Imani Perry

So you get the sense of innuendo, of multi-layered discourses. It's just so elegant and beautiful and profound.

I'll just say, you know, I grew up on Nina Simone. My mother loved Nina Simone, and so I've been listening to her literally for my entire 52 years of life. And, you know, we talk a great deal in some ways about the late Nina Simone and the world of sort of popular culture. Nina Simone as a woman who was both...

I'll just say, you know, I grew up on Nina Simone. My mother loved Nina Simone, and so I've been listening to her literally for my entire 52 years of life. And, you know, we talk a great deal in some ways about the late Nina Simone and the world of sort of popular culture. Nina Simone as a woman who was both...

I'll just say, you know, I grew up on Nina Simone. My mother loved Nina Simone, and so I've been listening to her literally for my entire 52 years of life. And, you know, we talk a great deal in some ways about the late Nina Simone and the world of sort of popular culture. Nina Simone as a woman who was both...

A musical genius and also a person who put politics in their music and also a person who struggled with her mental and emotional health after so many tragedies. And so I wanted to look at the beginning. I wanted to attend to early Nina Simone, a person who had already experienced extraordinary disappointment. She was a trained classical pianist.

A musical genius and also a person who put politics in their music and also a person who struggled with her mental and emotional health after so many tragedies. And so I wanted to look at the beginning. I wanted to attend to early Nina Simone, a person who had already experienced extraordinary disappointment. She was a trained classical pianist.

A musical genius and also a person who put politics in their music and also a person who struggled with her mental and emotional health after so many tragedies. And so I wanted to look at the beginning. I wanted to attend to early Nina Simone, a person who had already experienced extraordinary disappointment. She was a trained classical pianist.

She'd been denied admission to the Curtis Institute. She was certain that that denial was because of her race. And so she became this musician who was blending, you know, torch songs, show tunes, jazz as a performer, and then elements of the classical music. But she also was really struggling emotionally with the desire to have been a

She'd been denied admission to the Curtis Institute. She was certain that that denial was because of her race. And so she became this musician who was blending, you know, torch songs, show tunes, jazz as a performer, and then elements of the classical music. But she also was really struggling emotionally with the desire to have been a

She'd been denied admission to the Curtis Institute. She was certain that that denial was because of her race. And so she became this musician who was blending, you know, torch songs, show tunes, jazz as a performer, and then elements of the classical music. But she also was really struggling emotionally with the desire to have been a

a classical musician and the ways in which she was excluded from that. And so there's something about in thinking and talking about this first album, I wanted to gesture to the complex emotions associated with her putting this work together and also its incredible beauty. It's yet again one of these sites where you see

a classical musician and the ways in which she was excluded from that. And so there's something about in thinking and talking about this first album, I wanted to gesture to the complex emotions associated with her putting this work together and also its incredible beauty. It's yet again one of these sites where you see

a classical musician and the ways in which she was excluded from that. And so there's something about in thinking and talking about this first album, I wanted to gesture to the complex emotions associated with her putting this work together and also its incredible beauty. It's yet again one of these sites where you see

You know, the process of creating beauty at the site of wound, it happens over and over and over again in black culture and life. And I was able to do it through the story of a really cherished musician for me personally, but I think for the world.

You know, the process of creating beauty at the site of wound, it happens over and over and over again in black culture and life. And I was able to do it through the story of a really cherished musician for me personally, but I think for the world.

You know, the process of creating beauty at the site of wound, it happens over and over and over again in black culture and life. And I was able to do it through the story of a really cherished musician for me personally, but I think for the world.

Yeah, so part of the reason it started to feel like more than a coincidence to me was actually encountering a letter written by a fabric trader in the 18th century in reference to a planter who was purchasing cloth for the people enslaved on his plantation farm. to make clothing.

Yeah, so part of the reason it started to feel like more than a coincidence to me was actually encountering a letter written by a fabric trader in the 18th century in reference to a planter who was purchasing cloth for the people enslaved on his plantation farm. to make clothing.

Yeah, so part of the reason it started to feel like more than a coincidence to me was actually encountering a letter written by a fabric trader in the 18th century in reference to a planter who was purchasing cloth for the people enslaved on his plantation farm. to make clothing.

And the fabric trader mentioned that the planter said that he had to bring back blue cloth, otherwise the women, the black women who were enslaved, wouldn't want it. And so, you know, there's something extraordinary about these women who were enslaved insisting upon a particular color for adornment. And that has lots of roots.