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DJ Generals Strike’s top 40 protest songs of spring 2024

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I’m DJ General Strike, host of the weekly protest music radio show, Protest Tunes on 91.3 KBCS FM in Seattle, WA. I broadcast 2 hours of radical protest music of all genres and eras every Wednesday at 9 PM. Every quarter, I put together a radio show and playlist of my favorite new protest songs released that season, which I call “molotov hot tracks.” This Spring, saw the release of many great protest songs, most notably songs about the recent British parliamentary election and the upcoming US presidential election, songs against Israel’s ongoing war/genocide in Gaza, and songs of LGBTIA Pride.  I aired most of these songs on my show this Wednesday (July 10th 2024), which you can listen to the archive of here. I’ve organized these 40 protest songs by genre below (and alphabetically within genre). You can also listen to all 40 songs on this Spotify Playlist. I hope you all are inspired by these molotov hot tracks!

Folk

Adeem the Artist – White Mule, Black Man

Adeem the Artist, AKA Adeem Maria, a nonbinary pansexual poet, singer-songwriter, storyteller, and blue-collar artist. A seventh-generation Carolinian, they now reside in the hills of East Tennessee. They started their music career performing on cruise ships. This track about the history of racism in Knoxville, TN  is off Adeem’s new album Anniversary, released May 3rd.

Apes of the State – Forensic Files feat. Local News Legend

Apes of the State is an independent Lancaster, PA based folk punk band. As a band, they are driven by DIY ethics with a goal of helping as many people as possible with their music. The members are also heavily involved in activism for people recovering from substance use disorder and promoting harm reduction. This single released May 3rd, features fellow feminist folk punk duo Local News Legend, also from central Pennsylvania.

Carsie Blanton – The Democrats

Carsie Blanton is a singer-songwriter and guitarist based in New Orleans. Blanton says she “writes anthems for a world worth saving.” About this single released May 31st, she said it’s a “f— the democratic party for sitting on its hands during a genocide” kind of a song.

Troy Cassar-Daley – Windradyne

Troy Cassar-Daley is an Aboriginal Australian country music songwriter and entertainer. His mother is from the Gumbaynggirr and Bundjalung people. Cassar-Daley has released thirteen studio albums, two live albums and five compilation albums over 30 years. Windradyne tells the tale of the Indigenous warrior and resistance leader of the Wiradjuri nation from the 1800s.

Ani DiFranco – New Bible

Grammy winning feminist folk-rock singer-songwriter, author and activist. One of the first artists to create her own label in 1990, she is called ‘the mother of the DIY movement’ and has sold over 5.5 million albums on her own Righteous Babe Records. New Bible is an anti-capitalist song, the 2nd single off her upcoming album Unprecedented Sh!t’, Ani’s 23rd release, just released July 12th.

John Moreland – The Future Is Coming Fast

Moreland is a Singer-songwriter from Tulsa, Oklahoma. This is the opening track off his new album, Visitor, which Moreland recorded at his home in Bixby, Oklahoma, in only ten days, playing nearly every instrument himself, as well as engineering and mixing the album. On “The Future Is Coming Fast”, Moreland laments the “perpetually logged-on life in a time of catastrophe.”

David Rovics – This Is Genocide

Rovics is a Portland, OR based activist singer-songwriter, and anti-Zionist Jew from New York. In order to spread the political messages in his songs Rovics has made all of his recorded music freely available as downloadable mp3 files and all his sheet music and lyrics are available for download too at davidrovics.com. This song against Israel’s war on Gaza is off Rovics new album Bearing Witness, released May 1st.

Aaron Lee Tasjan – I Love America Better Than You

Aaron Lee Tasjan is a Nashville-based singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer, formerly of the bands Semi Precious Weapons and BP Fallon & The Bandits. About this song, Tasjan said “As a queer person living in the southern United States in 2024, I am examining my country’s complexities, contradictions and hard truths in a way that’s conversational.”

Frank Turner – The Leaders

Frank Turner is an English punk and folk singer-songwriter who began his career as the vocalist of post-hardcore band Million Dead, then embarked upon a primarily acoustic-based solo career following the band’s split in 2005. This anti-authoritarian song off Turner’s new album Undefeated, is a rewrite of an old unreleased song of his called Practical Anarchist.

Rock

Joe & The Shit boys – LEGALIZE EVERYTHING

Joe & The Shit boys are a queer vegan indie-rock band “with hardcore vibes”, from the Faroe Islands, (the archipelago between Iceland and Norway). The band formed with the intention of calling out bad behavior in their conservative local music scene, which they describe as “filled with boneless homophobes and meat-eating misogynists.” In this short song they challenge the prohibition of all recreational drugs.

Ferocious Dog – Kleptocracy

Ferocious Dog are an English folk-punk band from Warsop, Nottinghamshire, England. Their fans are affectionately referred to as ‘Hell Hounds’. This song against corrupt politicians in Britain written on the occasion of the British parliamentary elections is the title track off their new album released May 17th.

Melody Angel – Say Her Name

Melody Angel (which is her real name) is a Chicago based blues-rock guitarist and multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, vocalist, arranger, and producer. She’s also a cousin of Chicago blues icon, Otis Rush. This song off her self titled 3rd album released June 7th, raises awareness for Black women victims of police brutality.

Scarlet Rebels – Divide and Conquer

Scarlet Rebels are a five-piece melodic rock band from Llanelli, South Wales, formed in 2018. They’re known for their efforts to raise money and collect donations for local food banks and charities. This protest song against Britain’s ruling Conservative Party is from their upcoming album, “Where The Colours Meet” due out August 16th.

