Lineage and Pain

Harley Babin

            Everyone comes from somewhere, and someone’s family forms the person that they become and even their fears. The basis of my playlist is how fears and pain are shared in a family. I used Homegoing as a guide and picked songs that would show both the life and pain that travels throughout one's lineage. I also wanted to show the healing that comes with the newer generations, so as the playlist continues towards the end there are more and more of uplifting feelings that come along where one can feel the healing that comes from overcoming the generational trauma that was inflicted from the past. I began by telling Maame’s story and her pain of losing one child and then another. Shokolat was used here and his songs “Flying”, “Calm Before The Storm”, and “Storm” best fit the narrative of loss, life, and losing again. Here I decided that using Homegoing and picking songs that fit what each chapter made me feel while also using my own stories from my grandpa as a guide I could pick songs that best tell the story of pain. My grandpa grew up with seven brothers and three sisters. Their father left at an early age, and they were raised by my Granny Birdie. He told me about how they struggled and all the stories that they were told as children about their own family. As I continued the playlist I did not really have a good idea of which songs I wanted to use but I found myself saving songs because they fit each chapter and the narrative that I wanted to tell. “Memories – Cello” by Shokolat was another that just jumped at me. I first heard this song while I was reading Homegoing, and I found that you could feel the sway of the music and imagine someone on a great journey across an ocean, so I picked it to fit with Esi’s chapter as a way to feel the dread that she was probably dealing with on this long journey. “This Bitter Earth/ On The Nature Of Daylight” best represents what Kojo went through, first losing his parents as a child and then losing his beloved and his own child simultaneously. Here I could relate this to a story from my grandpa about a time when he was young and his mother was gone for days working and he and his two older brothers were responsible for feeding and taking care of his younger siblings. The pain that presents itself is tremendous and unwavering; one can understand and feel the pain that might come from life. I ended the playlist by using “Stronger (Grey’s Anatomy Version)” by Thunderstorm Artis to show how Sonny lived and grew. He dealt with addiction, not knowing and feeling something was missing. In the end, we know that he grew and got clean and ended up raising his own child to be better, thus showing the growth and forgiveness one might have for the pain from the previous generations. In the end, I used the instrumental version of Rihanna’s song “Life Me Up,” which debuts in the movie Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Here I felt this song was best used as a way for the future generations to experience a sense of relief. After the pain and struggle that their own lineage has caused and lived through, they have decided to forgive, but one can never forget that there was pain, they must learn. I wanted the last few songs to show the shift for the future, the beacon of hope that existed, and how it may have taken a while, but someone reached the light at the end of the tunnel.

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/39WuS6y2SKXKgP9gIJ6yeW?si=9b5289de9a9c44c2