Ben Harper’s We Need To Talk About It has been out for a month now, and disappointingly it doesn’t seem to have directed the conversation it tries to start. Although, conversation isn’t the right word, and you’ll discover why when you hear the song. It’s a righteous exclamation of truth seated in the deep structural racism of America. For all the song writing lessons where you’re meant to use allegory and metaphor, sometimes you just need to grab people and tell them precisely how it fucking is, and Ben does.

There’s been no reparations, there’s been a generations long abandonment of blacks in America by white colonialists and their descendants, and Ben is clear about this and what needs to happen. Low and behold some white people pop up in the comment section of YouTube and tell him to move on, but his lyrics have the answer: “Whoever said time heals all wounds wasn’t a slave.”

In an ideal world, Ben would have released this song, it would have generated massive play and been the trigger for a broader discussion which would have led to deal change… and of course that didn’t happen, if anything it got overshadowed by another part of the old white male oligarchy’s agenda.

So, blaze this song loudly and when you can until something happens. It’ll be in your playlist for a long time.