Naima Cochrane's Homepage

FEATURED IN/ON

SPOTIFY x "WEAR BLACK HISTORY"

I'm so excited to announce my/#MusicSermon's collaboration with the Spotify team for their amazing celebration of history and the influence of Black music for #BlackHistoryIsNow.
I worked with the Spotify team to identify and research six key stories in Black music history for a one-of-a-kind capsule collection.

Go browse the lookbook at BLACKHISTORYISNOW.COM to see what artists Joy Miessi and Brandan ‘bmike’ Odums created around The Sacred Music of Survival, The Chitlin Circuit, The Godmother of Rock n’ Roll: Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Sylvester: a Disco legend, The Afro Latinx Roots of Hip Hop and The Harlem Cultural Festival.

READ MORE ABOUT THE PROJECT

On December 28th 2017, I resigned from what most would consider a dream job. It was unplanned, but I knew it was time. Two months later, I embarked on my scariest and most fulfilling year to date.
I shared my and #MusicSermon's 2018 milestones HERE

#MUSICSERMON IS NOW PART OF THE
VIBE FAMILY!

Now, get weekly #MusicSermon deep dives at VibeMagazine.com every Sunday!

TALKING WHITNEY...

I joined Jon Caramonica and a round table of other music and culture critics to discuss how the documentaries Whitney (in theaters now) and Whitney: Can I Be Me? (currently available on Showtime on demand) handled Whitney's legacy, if either provided new insight or revelations, if there's a larger story to be told about her career, and how folks need to put some respect on Bobby Brown's name!

READ MORE + LISTEN

THOSE WHO IGNORE HISTORY...

My partner and I traveled from #EssenceFest by car with my mom, flying home from Atlanta, so that we could stop at the EJI National Memorial for Peace & Justice (aka the National Lynching Memorial) in Montgomery.
I'll share a full recap on the blog in the next few days, but I posted a video along with images of the placards in the museum that detail a few known stories (out of thousands), noting the striking and unsettling similarities between the random reasons for punitive actions against black people both then and now. The posts went viral, and while I had quite a battle in my mentions for a good 36 hours, some people heard about the memorial for the first time. Others realized they didn't know nearly the depth of the horrific history of lynching. That's worth the bots and racism deniers who were camped in my mentions.

TWITTER

We’re taking the “long way” back home so we could stop in Montgomery to visit the lynching memorial. Found the counties we knew. Found the name of a victim my grandfather used to tell stories about. (READ MORE)

THE DAILY DOT

#MusicSermon is a place of musical "worship" where we praise our legends, testify about the good works of the unsung and rejoice in the blessings of soul music. Started as a weekly twitter series, it's grown into a community of music lovers and a source of communal nostalgia. You'll even spot some celebrities in the virtual pews, including Ava Duverney, Lin Manuel Miranda, Missy Elliott, Chuck D, MC Hammer and more.
The below posts offer a sampling of the #MusicSermon experience. For more, visit the church home or follow via twitter on Sunday evenings for "live" service.

VISIT #MUSICSERMON