You're listening to Song Exploder, where musicians take apart their songs and,
piece by piece, tell the story of how they were made.
My name is Tao Nguyen.
Jamila Woods is a singer, songwriter, and poet from Chicago.
She's released two albums,
and she's collaborated with artists like Chance the Rapper, No Name, and Macklemore.
In May 2019, she put out her second album, Legacy Legacy, to critical acclaim.
NME called it one of the albums of the year,
Rolling Stone called it a revelation, and Pitchfork named it Best New Music.
In this episode, Jamila and her producer Slot A break down a song from that album called Baldwin,
named after the late author and civil rights activist James Baldwin.
My name is Jamila Woods, and I'm a singer and musician poet.
This song, it was inspired by James Baldwin's Letter to My Nephew.
I was working as a teaching artist at a nonprofit, Young Chicago Authors,
teaching poetry, and I often return to reading James Baldwin.
The whole essay is...
written to his nephew and he's kind of giving him perspective and advice about the world,
like navigating the world as a black man.
There is no reason for you to try to become like white men and there is no basis whatsoever for their impertinent assumption that they must accept you.
The really terrible thing, old buddy, is that you must accept them and I mean that very seriously.