R&B/Pop

Emma Donovan – Change is Coming

Emma Donovan is an Aboriginal Australian singer and songwriter formerly of bands the Stiff Gins and the Putbacks. She is a member of the renowned Australian musical Donovan family. She started her singing career at age seven with her uncle’s band, Australian Aboriginal country group the Donovans. This hopeful political song is off her new solo album Til My Song Is Done released April 19th.

The Secret Sisters – If the World Was a House

The Secret Sisters are a singing and songwriting duo consisting of vocalists Laura Rogers and Lydia Rogers, who are sisters from Muscle Shoals, Alabama. About this song, they said “it is wrestling with a longing for everyone to take better care of each other, and to recognize that every person you share the planet with matters just as much as you do.”

Reggae/Ska

Buju Banton – Slogan

Buju Banton is a Jamaican dancehall, ragga, and reggae singer, from Kingston, Jamaica. Buju is a nickname given to him by his mother as a child. Banton is a Jamaican word that refers to someone who is a respected storyteller, which he adopted in tribute to deejay Burro Banton, who’s style of rough vocals and forceful delivery Buju emulates. Buju released this single about the media’s political spin on May 3rd. 

YG Marley – Survival

YG Marley is the son of American rapper and singer Lauryn Hill and Jamaican football player Rohan Marley, and the grandson of reggae pioneer Bob Marley. This song about black resilience, which samples and references a handful of Bob Marley tracks, made its premiere on “The Tonight Show”, May 14th, in which Lauryn Hill performed alongside YG Marley.

Black Roots – Exploited

Black Roots are a roots reggae band from Bristol, England, formed in 1979. This track about the legacy of slavery and European colonialism is off their new album Roots, released in April.

Jazz/Spoken Word

The Brkn Record – Why do they fear us (featuring Yolanda Lear)

The Brkn Record is a project led and produced by Jake Ferguson, the co-founder and bass player for the UK’s deep jazz outfit the Heliocentrics, with fellow Heliocentrics co-founder and drummer Malcolm Catto. This song about blackphobia is off The Brkn Record’s new album, The Architecture of Oppression Part 2 released May 31st.

Hip Hop

Audio Assault – STRIKE!

Audio Assault is a political techno-industrial rap band originally from Dallas, Texas, one of the first acts to combine hip hop, industrial rhythms and rock guitars. This single released May 21st, features hip-hop legend Kool Keith, disco-industrial artist Xiu Xiu , punk-hiphop artist Ceschi (of Codafendents), Denver rapper and author Time (of Calm), and Bay Area artist Yunoka Berry (of Angelo Moore & The Brand New Step).

Dakota Bear x NugLife – Stolen Land

Dakota Bear is a Saskatoon-born, Vancouver-based Indigenous hip-hop artist and activist. NugLife is an LA based producer, beat-maker, and DJ. This song is off Nuglife’s album Nuglife 2024 released in April, and is about the colonization and genocide of the first nations peoples of Canada.

Dobby – Language is in the Land

Dobby is a Filipino-Aboriginal Australian musician. He describes himself as a “drapper”, a contraction of rapper and drummer, although he plays other instruments too, and is also a composer. This track is off Dobby’s new album WARRANGU: River Story, about the Barwon, the Bogan and the Culgoa Rivers in New South Wales, which he says is “about fighting for these rivers, and it’s about knowing how to be proud and how to take care of our land and waterways.”

Gabriel Teodros – Fire Season Part 2

Gabriel Teodros is a musician, DJ and writer from Seattle formerly of the groups Abyssinian Creole and Copperwire. Teodros’ music often features socially conscious themes, and he was a catalyst in the surge of dynamic underground rap acts from the Pacific Northwest during the first decade of the 2000s. This followup to his 2023 anti-war song Fire Season was released May 31st.

K!MMORTAL – Stop Business As Usual PART 2 feat. Phoenix Pagliacci & Bobby Sanchez

 Kimmortal is a Queer Filipina emcee and singer-songwriter based in Vancouver, BC. Their debut album Sincerity = was entirely crowd funded by her community. In this follow up to Kimmortal’s November single against Israel’s war on Gaza, Stop Business As Usual, they feature Toronto R&B/Hip-Hop artist Phoenix Pagliacci of TRPP and  transgender American-Peruvian rapper Bobby Sanchez.

Mach-Hommy – POLITickle

Mach-Hommy is a rapper and record producer from Newark, New Jersey of Haitian descent. He is well-known for his reclusive nature, concealing his real name and face in all public appearances. This behavior has led him to be described as “one of hip-hop’s most elusive artists” and gained him a cult following. POLITickle is about the International Monetary Fund in Haiti and is off his new album #Richaxxhaitian released May 17th.

Rapsody – He Shot Me

Rapsody began her career at North Carolina State University, where she joined hip hop collective H2O and its spinoff group Kooley High, despite not having rapped before. She launched her solo career in 2008. This song off her new album Please Don’t Cry is about the police murder of Breona Taylor, and samples Bob Marley’s “I Shot the Sheriff”.

Rebelwise – Be Like Water (feat. Aya Iworiosa, Stic.Man, Ashel Seasunz & Quincy Davis)

Rebelwise are a conscious hip hop band from Portland, OR. They describe themselves as “Rebelwise delivers dope-medicine to uplift our people and our communities.” “REBEL speaks to the spiritual warriors standing with conviction. WISE speaks to engaging with a deeper awareness, in relationship with Creation.” This song off their new album Fully Loaded Altar, features Stic.Man, one half of the political hip-hop duo Dead Prez.

Talib Kweli & Madlib – Nat Turner (feat. Cassper Nyovest and Seun Kuti)

Talib Kweli earned recognition through his collaboration with fellow Brooklyn rapper Mos Def, when they formed the group Black Star in 1997. Madlib, is a DJ, music producer, and rapper, who has described himself as a “DJ first, producer second, and MC last.” Their new album Liberation 2 released in April is a sequel to their 2007 release Liberation. This track was inspired by abolitionist Nat Turner, an enslaved man who led a rebellion of enslaved people in 1831 in Virginia.

