Spotify is celebrating Black History Month by highlighting Black creators. The music streaming service will launch a full slate of guest-curated playlists, brand new podcasts and more to highlight Black culture, music and excellence.
You can find all the Black History Month content and more on the ‘Black History Is Now Hub.’
Additionally, the service will be licensing photography from seven Black photographers to curate cover art for eight playlists that will be available on a weekly rotation throughout the month, including the following:
- Black History Salute – Shawn Theodore
- Black Love Mixtape – Adreinne Waheed
- Power to the People – Doug Segars
- Soul Coffee – Adrian Octavious Walker
- The Cook(in) – Black Archives
- Spread the Gospel – Andre Wagner
- Our Stories, Our Heroes (Podcast Playlist) – Erica Geěneěceě
- Sound Stories: Black Music (Podcast Playlist) – Adreinne Waheed
Many of the playlists will be guest curated by influential Black curators, celebrities and more:
- Black Lives Matter: American Jazz artist, Keyon Harrold Sr. and his son, Keyon Harrold Jr., who are no strangers to speaking out against injustice are now using the power of music to further the conversation by taking over this playlist in partnership with the organization, Color of Change.
- I Love My HBCU: Celebrate the institutions that educate and uplift as 2Chainz guest curates the popular playlist complete with homecoming anthems.
- Black to the Future: Spotify features and supports up-and-coming Black artists including Amaarae, who will help capture Afrofuturism—in all its wild, otherworldly musical dimensions—by guest curating the playlist.
- Queen – Keke Palmer
- Black Love Mixtape: Launching on February 12th, ahead of Valentines Day, artists Lucky Daye and Ari Lennox will co-curate the new playlist dedicated to celebrating Black love.
Spotify has launched four new hip hop playlists:
- New Joints: Simply put, these are the newest rap songs our editors think fans should know.
- Door Knockers: A playlist celebrating trailblazing women in hip-hop history.
- Trophy Room: This mood-based playlist is for anyone who’s feeling celebratory.
- City To City: This playlist features songs from the Drill scenes of New York, London, and Chicago.
Furthermore, Spotify is releasing a new podcast as well as hosting guests with key Black creators:
- Black Girl Songbook: In a new Music + Talk show, join Danyel Smith as she celebrates and uplifts the talents of Black Women in the music industry. Listen as she shares music and discusses the stories of Black songwriters, producers, executives and more, celebrating the musical creativity and genius of Black women first. Trailer available now, full series launches on February 4.
- Higher Learning with Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay: On this podcast, Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay dissect the biggest topics in Black culture, politics, and sports. This month there will be four, special Wednesday episodes diving into the most important and timely conversations, each one highlighting different spectrums of Black culture.
- The Bakari Sellers Podcast: The podcast that tackles the most pressing current events from the world of politics, including the 2020 election, the movement for racial equality in the US, and much more. The show will also highlight key moments in Black History events through conversations and interviews with Charles Blow, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, and Nnamdi Asomugha.
- The Get Up: The morning show that brings you all the latest news, music and entertainment will be spotlighting the special individuals who are making history now from Eugene Goodman and Letitia James to Ryan Coogler and Joy Reid who will be remembered for all their great contributions to Black culture.
