards like “mantra says a guillotine.” It’s the kind of wordplay that perfectly captures this song, as transcendental as it is grounded in the pain of Black souls being separated from their bodies by police for simply being very Black, Black, Black.
Recent Comments