James Baldwin At 100: His Genius Influenced Black Musicians

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Friday marks the 100th birthday of James Baldwin, one of the most iconic figures in American literature and society, and one of the most treasured by the Black community.  His work so masterfully unpacked social issues, from what freedom must mean for all Black people—to all people—more than a generation after his death in 1987, that we can hear him in the work of Kendrick Lamar and Beyoncé today.

As much as it was his orchestration of words, it was...