Macklemore – Hind’s Hall

The Seattle star rapper released this viral protest single on May 6th.  The title references Columbia University Gaza encampment activists’ renaming of Hamilton Hall to “Hind’s Hall” in honor of Hind Rajab, a Palestinian child killed by Israeli forces. Tom Morello said “Hind’s Hall” is the most Rage Against The Machine song since Rage Against The Machine.” Macklemore is donating all proceeds from the track to UNRWA.

Metal/Hardcore

Bear McCreary and Serj Tankian- Incinerator

Bear McCreary is an Emmy winning composer of film, television, and video game scores. This single featuring System Of A Down’s Serj Tankian on vocals is from Bear’s new double album The Singularity. About the song, Bear said “Once I heard Serj’s searing vocals, I knew immediately that Incinerator would be the first song on the album, acting like a warning that a massive, aggressive, and emotional journey lay ahead.”

CROSS DOG – Jane Roe

Cross Dog is a female fronted experimental, bass-driven hardcore punk band from Peterborough, Ontario. In this pro-choice single from their new album All Hard Feelings, the name ‘Jane Roe’ is used to “represent every single person who is forced to fight for their reproductive rights and access to abortions.”

Death Lens – Disturb The Peace

Death Lens originally formed in LA as an instrumental project, then evolved as they began using their platform to protest injustices facing their communities. This song, off their new album Cold World, is “a song written for the people, inspired by the people, and for my people – like my immigrant parents who came to the chaos of America to give us a better life and opportunity,” says vocalist Bryan Torres.

Tom Morello – Soldier In The Army Of Love

Tom Morello, is a guitarist, singer-songwriter, and political activist, best known for his tenure with Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave. This new solo single, off his upcoming solo rock album, Morello calls the song “a salute to the transformative power of music”. It features a guest guitar solo by his 13-year-old son, Roman Morello.

Punk

The Anti-Queens – Crusade

The Anti-Queens are a “punked up rock n’ roll quartet of super high-powered women who give the male-dominated music industry a run for their money” from Toronto. This single off their new album, Disenchanted, explores the systemic oppression faced by marginalized groups, particularly Indigenous Peoples in Canada.

The Irrepressibles – Yo Homo

The Irrepressibles is the creative guise of British musician Jamie McDermott.  The project’s name is “about breaking boundaries in music and being honest about being gay in music”. Based in London, for many years, Jamie Irrepressible currently works from Manchester. Yo Homo! is a single about gay & queer rebellion released May 24th.

Lambrini Girls – Body of Mine

Lambrini Girls are a queer feminist three-piece punk band from Brighton, UK. About this single released April 23rd, The band says, “this song is about trying to connect to your gender identity, feeling like you’re not fully yourself, and struggling to figure out how to truly become it.”

Pink Suits – Dystopian Hellscape

Pink Suits are a queer, feminist punk duo out of Margate, U.K, formed in 2017. This is the title track off their sophomore album Dystopian Hellscape, which they describe as “an astute and comprehensive reaction to existing in the mess that is Tory Britain in 2024.” The track uses contemporary news stories to “create a tapestry of struggle that builds up in a horrifying picture of contemporary life.”

Ryan Cassata & The Top Surgeons – The Truth The Life The Way

Ryan Cassata  is a transgender singer-songwriter, actor, speaker, and activist based in New York. This is the opening track off Ryan’s first punk album, with new band The Top Surgeons, called “This Machine Kills Transphobia”. They describe the album as “a collection of punk songs meant to challenge systems of oppression, especially sexism and transphobia.”

The Tony Slug Experience – Puppet Smut

This track, featuring Jello Biafra of the Dead Kennedys is off the self-titled album, The Tony Slug Experience, an homage to Amsterdam punk pioneer Tony Slug, of bands BGK, Loveslug, The Nitwitz, and The Hydromatics. An international group of over 30 musicians contributed to what became Tony’s final record; right after all recordings were on tape, Tony died at the age of 60 after a brief battle with throat cancer. 

Lady Parts – Glass Ceiling Feeling

Lady Parts is a band created for the British sitcom, We Are Lady Parts, created, written, and directed by Nida Manzoor, who alongside her siblings, also writes and supervises the music for the show. The series follows a British punk rock band named Lady Parts, which consists entirely of Muslim women. This track is off the show’s soundtrack, We Are Lady Parts (Music From The Original Series – Seasons 1 & 2) released May 31st.

News, Protest Tunes, Review

DJ General Strike’s Top 40 Protest Songs of Winter 2024

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Greetings Comrades, I’m DJ General Strike, host of the weekly protest music radio show, Protest Tunes on 91.3 KBCS FM in Seattle. I broadcast radical protest music of all genres and eras for 2 hours every Wednesday at 9 PM. Over the last three months I’ve been compiling new protest songs released this year (as I’ve done for the last 3 years). This Winter saw the release of a wide variety of protest songs, most notably anti-war songs against the brutal wars in Gaza and Ukraine, songs inspired by the upcoming US presidential election, as well as a few protest songs harking back to the 1920s. I aired most of these songs on my show this Wednesday, which you can listen to the archive of here. I’ve organized these 40 protest songs by genre below for ease of listening, you can also listen to all 40 on this Spotify Playlist. Without further ado, here’s my top 40 Protest Songs of Winter 2024.

Folk

David Rovics – Song for the Houthi Army.

Rovics is a Portland based activist singer songwriter, and anti-Zionist Jew from New York. This track is off his new album about Israel’s war in Gaza, Notes From A Holocaust, released in January. While there are a lot of great protest songs on this album, I think this one about the Houthi Red Sea blockade stands out the most.

