奥巴马总统的夏天播放列表:对自己黑色皮肤骄傲的肯定

Straight out of college, I dated a guy from Washington DC who had just spent a few years working on the redevelopment of public housing projects in Chicago. We met at Harvard, where I was working as a receptionist at the department of Afro-American studies, which was his focus for a graduate degree. He was easygoing and honest, handsome and smart, with outstanding taste in music (I will be forever grateful to him for introducing me to Outkast – in particular, Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik). A light-skinned black man with a palpable sense of racial pride, the man I’ll call Tim would occasionally mention with fondness a friend he’d made during his time in Chicago. The two had bonded over basketball and politics, race and identity, local government policy and community service. His friend’s name was Barack.

直走出大学校门，我和一个来自华盛顿特区的人相遇了。他刚好在芝加哥的公共住房重建项目工作了几年。我们相遇在哈佛，我在那的非裔美国人研究部门工作，这是他研究生学位的研究点。他很随和，诚实，英俊又聪明，在音乐领域有突出的嗅觉（我将永远感谢他把我介绍给流浪者合唱团 - 尤其是Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik）。一个浅黑色男子，带着明显的种族自豪感，我总是叫他蒂姆。我偶尔会欣赏性地提起这位芝加哥的好朋友。我们两个总是一起参与篮球和政治，种族和身份，地方政府的政策和社区服务等各种场合。他的朋友的名字是巴拉克。

Now, do I know for a fact that Tim had an influence on the president’s musical preferences? No. But judging from Obama’s summer playlist, released on Thursday, I’m willing to posit that it’s not out of the question. Both Tim and the president have black fathers and White mothers, while firmly identifying as black, as opposed to biracial or mixed – which, given the current climate for black men in America, is not an unfraught declaration. Still, as Obama wrote in his book Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance, he didn’t get there overnight, and he often turned to books and friends and black cultural markers for guidance.

现在，是否我知道一个事实是，Tim对于总统爱好音乐方面起了很大的影响？不是，但从奥巴马的夏季播放列表，上周四公布的情况来看，我断定是。蒂姆和总统，都有黑人父亲和白人母亲，但都被被坚决地认定为是黑人，而不是混血儿- 这，鉴于目前美国黑人所处的环境，是让人担忧的宣言。尽管如此，奥巴马在他的书中《我父亲的梦想：种族和继承的故事》写道：他通宵都没能到达，他经常求助于书籍和朋友和黑人文化标志。

There’s no black cultural marker more abiding than our music, and if Obama’s playlist indicates nothing else it’s that reaffirmation of one’s blackness can always be found right there in the bars. It also strikes me that although he has been frequently criticized for his handling of race and policies regarding the overall inequities experienced by black folks in America, among the most important aspects of his legacy is that he is going to leave that Oval Office as blackity black as he was when he entered. And that means mic drops, an entire absence of fucks, and dope playlists.

没有比我们的音乐更持久的黑人文化，而如果奥巴马的播放列表没有标明任何事情，对于黑人的重申总是可以在酒吧里找到。这也让我觉得，虽然有关于他处理种族问题和美国黑人经历了不平等政策时，总是被批评指责，他的馈赠中最重要的方面之一是，他将要离开和当时进入白宫椭圆形办公室的时都是黑皮肤。这意味着麦克风下降，整个没有乱搞的，而酷毙的播放列表。

Most satisfying to see from the nighttime list is I’ll Be There for You (You’re All I Need to Get By) by Method Man featuring Mary J Blige. Who among us of a certain age can forget the dark beauty and elegant, sublime emotion in the video for this song – Method in cornrows, Mary with her bucket hat pulled down low over her eyes, just the gloss of her lips making out the lyrics, head bobbing, both sitting on the pavement, backs to the wall surrounded by a menacing cityscape. It’s the blackest, most glorious, magnificent display of camaraderie, love and loyalty. There isn’t a day that has gone by with Obama in the White House that it hasn’t been resolutely clear that Michelle is all he needs to get by: “Back when I was nothing/You made a brother feel like he was something/That’s why I’m with you to this day boo no fronting.” We will miss them.

从夜间列表中看到最满意的是Method Man最具特色的玛丽•布莱姬：为了你我会在那里（你是我需要的一切）。我们中间某些年龄段的人会忘记在这首歌的视频里那些黑色的美丽和优雅，崇高的情感 - Method in cornrows，玛丽把她的帽子拉得低低的，盖住她的眼睛，只有她的嘴唇轻吟出这些旋律，摇着头，大家都坐在人行道上，背对着墙，被来势汹汹的城市景观包围着。这是最黑暗、最辉煌、最气势磅礴的友情、爱情和忠诚的展示。没有一天奥巴马在白宫没有明确坚决地表明米歇尔是他的支柱：“回来时，我一无所有/你让哥哥有了自我/这就是为什么直到今天我们还在一起。 “我们会想念他们。