“Into the Struggle”

by

Renaissance the Poet

Renaissance the Poet, a seasoned emcee and spoken word artist, who also holds a Bachelor’s Degree in History and a Bachelor’s Degree in Philosophy from the University of Washington, and who has also been a Black Lives Matter activist since the execution of Michael Brown in 2014, published an album fusing all of these elements together.

It is a powerful work of art, cleverly woven together to tell an incredible story of struggle by a people “sick and tired of being sick and tired” (Fannie Lou Hamer). It seamlessly streams together philosophy, morality, ethics, history, lived experience, contemporary issues and that out the gutter, underground Hip Hop classic emotion of RAWNESS, ANGER & PASSION.

Renaissance has often been likened unto Chuck D of Public Enemy and Immortal Technique, two phenomenal artist of extreme intelligence who focus on contemporary, historic and intergenerational trauma through the artistic expressions within their music.

“Into the Struggle” is a must hear that will most likely remain relevant for quite some time to come. If anything is clear from the album, and Renaissance’s participation in the Movement for Black Lives is that this is not a new struggle and that change takes a long time. That is what Renaissance did not name the album, “The Struggle is Over.” This is not a moment, but a movement. It is not a sprint, but a marathon. Renaissance concludes the album with a continued call to action because there is still so much work yet to be done.