Shouts - Music from the Rooftops! is a media project that publishes news, exclusive content, and interviews with protest musicians, socially and ecologically conscious artists, and activists from around the globe.
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Today, the fourth of July, Tulsa based singer-songwriter Casii Stephan is releasing her new single “King in America.” With a hard White Stripes-type bassline and a voice reminiscent of Fiona Apple and Lorde, Stephan has created a fiery anthem of resistance and one against the notion of “kings” in the US. The song also features a verse from Damion Shade.
We caught up with Stephan to learn a bit more about the song and the history behind it. Stephan explained how the song was written just before the ‘No Kings’ protests in the US, more specifically around the inauguration of Donald Trump.
“I wrote it because I was in Ireland and the UK around the time of Trump’s inauguration and shortly after it. I was hearing how Americans are loud, bold, and brash. I came home and of course the executive orders were going out left and right, and a songwriter friend was saying they were ready to rise up and they had their pitchfork. Also my trans friends were being threatened and I couldn’t just skate by. I’m a straight white woman. This song is me saying ‘Pick on me. Don’t pick on them. Come after the majority.'”
We asked Stephan how the reception has been so far, of her new song as well as of her protest songs in general, and she mentioned that her most popular song to date is her cover of Black Sabbath’s ‘War Pigs.’ Unfortunately, such a song is still very relevant today.
“I’ve done the mental work and preparation to know this is what I want to do and if people don’t like it, oh well. We’re at a crucial time. Things are just getting worse. If we don’t push back now, it gets harder as time goes by.“
Meanwhile, the debate continues, about whether art and activism should go hand in hand or somehow be seperated. Stephan adds that it depends on the artist. She doesn’t believe that the two can be separated, especially during times like these, but she acknowledges that some artists need to keep the politics out of their art.
To each their own. We’re all here to do different things. Some of us are healers. Some of us are entertainers. Some of us are here to create an atmosphere. It’s the artist’s job to figure that out.
The fourth of July is coming up in the US, and the country is as divided as ever. Protest musicians in the US, and elsewhere, are not on any sort of hiatus, far from it, and music is being released daily in protest of the oppressive government currently in charge. One of these artists, veteran rapper Dereos Roads, is about to drop a music video made for one of the singles off of his collaborative album with Jumbled, ‘Saw the Landmark, Missed the Turn’. We caught up with Roads and asked him to tell us a bit more about the music video for ‘We Gonna Raise the Roof’ which we’re thrilled to be premiering exclusively here on the Shouts website.
“Well, for one, the guitar and bass have a blues rock vibe, so I wanted to, – in part, honor that retro aspect. The film is a bit of a Leave it to Beaver/Sin City color grade. I didn’t exactly want to spell out everything I say with an image to support it, but in songs like these I love drawing back to the past and connecting to the present, so there’s images of American child labor, the Civil Rights Movement, America’s numerous misadventures in Viet Nam and Iraq, Trump with the Saudis, and pro Palestinian protests.
I want people to recognize that this is a bi-partisan issue: income inequality, endless wars, crumbling schools and infrastructure. They’re all a product of the system run by the ruling class. I have friends with whom I disagree politically, but fundamentally, they see the problems with government as the sole product of an elitist governing class, and not the money in politics that has corrupted our institutions, controls the levers of power, and manufactured consent.“
The imagery of the video refers to more than simply an anti-war message; Roads includes shots of the neighborhood he lives in, which has been, according to him, going through a revitalization. Roads believes that his fellow citizens are renewing their faith in local goods and the power of community. The video expresses his hope for the future, that his people can get back to the economic fairness of the 50s and 60s, but with the added civil rights achievements and progress that has been made since then.
Roads struggles with the idea that a protest song is in itself a form of activism, but rather, he believes that it is an ingredient and a sign of solidarity with those on the ground, doing the important work of activism. The power of the protest song, according to Roads, is that it has “the potential to help grow a political movement,” which is why this type of music has successfully been kept off of the airwaves. Roads told me via email that in his opinion, that battle has been long lost; protest music is not on the radio much like anti-war voices are not heard on cable news. So, alternatively, for Roads, and other artists like him, the battle has shifted, and his focus now is on trying to get more ears to this kind of music. There are so many ways for people to discover music these days, and Road’s hope is for people to be more deliberate about what they choose to listen to, and not only consume what the algorithm provides.