Joe Solo ft Commoners Choir-  A Better Way

Joe Solo is a musician, writer, poet, activist, broadcaster and washing machine engineer from Scarborough, UK. His musical odyssey began in 1987 fronting the pop-punk band Lithium Joe. He described this song as “a big protest singalong in defiance of the times we live in.”

Grace Petrie – Fixer Upper

Petrie is an English folk singer-songwriter and guitarist from Leicester, England. She began performing in 2006 but in 2010, the advent of the Conservative-led coalition government influenced her, as a socialist, feminist, and lesbian, towards an increasing emphasis on political songwriting.  This track is off her new album Build Something Better released March 8th.

Cheekface – Don’t Stop Believing

Cheekface is an indie folk-rock band based in Los Angeles, formed in 2017. Some of Cheekface’s fans refer to themselves as Cheek Freaks. This song about alienation in late stage capitalism is off their new album It’s Sorted released in January.

Sean Brady – Child of the Troubles

Seán Brady is a well known entertainer and recording artist on the Irish circuit in Britain and a regular performer in venues across europe. This heartfelt anti-war song draws on his personal experience growing up during the 30 year period of violent conflict in Northern Ireland, known as The Troubles.

Maddie Morris – Marsha P Johnson

Maddie Morris is a British queer feminist folk artist from Leeds. She wrote this song for LGBT History Month to commemorate Stonewall activist Marsha P Johson, about whom she said “Marsha is an activist I have looked up to for a long time, and I wrote this piece about the way it’s easy to feel ‘wore down’ by the constant micro-aggressions and homophobia experienced by queer people in Britain today.”

Aoife O’Donovan – War Measure

Aoife O’Donova is folk-rock singer and Grammy award-winning songwriter from Boston, best known as the lead singer for the string band Crooked Still. She also co-founded the Grammy-winning female folk trio I’m with Her. This track is off her new album, All My Friends,  a commission to celebrate the centenary of the 19th amendment, inspired by the life and mission of suffragist Carrie Chapman Catt.

Rock

Real Ones – Stop The War

Real Ones, also known as Reelones, is a folk/rock band from Bergen, Norway. The band was formed in 1994  when the founding members were 14 and 15 years of age. They describe this song as “in sympathy with those who go to bed each night not knowing whether they or their loved ones will be wiped out by a bomb before sunrise. “

Average Joey – Indifference

Average Joey is a traveling songwriter and folk musician from Pennsylvania. He now lives full time on the road touring and performing music. This track about systemic indifference and individualism is off his new album Impermanence released in February.

Gossip – Real Power

This Indie rock band was formed in 1999 in Olympia, Washington, by vocalist Beth Ditto. All three band members are originally from Searcy, Arkansas; the drummer moved to Olympia to attend Evergreen State College and the rest of the band followed. This protest song is the title track of their new album just released March 22nd.

Peter Garrett – Meltdown

Peter Garrett is an Australian musician, environmentalist, activist and former politician, best known as the lead singer of the Australian rock band Midnight Oil, which he joined in 1973. This climate change protest song is off Peter Garrett’s second solo album (backed by his band The Alter Egos) The True North.

R&B/Pop

Carsie Blanton – Empire

Carsie Blanton is a singer-songwriter and guitarist based in New Orleans. Blanton says she “writes anthems for a world worth saving.” This anti-imperialist song is off her new album After the Revolution. About this song she said “Who says you can’t write a pop song about imperialism, American hegemony and the decline of capitalism”.

Shaina Taub – Keep Marching (from the Broadway musical “Suffs”)

Shaina Taub is a Vermont-raised, Brooklyn-based composer, singer-songwriter and performer. This song is newly written for Taub’s musical about the Women’s Suffrage Movement, “Suffs” upcoming Broadway run. Taub wrote the music, lyrics, and book for the musical and also stars as Alice Paul in “Suffs”.

Jazlynn Q & Eddie Mack – My People

Arab-American Hip-Hop Artist, from Detroit, Eddie Mack,  released this great compilation album against Israel’s war on Gaza, this February, called The Art of War, featuring many Palestinian and Arab artists. This song is by Jazlynn Q, an 18-year-old singer/songwriter from Miami, via New York, of Palestinian and Dominican roots.

Gruff Rhys – Cover Up The Cover Up

This Welsh musician, composer, producer, filmmaker and author performs solo and with  rock band Super Furry Animals, who obtained mainstream success in the 90s, and the electro-pop band Neon Neon. He’s considered a figurehead of the era known as Cool Cymru, a Welsh cultural movement in music and film in the 1990s and 2000s.

Reggae/Ska

Protoje – 30 Million

Protoje is a reggae singer and songwriter from Jamaica. His mother is Jamaican singer Lorna Bennett ,and his father is former calypso singer Mike Ollivierre. About this song Protoje stated “I’ve been able to witness the transformation of my country over the last twenty years and wanted to make a statement on the Jamaican situation. This song speaks about what is, what was and what can be, as it relates to the quality of life that we experience here in Jamaica”

Jahneration & Capleton – When We Gonna Rise

Jahneration is a Reggae / Dancehall / Hip Hop duo of singers from Paris, founded in 2009. Diversity, Unity and Sharing of Music are their main slogan, which they apply to their lyrics and ways of working. Capleton, is a Jamaican reggae and dancehall musician, also known as King Shango, King David, The Fireman and The Prophet.

Evil Ambition – Soul Rebel Project

Soul Rebel Project are a Reggae/Rock band hailing from Boston. This song features Grammy award winning reggae songwriter, musician and composer MediSun, who is also from Boston, now based in LA,  plus Maine-based DJ-Producer duo Green Lion Crew.

