Arriving via limited theatrical release on July 28th before going wide on August 4th, the film Detroit is based on the Algiers Motel incident which took place during the city’s 12th Street Riot of 1967. Quick refresher: several Black men were killed, and other Black men and the white women who accompanied them were badly beaten and/or humiliated, in the motel by by several White members of a riot squad during the 12th Street Riot.
(This was in 1967; you already know how that went when it went to trial.)
Either way, the soundtrack to Detroit draws heavily from the Motown era of the 1960s, with music from Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell, The Dramatics, John Coltrane and several others. However, The Roots and Bilal team for a new song on the soundtrack, “It Ain’t Fair.”
“This song is the slow burning fire inside all of our souls,” Questlove explains to Rolling Stone. “Watching the movie clearly shows that life in 1967 isn’t that much different in 2017 or 1897 for that matter. We wanted to hit many a bird with one stone: Humanize the pain, confusion and sadness. But also express the overdue anger. Not only to the powers that be but also to those on the sideline that can afford to turn the other way because it doesn’t effect them at the moment.”
Listen to it below.
