‘Is It Because I’m Black?’: The Music Industry, Image, and Politics in the Careers of Syl and Syleena Johnson

Within this article by Glen Whitcroft, he explores the song lyrics originally sung by Syl Johnson in 1969:

'Looking back over my false dreams that I once knew,
Wondering why my dreams never came true,
Somebody tell me, what can I do?
Something is holding me back,
Is it because I'm Black?'

And how his daughter Syleena Johnson sang the song four decades later. Whitcroft identifies the undertone references such as racism, struggles of becoming successful within society and the prejudice surrounding the ideas that being Black potentially hinders someone within society due to these undertones.

Whitcroft gives a background on both singers, how successful they were with other audiences such as those in poverty within the states of the South and not just the mainstream audience of Black African-Americans.

The similarities of Syl and Syleena providing music with deep metaphorical meanings and provocative meanings are crucial to understanding the impact they had within society. Syl's music was stereotypically surrounding problems within the 60s and 70s such as racism, poor living standards and the ideals of the American Dream associated with individuals within society.
However, Syleena's music undertones surround racism, domestic violence and materialism and their impacts on people within society.

By Whitcroft providing evidence that both father and daughter were impacted by society's expectations upon them (music industries pursuing them to be silent due to provocative language within their music and Syleena being portrayed as unsuitable due to her body and size not being the 'stereotypical idea of beauty". Syleena states in an interview in June, 2016, "I finally looked how they wanted me to look... and they didn't even capitalise on that" further suggests that even when conforming to society expectations of her, she is still not idolised after conforming to the 'stereotypical small sized body beauty'. When recognising that her talent of singing and music writing outweighed those, she was still criticised for being who she was, an all-natural female not fazed by her own body shape and size with a powerful voice that could influence the people who listened to her music.

This article is important as it continues to show that although society changes throughout the decades, music still remains a powerful influence on society when addressing issues such as the racism encounter by African-Americans and asking people 'Is it because I'm black?'. It gives us insight to the platform that African-Americans use to their advantage to speak out about these issues within our society.