Jazz/Spoken Word

Moor Mother – ALL THE MONEY (feat. Alya Al-Sultani)

Moor Mother is a jazz poet, musician, and activist from Philadelphia. She is one half of the collective Black Quantum Futurism, and co-leads the free-jazz collective Irreversible Entanglements and the experimental hip hop group 700 Bliss. This track about the history British imperialism is off her new album ‘The Great Bailout’ released last month.

aja monet – for the kids…

aja monet is a poet, writer, lyricist and activist based in Los Angeles. She was the youngest poet to ever hold the title Nuyorican Poets Café Grand Slam Champion at the age of 19 in 2007. This song was inspired by Langston Hughes 1938 poem, “For the Kids Who Died.”

The Brkn Record – Cut the Cheque

The Brkn Record is a new project led and produced by Jake Ferguson, the co-founder and bass player for the UK’s foundational deep jazz outfit the Heliocentrics, with fellow Heliocentrics co-founder and drummer Malcolm Catto. This single calling for reparations for slavery is off The Brkn Record’s forthcoming sophomore album, The Architecture of Oppression Part 2.

Hip Hop

Arrested Development – For Free (feat. April So Lyrical, Configa & Speech)

Arrested Development was formed in Atlanta in 1988 by rapper and producer Speech and turntablist Headliner. They were the first hip hop band to win a Grammy for Best New Artist, in 1993. This track is off their new album Bullets In The Chamber, released in January, which is so full of great protest songs, it was hard to pick just one.

Víctor Jara -Ceschi  (feat. R.A.P. Ferreira & Zeta)

Ceschi is a hip hop musician based in New Haven, Connecticut and a member of the punk-hip hop fusion band Codefendants.He is also co-founder of the record label Fake Four Inc. This track inspired by legendary Chilean protest sing-songwriter and activist Victor Jara is the 4th single from Ceschi’s upcoming album “Bring Us The Head Of Francisco False Part One”

Brother Ali – The Collapse

Brother Ali is a blind, albino rapper, community activist, and member of the Rhymesayers Entertainment hip hop collective from Minneapolis. In this track Ali, who is Muslim, and Jewish producer unJUST tackle Israel’s assault on the Palestinian people.

Heems, Lapgan, Saul Williams – Accent

Heems is a rapper from Queens, New York, best known for being part of the alternative hip hop groups Das Racist, and Swet Shop Boys. This anti-xenophobia song, is the lead single off Heems’ new album Lafandar and is a collaboration with veteran slam poet, Saul Williams.

My People – Sean Toure’ (feat. Ras Kass & DJ Face)

Sean Toure’ is an underground hip hop producer/emcee from Baltimore. This black history song features LA rapper Ras Kass of Golden State Warriors and the hip hop supergroup The HRSMN, and DJ Face from True School Corporation and The CrossRhodes.

Frank Waln – Seven

Frank Waln is a Lakota hip hop artist, producer, audio engineer and activist from the Rosebud reservation in South Dakota. He has been awarded three Native American Music Awards and received five nominations, both individually and with his group Nake Nula Waun. This track is off Waln’s new album Songs Against Colonialism.

Tonio Sagan & Far Eye House – Country Code Number 1

Tonio Sagan is  a Massachusetts born and bred producer, lyricist, and hip hop scholar, and grandson of astronomer Carl Sagan. Far Eye House is a Hip-Hop and  reggae producer from Springfield, MA. This protest song against American exceptionalism was released December 29th of 2023, just missing last year’s cut.

Configa, Tommy Evans, Speech – They Are Not Expecting Us to Fight

Configa and Tommy Evans are the world’s first producer-rapper-PhD combo. Configa rose through the ranks as a battle rapper and produced and released his debut album in 2000. Tommy Evans is based in London but was born and grew up in Leeds. This single, taken from the duos forthcoming album “Jolicoeur” also features Speech from Arrested Development.

Abe Batshon – Palestine Will Rise

Abe Batshon is a Palestinian American songwriter, artist and entrepreneur born in San Francisco and raised in Hayward, California. This single released in February about the war in Gaza also features Lebanese singer Samer and Detroit-based Palestinian-American hip hop artist Sammy Shiblaq.

Sole, DJ Pain 1 – Land of Stolen Milk

Sole, is an American underground hip hop artist from Portland, Maine. He also hosts a podcast about revolutionary politics and radical philosophy called “The Solecast.” DJ Pain 1, is an American record producer and DJ from Madison, Wisconsin. They released this unpatriotic, anti-Trump single March 1st.

Metal

Bob Vylan – Hunger Games

Bob Vylan are an English duo based in London who play a style merging elements of grime, punk, metal and hip hop. Bobby Vylan is the singer/guitarist of the band and Bobbie Vylan is the drummer. Both go by stage names to protect their privacy, and call themselves ‘the Bobs’. This song is about the “economic crisis” happening in the UK, and the hardships faced by those struggling to afford food.

Hacktivist – Crooks and Criminals

Hacktivist was formed when rapper J Hurley began recording vocals over some of metalcore guitarist, Timfy James demos and the tracks were so popular online, they decided to become a band. About this song the band said,  “This is a call to question what you’re being presented in politics and media. What dealings are influencing the information you see and the policies which govern you?”

New Model Army – Reload

New Model Army are an English band formed in Bradford, West Yorkshire, in 1980 by lead vocalist, guitarist and principal songwriter Justin Sullivan, the only continuous member of the band in its 44 year history. While being rooted in punk rock, their songs often sound more like metal, and have always been difficult to categorize. This track is off their new album Unbroken released in January.

Ministry – Cult Of Suffering

Ministry are pioneers of industrial metal and were founded in Chicago, in 1981 by producer, singer, multi-instrumentalist and sole original band member, Al Jourgensen. This track is off their new album Hopium for the Masses, released March 1st, which is mostly protest songs, (many of which were released as singles last year). This track is about Putin and the war in Ukraine.

