Thank you Saturn - Blimes Brixton Thank You Saturn

Blimes Brixton is a hip hop artist from the Bay Area, California. Her debut album under the Blimes Brixton moniker was Castles, released in 2019 on her own all-female record label, Peach House, and her most recent album with musical partner Gifted Gab is out now! Talk About It includes hit singles Magic, Shelly's & Hot Damn feat. Wu Tang's one & only Method Man. Blimes started her music career as a battle rapper and has now progressed into a fully-fledged artist with a backlog of hits, cementing a name for herself in hip hop. She is an incredible lyricist with the biggest heart and toughest work ethic I know. We talk about Blimes' conflict between battle rap (which heavily relies on insulting your opponent) vs her warm-natured, empathetic personality, learning to stand up for yourself both personally and professionally, and the call from Method Man that changed her life just as she was considering quitting music.
Listen to Talk About It by Blimes & Gab on Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/album/7MGeQ8aDEq0OHPpIxykQtZ?si=OeLMsQqaRh-OxGF3KuK3wg
Blimes Brixton on social media:
@blimesbrixton / @blimesandgab
BLM petitions that still need signing:
https://www.change.org/p/department-of-justice-mandatory-life-sentence-for-police-brutality
https://www.change.org/p/govia-thameslink-justice-for-belly-mujinga-justiceforbellymujinga
https://www.change.org/p/andy-beshear-justice-for-breonna-taylor
https://www.change.org/p/prefeitura-do-rio-de-janeiro-justice-for-joāo-pedro
https://www.change.org/p/alabama-governor-kay-ivey-willie-simmons-has-served-38-years-for-a-9-robbery
https://www.change.org/p/us-senate-hands-up-act
https://www.change.org/p/department-of-justice-investigate-the-killing-of-tamir-rice
https://www.change.org/p/texas-governor-i-want-sandra-bland-s-case-reopened
https://www.change.org/p/department-of-justice-police-accountability-act-of-2020
https://www.change.org/p/united-states-supreme-court-justice-for-kendrick-johnson
https://www.change.org/p/justice-for-regis-korchinski-paquet
https://www.change.org/p/it-s-never-your-fault-raise-the-age-of-consent-in-nigeria-from-11-to-18
Black literature:
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
“The only reason you say that race is not an issue is because you wish it was not,” says Ifemelu, the protagonist of Adichie’s 2013 novel, an engrossing story and sharp-eyed look at the non-American black experience in the United States, in Adichie’s native Nigeria, and beyond.
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness By Michelle Alexander
Alexander is an American civil rights lawyer and legal scholar; in her ground-breaking book she analyses the rebirth of a race-based caste in the United States: millions of Americans are locked behind bars and relegated to second-class citizenship by the criminal justice system. Devastating.
The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin
First published in 1963, Baldwin’s book was a bestseller in its day and is just as necessary now – alas. Taking the form of two essays, one a letter to his then 14-year-old nephew, Baldwin’s voice is as powerful and influential as it ever was in looking at systemic racism in the United States.
Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People about Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge
Gal-Dem called this debut “the black British bible”. It began with a 2014 blog post addressed to those who refused to recognise the structural racism of British society, to those who “truly believe that the experiences of their life as a result of their skin colour can and should be universal.” It’s a dramatic recognition of what she calls “white denial”.
Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo
Winner of the 2019 Booker Prize, Evaristo’s novel follows the lives of a dozen British people, predominantly female, predominantly black. The different storylines of the characters – who range in age from 19 to 93 – are engrossing and empathetic, portraits of struggle, imagination and perseverance.
Brit(ish) by Afua Hirs