“We broke into our regular programming” for a special tribute to Maze founder and leader Frankie Beverly, said Sis. Tomiko (Baltimore, Maryland), host of The R-evolution Is Black Love (Wednesdays at 3:00 PM Eastern Time, HandRadio, https://handradio.org).
New Ancestor Frankie Beverly transitioned to the Honored Ancestors on September 10 at the age of 77.
Sis. Tomiko included several special guests on her show:
- Queen Coco from Kasual Konvo, heard on HandRadio
- DJ Boscoe (North Carolina and New York City), also from Kasual Konvo
- DJ Reezey (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) aka Rashaun Williams of the Philadelphia Reparations Task Force
- Bro. Richard Good (Baltimore, Maryland), founder and CEO of HandRadio
Friday, September 20 is White Out Day for Frankie Beverly. Pop-up block parties for Frankie Beverly are happening on September 20 and later in cities such as Philadelphia, Alabama, New Orleans, etc.
Excerpts of songs by Maze featuring Frankie Beverly were played during the show.
The panel discussed Frankie Beverly’s importance to the Black Community, vibrations from his music that inspired feelings of togetherness and community, and the resultant role of Frankie Beverly as an institution, bringing the “Village Vibe” and “cookout music” that brought the people out to be with each other in a sense of community, demonstrating the power of music to heal and build a people.
The guests spoke of several Philadelphia music artists who embodied the spirit of “raw love” as Philly’s native son Frankie Beverly did, as well as his connection to Philadelphia predecessors, contemporaries and successors such as McFadden & Whitehead, Kindred the Family Soul, Kenny Gamble, Jill Scott, Erykah Badu and other artists with Philly roots.
DJ Boscoe said: “Music can build and music can also destroy.” Gil Scott-Heron, Public Enemy, Def Jeff and others who brought positive messages in music were often silenced by our enemies.
Queen Coco stated that much of the “old school” music from artists such as Marvin Gaye and Frankie Beverly that embodied love has been largely silenced today; today’s messages, through the lyrics, speak of doing anything for money and self-promotion; there is a harmful effect of those messages on people internally. Bro. Richard noted that the record executives and labels are funding the promotion of these negative messages, using our young struggling artists who are trying to make a living to spread them.
The guests spoke of the infiltration of our community with negative music that is devoid of love and filled with imagery of killing and the effect it has on our children; some of us refuse to let them take the love out of the music, including DJs who refuse to play negative music in their sets. Frankie Beverly accepted the assignment from the Most High to spread the message of love to the people.
DJ Reezey pointed out that radio stations are paid by sponsors to play specific songs on the radio and thus control what DJs play on their stations; similarly, artists are required to write and perform certain songs for their albums and the artists allow this because they need the money to provide for themselves and their families. Many of the popular artists do not even control their own names. Frankie Beverly did not succumb to this control. He did not cede control of his name or his creativity, and sacrificed material gains and mainstream accolades for this. Sis. Tomiko noted that we must decide who we want to be, how we want to do what we do and who we want to speak to in these things, unapologetically.
DJ Reezey stated that we need more institutions that favor the Most High and understand who we are as God’s true children. Our enemies took our birthright, know who we are better than we do and swapped their legacy for ours. “We need to starve the beast.”
DJ Boscoe referenced fasting and purging the disease to help him deal with and ultimately overcome his own health challenges, and how it relates to our need to fast and purge our community of the diseased mindset that has too often infiltrated our institutions, such as our culture as expressed in music.
Sis. Tomiko noted that artists create and bring the message, and DJs are the “curators of our musical lives.”
Friday, September 20, White Our Day for Frankie Beverly, is the day to wear white in his honor and pump Frankie Beverly’s music all day and, as DJ Boscoe said, “move the planet out of its orbit.”
Sis. Tomiko closed out the program by noting that Frankie Beverly’s ultimate message may have been to love yourself, start the internal revolution and the larger revolution will occur, and that will be the Golden Time Of Day.
The R-evolution Is Black Love is heard every Wednesday at 3:00 PM Eastern Time (United States) on HandRadio (https://handradio.org). After broadcast, the show can be listened to below or on our Media Page.