Punk

JER – Say Gay or Say Goodnight

JER is a nonbinary musician, composer,and music educator who hosts the YouTube channel Skatune Network, where theypost ska covers of popular songs. JER is outspoken about the history and present state of ska music, earning the fan nickname “The CEO of Ska”. This track is a protest song against Florida governor Ron DeSantis.

BIFF – KILL ALL THE MEN IN THE GOVERNMENT

BIFF are an Australian Garage Skate band, with strong roots in Melbourne’s rebellious punk rock scene, formed in 2019. This single off their upcoming EP, BIFFTAPE #4, was recorded at a Ukrainian campground in Buxton over a weekend.

Green Day – Living in the 20s

Pop-punk superstars Green Day formed in the East Bay of California in 1987 by lead vocalist and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong, together with bassist and backing vocalist Mike Dirnt when they were both 14 years old. This song which tackles many of the issues of the day is off their new album Saviors.

Sham 69 – War of the Words

Sham 69 are an English punk rock band that formed in Hersham, Surrey in 1975. They were one of the most successful early punk bands in the UK. This song about political polarization is from their new album To The Ends of the Earth.

The Menstrual Cramps – Class War

This queer feminist punk band was founded in a broken bedroom when the members were on the verge of homelessness, in Bristol, UK in 2016. They describe themselves as “DIY, loud, queer, anti-fascist, anti-racist, pro-choice, intersectional, and feminist.” This anti-capitalist track is the second single off their upcoming new album.

History, Protest Tunes

Celebrating Dr. King: DJ General Strike’s Top 40 Martin Luther King Day Protest Songs

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Greetings comrades, and happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day, today. I’m DJ General Strike, host of the weekly protest music radio show, Protest Tunes on 91.3 KBCS FM in Seattle. In celebration of MLK Day I’ve compiled an extensive list of protest songs about, inspired by, that mention, quote or sample Dr. King, and broadcasted two distinct 2 hour MLK Day shows.  You can listen to my most recent MLK Day show on the KBCS archive here.

For readers outside of the US, Martin Luther King Day, celebrated annually on the third Monday of January, honors the legacy of civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr., who advocated for racial equality and justice through nonviolent resistance during the American civil rights movement, until he was assassinated in April 1968. Martin Luther King Day, established in 1983, commemorates the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. This day, observed since 1986, not only celebrates Dr. King’s contributions but also calls attention to the ongoing pursuit of justice and equality for all, urging activists to carry forward his legacy.

Musicians of all genres have been writing protest songs about and inspired by Martin Luther King since the 1950s. I’ve compiled over 150 MLK-themed protest songs, most of which you can hear in this Spotify Playlist. I’ve narrowed that down to my top 40 MLK themed protest songs, which I’ve organized by genre below.

Folk

Mike Millius & The Spiritual Warriors – The Ballad of Martin Luther King
Mike Millius is a singer, songwriter and producer from Bedford, New York, best known for writing the song “Lord Only Knows” which Beck reinterpreted on his album “Odelay”.. Millius wrote The Ballad of Martin Luther King, in 1968 immediately after Dr. King’s assassination. Pete Seeger, Brother Kirk covered the song for the Sesame Street album Pete Seeger & Brother Kirk Visit Sesame Street in 1974.

Anne Feeney – Have You Been to Jail for Justice?
Anne Feeney was a singer-songwriter, political activist and attorney from Pittsburgh. She began her music career in 1969 as a student activist playing a Phil Ochs song at a Vietnam War protest. Her business cards described her as “Performer, Producer, Hellraiser.” Feeney sadly passed away last year from Covid 19, at age 69. This 2001 song celebrates the history of nonviolent civil disobedience.

Frederick Douglass Kirkpatrick & Jimmy Collier – You’re Just a Laughin’ Fool
Singer-songwriters and civil rights activists, both Jimmy and “Kirk” worked with Dr. King in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and were on the streets with KIng organizing the Poor Peoples’ Campaign until Dr. King’s assassination. They released their civil rights album Everybody’s Got a Right To Live in 1968, which included this song, just after King was assassinated, a month before the Poor People’s March on Washington.

Pete Seeger – Take It from Dr. King
Pete Seeger, a legendary American folk singer and social activist, played a pivotal role in shaping the folk music revival of the 20th century.  Seeger, who helped popularize the Civil Rights movement’s protest anthem “We Shall Overcome,” first met Dr. King in 1957 at Highlander Folk School, a social justice leadership training school and cultural center located in New Market, Tennessee.

Grace Petrie – Farewell to Welfare
Grace Petrie is a socialist-feminist folk singer-songwriter from Leicester, England. She was hailed in The Guardian as “a powerful new songwriting voice” in 2011. She wrote this song in 2010 about the advent of the Conservative-led coalition government following the (UK) general election. This song is about the erosion of the anti-poverty programs which Dr. King fought for.

Country

Old Crow Medicine Show – Motel In Memphis
Old Crow Medicine Show,  an Americana string band based in Nashville, that has been recording since 1998.  Bluegrass musician Doc Watson discovered the band while its members were busking outside a pharmacy in Boone, North Carolina. They wrote this song in 2008 for the 40th anniversary of Dr. King’s assassination. 

Iris Dement – How Long
Iris Dement is a legendary folk, country and gospel singer-songwriter and musician from the Arkansas delta, now based in Iowa. This gospel song,  off her 2023 album Working on a World, is based on an MLK quote, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.”

Kris Kristofferson & The Borderlords – They Killed Him
Kris Kristofferson is a retired country singer, songwriter, and actor, best known for writing songs for other artists. This track was originally written by Kristofferson for Johnny Cash who released it as a single in 1984, then Kristofferson recorded it himself in 1986 on his album Repossessed and Bob Dylan covered it a few months later on his album Knocked Out Loaded.

