Over the past year, hate crimes and police brutality have united artists and activists. Unfortunately at the expense of Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Sandra Bland, Travyon Martin, Freddie Gray and Oscar Grant.
After remaining relativity aloof over the chain of events, Aloe Blacc dedicates his latest Christmas sounds “Merry Christmas Mr. Brown,” to the fallen victims with an empowering holiday video. The standalone original song from his 15-minute Christmas EP, which was released via an unlisted YouTube link posted to his social media accounts on Black Friday, is one of the more tender Christmas songs imaginable.
“It was recorded about ten days after the terrorist attacks,” Blacc tells NPR, in reference to the Paris attacks. “I think the recording was definitely a response to what happened, but the song started during the holiday time of 2014 after Michael Brown was killed in August, and I was inspired and moved to write a memorial to the Brown family. But so many more deaths had occurred that I just felt compelled to expand the memorial to more families of victims of violence.”
Read the complete interview here, and stream Aloe Blacc’s Christmas EP below.