“On the one hand, it’s like any other song: I want it to resonate with people. I want it to mean something to whomever is listening. On the other hand, I hope to wake people up to the real struggle at play: top vs bottom. Left vs right is a manufactured distraction. I think we can have our differences while having common ground on the core issue: the relationship between labor and capital, or the rich vs. the rest of us.
I think the mistake of many right now is believing that you simply just have to get the “right” set of billionaires in your corner. Look at this Cabinet. The richest in American history. They’re not there because they care about your bottom line and well being. They care about their own interests and that of their class. Unfortunately, I think some have forgotten the words of George Carlin that they used to believe in: ‘It’s a big club, and you ain’t in it.‘”
Check out the exclusive premiere of We’re Gonna Raise the Roof below and further visit Roads’ website and follow him on social media (FB – IG – Bluesky) for updates.
Participant of Skopje Pride 2025 holding a sign reading โLove is too beautiful to be hidden.โย Photoย by Vanฤo Dลพambaski,ย CC BY-NC.
Asย Yugoslaviaโs mainstream society grew increasingly patriarchal during the 1980s, some of the country’s rock bands would routinely perform songs that spoke about same-sex love. Bosnian rock starย Sejo Sexon, leader of the legendary Sarajevo bandย Zabranjeno puลกenje, recently reminded music lovers of this, explaining that the group’s 1989 hit songย โJavi miโย (โLet me knowโ) was about love between two men.
In an interview with music journalist Boro Kontiฤ, published in the bookย โPamtim to kao da je bilo danasโย (โI remember it as if it were todayโ), Sexon explained:
This is a cover. The original isย โTurn on me,โ from the 1984 albumย โNew Sensationsโย byย Lou Reed. It’s a love song about two men. Something that was normal in New York at the time. Or in Paris, London, Berlinโฆ But here, being LGBT still bears that element of conspiracy, secrecy, fear of being found out. Our gay people are not allowed to show themselves. Unlike Lou Reed, who describes it openly. His song is just like a male-female love song, only it’s between two men. Over there, both are normal, bro. That’s why such love songs are just as beautiful as those about women. However, our song has the element of conspiracy. Of hidingโฆ
To je obrada. U originalu je โTurn on me.โ Album โNew sensations,โ Loua Reeda. To je ljubavna pesma dva muลกkarca. Ono ลกto je u New Yorku normalno tih godina. Ili u Parizu, Londonu, Berlinuโฆ Ali kod nas oko LGBT joลก uvijek ima taj moment konspiracije, tajnovitosti, straha da se ne otkriju. Naลกi se gejevi ne smiju javno pokazati. Za razliku od Loua Reeda koji to otvoreno opisuje. Njegova pjesma je ista kao muลกko-ลพenska pjesma, samo ลกto je muลกko-muลกka. Tamo je brate, i jedno i drugo, normalno. Zato su ljubavne pjesme jednako lijepe kao i one o ลพenama. Naลกa ima conspiracy. Skrivenostโฆ
The book โPamtim to kao da je bilo danasโ (โI remember it as if it were todayโ) by Boro Kontiฤ and Sejo Sexon, and magazine Rock 82. Photo by Global Voices, used with permission.
The text of the Bosnian version is similar toย Lou Reed’s lyrics, in the form of a message between two estranged men; however, it includes the notion that the second man is living in a mock marriage, camouflaging his sexuality under suspicion by the neighbors:
And when your wife asks you, โWell, whatโs wrong with me? Why aren’t we ever making love?โ When she goes away to cry her eyes out alone, when she slams the door Know that I still love you, you can always call me Let me know, let me know, Iโll be waiting
A ลพena kad te pita, โPa dobro, ลกta mi fali? Zaลกto nikad ne radimo one stvari?โ Kad ode da se isplaฤe sama, kad vrata zalupi Znaj, ja te joลก uvijek volim, mene vazda moลพeลก nazvati Javi mi, javi mi, ja ฤu ฤekati
โProof of the power of loveโ
Sexon noted that โ for over 30 years โ nobody seems to have noticed that the song is about two men, which he calls โproof of the power of love.โ Since the emotional element is universal, such nuances have been missed by many in their audiences.
Although the Yugoslav Communist Party’s authoritarian system was less repressive than the totalitarianism of the Soviet Blocย on the other side of the Iron Curtain, for most of its existence the state formallyย criminalized homosexual relations.ย During the 1970s and ’80s, however, there was a growing movement towards greater freedoms โ including LGBTQ rights โ most prominently inย Slovenia.