Rock

James Taylor – Shed a Little Light
This six-time Grammy Award winning singer-songwriter and guitarist, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000. He is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, having sold more than 100 million records worldwide. This Dr. King tribute track is off Taylor’s thirteenth studio album New Moon Shine released in 1991.

Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros – Johnny Appleseed
The legendary frontman of pioneering punk rock band the Clash wrote this metaphorical song about the struggle for freedom in 2001 with his backing band The Mescaleros.  The song tells the story of how 18th century environmentalist Johnny Appleseed and Martin Luther King Jr. both used nonviolent means to achieve social change. It had a second life as the theme song of 2007’s HBO series “John from Cincinnati.”

Stevie Nicks – Show Them The Way
Legendary singer, songwriter, and producer Stevie Nicks is best known for her work with the band Fleetwood Mac, and also as a solo artist. In this autobiographical 2020 single Nicks sings about her political experiences in the 1960s, including when she sang for Martin Luther King Jr.

The Entrance Band – M.L.K.
The Entrance Band is a band started by Guy Blakeslee, from Baltimore, Maryland. Blakesley said about this 2008 song, “The reason I wanted to make a song about Martin Luther King is because I felt that, even in a time when we have an African-American president and that’s a revolutionary thing for this country, it’s still a president that’s sending so many people to war and is, I believe, kind of just a much more charming, much more intelligent face of the same system that still has yet to change.”

U2 – Pride (In the Name of Love)
The best selling, 22 Grammy winning, Irish rock band from Dublin, released this MLK tribute track in 1984. The song was intended to be a critique of Ronald Reagan’s pride in America’s military power, but on reading the book Let The Trumpet Sound: A Life of Martin Luther King, Jr. by Stephen B. Oates’s, Bono was inspired to rewrite the lyrics to make the song about MLK.

R&B

Lenny Kravitz – Black and White America
Born in New York City to TV news producer Sy Kravitz and actress Roxie Roker, Kravitz was exposed to the entertainment industry at a young age. Kravitz won the Grammy for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance, four years in a row from 1999 to 2002. This song is the title track of his 2011 funk album, Black and White America is about the insults endured by his interracial parents in the 1960s.

Ben Harper – Like a King
Ben Harper is a three-time Grammy Award winning singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. The lyrics of this 1994 song draw parallels between the experiences of Martin Luther King Jr. and Rodney King, African American man who was brutally beaten by LAPD officers in 1991, to highlight the lack of racial progress in American society.

Cameron Forbes – If I Was White
Chicago-raised, Los Angeles-based R&B singer & hit songwriter Cameron Forbes has written songs for Tyga, Carrie Underwood, Sean Kingston & G-Eazy among others.  He wrote “If I Was White” about police brutality and the Black Lives Matter movement.  Forbes, his co-writers and his label, donated a portion of all proceeds from “If I Was White” to Mother’s Against Police Brutality and Campaign Zero.

Calypso

The Mighty Stalin – The Immortal Message of Martin Luther King
The Mighty Stalin AKA Black Stalin was a prominent Trinidadian calypso musician,  known for his lyrics against European colonial oppression. He brought his unique style and social commentary to the genre, addressing issues of politics, inequality, and Caribbean culture. He wrote this MLK tribute song in 1968 not long after King’s assassination.

The Mighty Sparrow – Martin Luther King for President
Trinidadian calypso vocalist, songwriter, and guitarist, known as the “Calypso King of the World”. Sparrow paid tribute to MLK not once but twice, advocating for the civil rights leader’s election to higher office in this 1963 track, and then again shortly after King’s 1968 assassination in the song “Martin Luther King.”

Reggae

Max Romeo – Tribute to Martin Luther King
Max Romeo is a Jamaican reggae and roots reggae artist formerly of the rock steady group The Emotions. This song was written in 1978, 5 years before MLK Day was established. While the hook “No one remembers Martin Luther King” sounds rather dated now, it was poignant at that time.

Morgan Heritage – Black Man’s Paradise
Grammy-winning Jamaican reggae band formed in 1994 by five children of reggae artist Denroy Morgan. This song from 2000, addresses the ongoing struggle for equality, justice, and freedom for black people, reflecting on historical figures and movements, like Martin Luther King Jr., Marcus Garvey and Nelson Mandela..

Burning Spear – I Stand Strong
Burning Spear is a Grammy winning Jamaican roots reggae singer-songwriter, vocalist and musician, and one of the most influential and long-standing roots artists to emerge from the 1970s. This 1993 track is about standing strong against the oppressive system as his heroes Martin Luther King and Marcus Garvey demonstrated.

Gospel/Soul

Brother Will – Hairston Alabama Bus
Brother Will Hairston was a gospel singer and preacher in Detroit, Michigan, called “The Hurricane of the Motor City”. In 1956, Hairston wrote and recorded “The Alabama Bus” with Washboard Willie on percussion, about the Montgomery bus boycott. Hairston’s recording, was the first song to reference by name the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

Nina Simone – Why? (The King of Love Is Dead)
Nina Simone, “The High Priestess of Soul” was a 4 time Grammy winning singer, songwriter, pianist, and civil rights activist. She first performed this song just 3 days after King’s assassination at the Westbury Music Fair.

Rap/Hip Hop

The Last Poets – Blessed Are Those Who Struggle 
These forefathers of hip-hop were founded in Harlem in 1968, named after a poem by the South African poet Keorapetse Kgositsile. This 1977 song honors MLK as well and other historical figures who were assassinated while fighting for black liberation.

