As I was listening to Michael Kiwanaku’s explanation of how his song “Black Man In A White World” came about reminded me of one thing: gospel. There’s so much gospel influence in the song, especially with the backup vocals. The title itself is one to think about. What is a black man in a white world? He spoke about how he didn’t want to come off as racist, but he feels that because he is black, he’s supposed to make a certain type of music. He doesn’t necessarily feel this way. He wants to make the music that he enjoys.
I enjoyed this track. It isn’t something that I would listen to more than once, since it doesn’t fit into the genres of music that I enjoy, but the lyrics, beat, and melody were all spot-on. He did a wonderful job. One thing I also noticed was that when he is speaking normally, you can tell he has an accent, but when he sings, that accent seems to disappear. It’s a soulful song…