Music Monday: Tracy Chapman

Earlier this month Tracy Chapman made history as the first Black artist to win Song of the Year at the CMAs for Luke Combs’s cover of her 1988 hit. And while “Fast Car” is no doubt an iconic song for the ages, her whole catalogue is like that. Heck her whole first album is filled with them. “Talkin' 'bout a Revolution,” “Baby Can I Hold You,” “If Not Now.” But I think one of the under looked bangers from her 1988 debut is “Mountains O’ Things.” The more you listen to Tracy, the more she feels like a prophet. But, really, what she was was clear-eyed about our human condition, and particularly the conditions we’re all forced to live under late stage capitalism. Consume more than you need. This is the dream. She knew more than 30 years ago, yet here we are with even more billionaires and things than ever. After Black Friday weekend, her music remains an apt reminder for these times. Guess we’ll all just deep dreaming, dreaming, dreaming. Happy Monday, kittens.