In homage to Black Music Month, I feel compelled to shower praise on my ultimate medium of expression: music.
Growing up in a musical household—and bearing numerous music-themed tattoos across my skin—I’ve learned firsthand that almost nothing can encompass the full spectrum of human emotion the way music can. And I mean the entire spectrum. The kind of range that makes you laugh, cry in a messy way, throw your hands up, and feel understood, all within the same three minutes and forty-two seconds.
Music isn’t background noise. For many of us, it threads through every meaningful moment of our lives. It’s the song that played the night you fell in love, the one that carried you through the bleakest morning you’ve ever endured, the melody you can’t hear without instantly being transported back to that place, that person, that version of yourself. A close friend of mine described it perfectly when he said, “A song can be a marker for a time, event, person, or experience. It’s an emotion creator.”
Music as Catharsis: Letting It All Out, So You Don’t Implode
Music can serve as a conduit for cathartic release. It offers a safe space to feel every facet: affection, fury, longing, sorrow, joy, pain, and the triumphant return to oneself. And yes, a nod to Frankie Beverly and Nipsey Hussle for those final two moments. There’s something deeply liberating about a track that meets you exactly where you are and refuses to hurry you away from your emotions.
Consider Erykah Badu’s Green Eyes. In that track, we accompany a woman as she navigates the tangled emotions surrounding the end of a relationship. If you listen closely, you can hear her progress through the stages of grief in real time: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and at last, painfully, acceptance. It isn’t merely a song; it’s a sonic therapy session. And anyone who has loved someone through a painful breakup knows precisely what she’s expressing with every note.
That’s what music does. It takes the unspeakable and makes it singable.
When Words Fall Short
Sometimes language itself falters. English can struggle to convey the depths of human suffering. This is precisely where music steps in and does what words cannot.
There’s a particularly powerful moment in the Oscar-winning film Sinners where Delta Slim, superbly played by Delroy Lindo, recounts the brutal, traumatizing tale of a friend’s lynching. At one point, Slim is overwhelmed, and only a raw, guttural moan can capture the horror of the memory. That moan, joined by Sammie’s guitar, blossoms into an impromptu Blues tune. In my view, it’s one of the film’s strongest scenes because it perfectly demonstrates music’s ability to express what our words cannot.
The Blues, after all, wasn’t born in a studio. It was born in the fields, in grief, in survival. Black music has always served as a vessel for pain that couldn’t be safely voiced or held otherwise.
Music as Motivation (For Better or Worse)
Here’s where things get intriguing—and a touch complicated.
Music can spur us on in positive ways and in negative ones too. We’ve all had that moment: you’re at the gym, exhausted, ready to quit, and then a fierce track drops into your lineup that somehow reorganizes your nervous system, and suddenly you’ve got three more sets in you. That’s no accident. Music activates the brain’s reward circuitry, releases dopamine, and genuinely shifts your physical state. The right song at the perfect moment can push you beyond what you thought was your limit.
Beyond fitness, music has the power to move people to make real changes. It can spur you to finally act on something you’ve been postponing. It can restore faith when it’s running on empty. It has historically sparked movements, not just in poetry but in action. Consider its role in slavery, in the Civil Rights Movement, in the emergence of hip-hop as social commentary, and in protest anthems that rallied generations. Music doesn’t merely reflect culture. It shapes it.
We also must acknowledge that music’s power can swing in both directions. Many of us recall a moment when a particular song put us in the mood to do something harmful—and we felt justified in doing so. You know the ones that can “make you do wrong” (cough…hot grits…cough).
The force of music is morally neutral; it amplifies whatever it touches. There have even been legal cases where people argued that “the music made them do it.” That fact alone says everything about how deeply music can reach into our psyches.
Music as Medicine: The Neurological Dimension
Dr. Oliver Sacks, the celebrated neurologist and author of Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain, explained it this way: “Music can lift us from depression or move us to tears — it is a remedy, a tonic, orange juice for the ear. But for many of my neurological patients,
Danielle Brooks
I am a staff writer at New York Beacon, where I focus on culture, entrepreneurship, and the emerging voices redefining Black America. My work highlights innovators, artists, and founders whose stories often unfold beyond mainstream headlines but shape communities in meaningful ways. Through precise reporting and thoughtful storytelling, I aim to document progress, challenge narratives, and contribute to a stronger Black press tradition.