While still shunned in the mainstream, homosexuality was not a taboo topic in the music sphere. LGBTQ+-themed foreign music videos likeย โSmalltown Boyโย by Bronsky Beat regularly featured in music shows on public TV. Mentions of the alleged homosexuality or bisexuality of foreign celebrities like Freddie Mercury or David Bowie were also common in the music press. Sometimes, such articles had a dose of irony. On December 1, 1982, for instance, the No. 80 edition of the weekly music magazineย Rock 82, published in Belgrade, reported:
Elton John has big problems regarding the distribution of his new music videoย โElton’s songโย because it’s about a schoolboy who isโฆhmmโฆshowing sympathies for an elder male friend.
Elton Dลพon ima velike probleme oko distribucije svoj videa,ย โElton’s Songโย jer priฤa je o ลกkolskom deฤku kojiโฆhmmโฆsimpatiลกe svog starijeg druga.
โFree male loveโ
In their book, Sexon and Kontiฤ explained that while โJavi miโ may have been the first Bosnian ode to homosexual love, it was not the first Yugoslav rock song about it. That honour appears to to go the 1979 songย โNeki djeฤaciโ (โSome boysโ)ย by the Croatian bandย Prljavo Kazaliลกte. A feature of the band’s punk phase, the song describes the relationship between two young men, one of them being an occasionally spurned lover. It was famous for the chorus, โJa sam za slobodnu muลกku ljubavโ (โI’m all for free male loveโ):
I know you’re trying to make me jealous ’cause how many times have you told me on the benches in the park (Chorus) I’m all for free male loveโฆ
Znam da me praviลก ljubomornim Jer koliko si mi puta Na klupi u parku znao reฤi (Refren) Ja sam za slobodnu muลกku ljubav
Soon after that, in 1980, the Serbian bandย Idoliย producedย what is possibly the most famous Yugoslav song alluding to homosexuality,ย โRetko te viฤam sa devojkamaโย (โI rarely see you with girlsโ). The lyrics take the form of dialogue between two friends, alluding to the need to hide oneโs sexual orientation:
I rarely see you with girls But I see you every day I rarely see you with girls Still, you are never alone
Boys are always around you They’re nice; however, you should know Rumors spread very quickly And once they break, it’s the end
Retko te viฤam sa devojkama A viฤam te svaki dan Retko te viฤam sa devojkama Ipak nikad nisi sam
Oko tebe su deฤaci Fini su, alโ ipak znaj Glasine se brzo ลกire A kad puknu tu je kraj
She is so pretty, my friendโฆ I am so proud, she is so prettyโฆ
Men would like to touch her Men would like to hide her from me, from me Men would like to dream with her Men would like to sleep with her, without me, without me
Ona je tako lijepa, moja prijateljicaโฆ Ja sam tako ponosna, ona je tako lijepaโฆ
Muลกkarci bi da je diraju Muลกkarci bi da je skrivaju od mene, od mene Muลกkarci bi da sa njom sanjaju Muลกkarci bi da sa njom spavaju, bez mene, bez mene
The pendulum swings
Despite progressive bands in 1980s Yugoslavia singing songs about homosexual love, the next decade saw a sort of reversal. As the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslaviaย broke up, the music industries of newly independent ex-Yugoslav countries turned to turbo-folk and other genres of commercial production that were compatible with rising nationalism and populism, promoting social conservatism through the 1990s.
Songs of that period often promoted homophobia under the guise of humor. The chorus of the 1994 regional hitย โMala, malaโ (โSmall, smallโ)ย by the Serbian bandย Familija, includes the line โSmall group of faggots was bothering us for too long.โ
The 1994 song โPedroโ byย Risto Bombata i Kuฤeลกka Tenija, a Macedonian band, ridiculed homosexuals with lyrics that bordered on vulgarity, complete with aย video clipย featuring one of the most popular comedy actors of the time. The Spanish name in the title alludes to a derogatory term for โfaggotโ โย โpederโ โ with the chorus concluding that Pedro should โrun away from us.โ
Various internet sources have since opined that many other well known songs from Yugoslavia had LGBTQ+ themes โ making song listsย based on inferences, individual perceptions, and interpretations. Many of these include songs about friends of the same gender that do not explicitly refer to sexuality, and do not have the benefit of their writers later revealing what they were really about, like Sejo Sexon did.
This article was written by Global Voices Central & Eastern Europe and originally published by Global Voices on 28 June 2025. It is republished here under the media partnership by Shouts and Global Voices.
