new music: nyc-based mc kemba dismantles over-simplification and respectability politics in “the new black theory”

‘The New Black Theory’ is the newest release, and clever analysis of anti-black culture, by MC Kemba. The powerful track borrows it’s name from that one time Pharrell Williams tried to over-simplify systematic racism and anti-blackness in America by saying “The New Black doesn’t blame other races for our issues. The New Black dreams and realizes that it’s not a pigmentation; it’s a mentality.” Through the song, Kemba picks apart the hollow statement, and similar ones, that promote victim blaming and respectability politics that serves to minimize the black experience and those who have been systematically abused and disenfranchised by the system. “A portrait of the oft tone-deaf, oft-offensive, torch bearer of the New Black theory Raven-Symoné,” as Kemba describes it.

Picture credit: Patrick Struys

‘The New Black Theory’ is the lead single from Kemba’s forthcoming album ‘NEGUS’, out 7/22.

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*Erin White is an Atlanta-based writer and AFROPUNK’s editorial and social media assistant. You can follow her on Tumblr or friend her on Facebook. Have a pitch or an inquiry? Shoot her an email at erin@afropunk.com.