Tracy Chapman

In all honesty, before actually learning about Tracy Chapman, but hearing her songs, I thought she was a male. But I absolutely adore her song Fast Car. I don't know if it's the rhythm, or her voice, but this calming wave swept over me in class. Her songs are so relaxing, but convey such deep messages about her life. Like Professor Santos had mentioned, before reading the lyrics and analyzing them, I never would've known what her songs actually meant. She has a soulful sound about her, which is probably extremely difficult to mimic. Her uniqueness presented her with both complete success, and uncertainty.

As a child, Tracy grew up with a difficult life. She took care of her father, who was an alcoholic, and her mother had abandoned them. She began writing songs about issues that were very real to her, which takes a great amount of strength as it is. She was an African American women who did not fit into the category of the stereotypical "Black Music". Unfortunately, as much as Tracy directly spoke out to African Americans since she did not sound like the black music, she didn't fit in. “Blacks are uncomfortable with her not because she’s too white, but because she’s too black.” That must've been very difficult for her. Obviously the radios didn't have many black Rock and Roll singers that were male, never mind being female. The radios wanted to stick to their audiences, and not make space for diversity. Essentially, she didn't have a category that she belonged in. I think thats what's so special about her though. She wasn't this flashy celebrity. Fame wasn't important to her at all. In fact she hated it. She just wanted to share her music with the world, regardless of her genre.