Common & John Legend – Glory
Conscious rapper, actor, and activist Common, and singer, songwriter, pianist, and actor John Legend wrote this song with Rhymefest in 2014 as the theme song from the 2014 film Selma, which portrays the 1965 Selma to Montgomery marches. This song was awarded an Oscar, a Golden Globe and a Grammy in 2015. 

The Game – Letter to the King (feat. Nas)
This 2008 hip-hop duet by West Coast rapper The Game and  East Coast rapper Nas was written on MLK Day as a tribute to MLK. The Game said about it “‘Take me back to ’65. Martin Luther King is getting dressed in the morning. Coretta Scott King is dusting his shoulders off. He’s about to go out. The dude waiting in the car, I’m him. I don’t know if I’m his homie; I’m just gonna drive him to where he’s going, and I’m gonna talk to him.’

Three Times Dope – Increase the Peace
Three Times Dope was an American hip-hop group from Philadelphia, consisting of EST, Chuck Nice and Woody Wood. They released this conscious track about nonviolent social change, in 1989 as part of their album “Original Stylin’.” The song starts with a powerful introduction, featuring a quote from Martin Luther King Jr.

King Dream Chorus – King Holiday
This song was composed by Phillip Jones, Kurtis Blow, Grandmaster Melle Mel and Bill Adler, and spearheaded by Martin Luther King Jr.’s youngest son, Dexter Scott King. It was released in honor of the first Martin Luther King Jr. Day, which was first celebrated as a national holiday in the US on January 20, 1986. All proceeds from the single were donated to the King Center for Nonviolent Social Change.

Big Daddy Kane – Word to the Mother (Land)
Big Daddy Kane, is an American rapper, producer and actor who began his career in 1986 as a member of the Juice Crew. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential and skilled MCs in hip-hop. This 1988 song about African American pride and history is off BDK’s debut album Long Live the Kane.

Vic Mensa – Go Tell ’em
Vic Mensa, a conscious rapper and singer from Chicago, was a member of the group Kids These Days, which broke up in 2013, and a founding member of the hip-hop collective Savemoney and the rap rock group 93Punx. This track is off The Birth of a Nation: The Inspired by Album, the companion album to the 2016 movie The Birth of a Nation, about 1831 slave rebellion leader Nat Turner.

Talib Kweli – All of Us
Talib Kweli is a conscious rapper from New York, best known for being half of the hip-hop duo Black Star with Mos Def. This 2017 anti-police brutality track, features Jay Electronica & Yummy Bingham. It highlights the struggles that people of color face in America and calls for unity and solidarity in the face of oppression as Dr. King did.

Run-DMC – Proud to Be Black
Run-DMC, founded in 1983, in Hollis, Queens, New York, was the first hip hop group to achieve a Gold record and a platinum record,  the first hip hop act to have their music videos broadcast on MTV, the first hip hop act on the cover of Rolling and the first hip hop group to be nominated for a Grammy Award. This 1986 track is a powerful affirmation of Black identity and history. 

Micah Bournes – All Hands on Deck
Micah Bournes is a musician and poet born and raised in Long Beach, California. His work centers on themes of culture, justice, and faith. This 2018 track is a cipher that links the civil rights movement and Black Lives Matter movement and features Izzie Ray, Jackie Miclau, Liz Vice and Lucee. 

Jasiri X – Dr. King’s Nightmare
Jasiri X is a Pittsburgh-based conscious rapper and net-neutrality activist. This 2010 song is written from the perspective of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in response to conservative political commentator Glenn Beck’s Restoring Honor rally at the Lincoln Memorial, on the 47th anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington, in which Beck was accused of co-opting Dr. King’s legacy to spread his racist right-wing ideology. 

Run the Jewels – Thieves 
Run the Jewels are a Super-duo composed of Brooklyn-based rapper and producer El-P, and Atlanta-based rapper Killer Mike, taking their name from a lyric in the LL Cool J song “Cheesy Rat Blues” This song about the 2014 uprising in Ferguson, Missouri was inspired by the MLK quote “riot is the language of the unheard.”

Public Enemy – By the Time I Get To Arizona
Political hip-hop group founded by Chuck D and Flavor Flav in 1985. By the Time I Get to Arizona” is a song from their 1991 album Apocalypse 91… The Enemy Strikes Black,  written by frontman Chuck D in protest of the state of Arizona, where Governor Evan Mecham had canceled Martin Luther King Jr. Day and the people voted against its reintroduction.

Punk/Metal

Rage Against the Machine – Renegades of Funk
RATM was known for melding heavy metal and rap music with punk rock and funk influences, as well as their radical leftist views. This track is a cover of a 1983 song by Afrika Bambaataa & Soulsonic Force, off Rage’s 2000 cover album Renegades. The song draws a connection between historical activists and revolutionaries like MLK to present-day social movements. 

Good Riddance – Shadows of Defeat
GR is a punk rock band from Santa Cruz, California. They released seven full-length studio albums then disbanded 2007 and reformed in 2012. This 1999 track from their album Operation Phoenix begins with a sample of Martin Luther King’s 1964 Poverty of the Soul speech.

The Vernon Walters – M.L.K.
The Vernon Walters was a punk band from Hoorn, Netherlands founded in 1986. The band’s lead vocalist and guitarist Hans Engel was murdered in Spain in 2003 and in 2007, the Hoorn Culture Committee campaigned to have a Hans Engel street named after him. This song was the title track of their 1988 Martin Luther King tribute EP, MLK.

Anti-Flag – 911 for Peace
Political punk band from Pittsburgh, formed by Justin Sane and Pat Thetic in 1988. The band is well known for its left-wing political activism. This post-911 anti-war song off their 2002 album Mobilize features excerpts from MLK’s  “I Have a Dream” speech.

Happy MLK Day! I hope listening to these protest songs inspires you to carry on Dr. King’s legacy. Peace Out!