Reinvention / by airi katsuta

John Legend and The Roots released a collaborative album called Wake Up! with 11 covers of tunes of 1960's and 1970's. They were inspired by the 2008 United States Presidential Election and "wanted to do something musically that reflected that moment", says Legend. The songs are about social awareness, engagement, and consciousness and it applied to it back in the 1960's during the civil rights movement and it also still applies today. The songs on the album include "Wholy Holy" by Marvin Gaye, "Little Ghetto Boy" by Donny Hathaway, and "Hard Times" by Baby Huey & The Babysitters. Not very popular songs so why cover it? Questlove from the Roots said in an interview "I wanted to choose cover songs that were so under the radar, so uniquely interpreted, that it would take you a decode to realize that these are cover songs".

John Legend was ASU's guest speaker for Black History Month and spoke about how we need to "wake up!" and make the change. There are so many people who look the other way when there are children suffering or communities starving. Legend was telling us to reinvent ourselves to make the world a better place.

tweet him at @JohnLegend