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  • Black Christmas Songs That Just Slap

    Black Christmas Songs That Just Slap

    Growing up, I knew the minute the Christmas tree was dragged into the house that Christmas songs would soon follow. And Christmas originals sung by Black artists are more than just fun yuletide ditties. They are immersive musical experiences that make it close to impossible to not get up and dance.

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    Trump’s Tariffs Might Stick Around. What Should We Buy Now?
    Trump’s Tariffs Might Stick Around. What Should We Buy Now?

    These following 10 songs go hard for a variety of reasons. Each one elicits a different emotion through the lyrics, music, and the degree to which I could personally belt this song out in my auntieโ€™s living room. Christmas songs are not easy to write and that is doubly so for becoming hits. But these catchy and fun holiday songs have rhythm and melodies behind them that could expand beyond the Christmas season, which is what makes them so damn good.

    So while Christmas 2020 may be full of some not-so-jolly times, the only real cure to the winter blues is to put on some of these dope-ass songs and do whatever makes you happy.

    โ€œThis Christmas,โ€ Donny Hathaway

    So this one is just a really great Christmas original. Donny Hathawayโ€™s โ€œThis Christmasโ€ feels like classic soul-era music that somehow captures the specific Tin Pan Alley essence that we all know and love. His mix of strings, horns, and piano makes it, in my mind, one of the best. To me, this song embodies what it means to be a kid on Christmas Eve. Something about the slightly delayed lyrics and punctuated โ€œThis Christ…masโ€ of the bridge reminds me of anticipating the next morning.

    โ€œWhat Christmas Means To Me,โ€ Stevie Wonder

    Wonderโ€™s โ€œWhat Christmas Means To Meโ€ is exactly what you would expect a Stevie Wonder Christmas song to be. Itโ€™s full of big, brass sounds and his distinct voice singing about candles burning and mistletoe. His lyrics are what really make the song. For me, the repeated lyric, โ€œall these things and more,โ€ feels like a love letter to the holiday and the subject. Like Hathawayโ€™s โ€œThis Christmas,โ€ Wonderโ€™s music blends soul and sleigh bells and blends it into the perfect holiday song.

    โ€œChristmas (Baby Please Come Home),โ€ Darlene Love

    This song brings me an immense amount of joy. The first time I heard it was in an episode of Foxโ€™s New Girl where Darlene Love guest stars and sings this song to the cast. Loveโ€™s โ€œChristmas (Baby Please Come Home)โ€ will make you smile no matter how many times you listen to it. This song also reminds me of the feeling of trying to fall asleep the night before Christmas. Thereโ€™s a nostalgia that the backup vocals have that not only reminds me of childhood, but of a time when we could all justโ€ฆ go home for Christmas.

    โ€œBack Door Santa,โ€ Clarence Carter

    I think we can all agree that even though Carterโ€™s โ€œBack Door Santaโ€ has some questionable lyrics (โ€œI make all the little girls happy while the boys are out to playโ€), itโ€™s completely undeniable that you wouldnโ€™t throw it back seconds after it was put on. In my opinion, it has one of the best basslines of all Christmas songs, second only to the song that samples it, Run-D.M.Cโ€™s โ€œChristmas In Hollis.โ€ But really, those lyrics are less than PC, but what good song doesnโ€™t have controversial lyrics?

    โ€œI Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus,โ€ The Jackson 5

    What do you think was going through Michael Jacksonโ€™s head when he first sang โ€œI Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus?โ€ Iโ€™d like to imagine he was standing there in the booth, swaying and snapping, with a look of slight horror on his little face. This song is the perfect example of a good storytelling song. If it started playing behind the scene of a Hallmark movie where the kids sneak down the stairs and the father figure was dressed as Santa, kissing all over the mom, I wouldnโ€™t at all be surprised.

    โ€œLet It Snow,โ€ Boyz II Men and Brian McKnight

    If youโ€™re looking for that slow jam to get you in the Christmas mood, โ€œLet It Snow,โ€ by Boyz II Men and Brian McKnight, is that song. This song screams mulled wine and red velvet. This is one of the first songs Iโ€™ve come across that doesnโ€™t utilize sleigh bells, but I think that works for this one. This isnโ€™t a song that youโ€™re going to dance to like โ€œBack Door Santa,โ€ but youโ€™ll definitely be doing something.

    โ€œChristmas In Hollis,โ€ Run-D.M.C

    Before I go into the childhood memories, we have to pay respect to this song and the amazing hook that has kept the Christmas spiritโ€”and โ€œBack Door Santaโ€โ€”alive. โ€œChristmas In Hollisโ€ reminds me of my dad. For context, my dad only listens to music three ways: Amazon Music, Pandora Radio (with the ads), and his collection of 3,000 records. Growing up, heโ€™d plug some iteration of โ€œBlack Christmas songsโ€ into Pandora, and at some point, this would come up. Three long minutes of the running man later, he would walk over to where his laptop was and put it on again.

    โ€œSleigh Ride,โ€ TLC

    TLC can do no wrong. Even writing this, Iโ€™m dancing in my seat. Though this technically is a cover, it deserves recognition as a partial original because of the chorus. This song is a really good example of covering something with a spin. This is a song that you canโ€™t help singing to because even if itโ€™s your first time hearing it you know some of it from jump. And, โ€œโ€™Cause Santaโ€™s tryinโ€™ to mack in his (Cadillac)โ€ is just an iconic line.

    โ€œ8 Days of Christmas,โ€ Destinyโ€™s Child

    Itโ€™s the โ€œa gift certificate to get my favorite CDsโ€ on the third day of Christmas, for me. โ€œ8 Days of Christmas,โ€ by Destinyโ€™s Child, screams โ€œrich auntie energyโ€ and I am so here for it. It sets the bar high for what men should be doing for their girls. The only thing more iconic than the look on the white guyโ€™s face when they bust into the toy store is the opener of, โ€œChristmas is made for the children/Destinyโ€™s Child.โ€

    โ€œAll I Want For Christmas Is You,โ€ Mariah Carey

    You didnโ€™t think Iโ€™d forgot. I meanโ€ฆcโ€™mon.

    Straight From The Root

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