The Cause: Conversations on Music, History, and Democracy
In collaboration with the Center for African and African American Studies at the University of Colorado Boulder, The Cause is a podcast and call to action. Hosted by Dr. Reiland Rabaka, it explores the transformative power of music, the wisdom of history, and the promise of democracy in the pursuit of racial justice. Through conversations, reflections, and storytelling, the series amplifies voices and stories that are too often unheard. It challenges injustices, breaks down societal misconceptions, and invites listeners to help build a more just and inclusive future.
Episodes
Reggae: The Golden Age of a Spiritual Revolution and Musical Rebellion, 1970-1980
In "Reggae: The Golden Age of a Spiritual Revolution and Musical Rebellion, 1970–1980," Dr. Reiland Rabaka enters the decade when Jamaica transformed bass, drum, scripture, street knowledge, and Rastafari consciousness into a global language of liberation. Moving from the Wailers' Soul Rebels to Bob Marley and the Wailers' Uprising, the episode explores how roots reggae challenged colonial power,
The Freedom Songs of the Civil Rights Movement
What happens when a movement for freedom finds its voice—and a people turn song into courage? In this episode of The Cause: Conversations on Music, History, and Democracy, Dr. Reiland Rabaka explores the freedom songs of the Civil Rights Movement as far more than a soundtrack to struggle. Rooted in African American spirituals, gospel traditions, Black sacred practices, labor organizing, and genera
The Civil Rights Movement
"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." — Martin Luther King Jr., "Letter from Birmingham City Jail," 1963" What happens when a nation declares freedom but keeps a Colored Section waiting inside democracy? In this episode of The Cause: Conversations on Music, History, and Democracy, Dr. Reiland Rabaka journeys through the Civil Rights Movement and the longer Black freedom stru
The Music of the African Diaspora: Reggae, Salsa, Samba, Calypso & Soca, and Cumbia
What happens when memory learns to move through rhythm? In this episode of The Cause: Conversations on Music, History, and Democracy, Dr. Reiland Rabaka journeys across Jamaica, Cuba, Puerto Rico, New York, Brazil, Trinidad & Tobago, and Colombia to explore five great musical traditions of the African diaspora: reggae, salsa, samba, calypso & soca, and cumbia. Moving from enslavement and racial co
Ep 40: African Diaspora: Beyond Borders, Beyond Boundaries
"History is not the past. It is the present. We carry our history with us. We are our history." — James Baldwin, I Am Not Your Negro The African Diaspora is not simply the history of Africans dispersed across the globe. It is the story of a civilization whose influence crossed oceans, whose ideas crossed generations, and whose enduring commitment to freedom continues to enlarge the democratic im
Ep 39: The Blues: Musical Memories, Oral Histories, and Cultural Archives
The blues is not simply a music of sadness, heartbreak, or loss. Those themes are present, but they do not define the tradition. The blues is one of history's most eloquent narrators, philosophy carried in song, theology expressed through everyday life, and democratic testimony voiced by ordinary women and men whose names rarely appear in history books but whose lives helped shape the modern worl
Ep 38: The Spirituals: The Black Sacred Song Tradition
"The Black folk song, the rhythmic cry of the slave, stands today not simply as the sole American music, but as the most beautiful expression of human experience born this side the seas." - W. E. B. Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk What can a song teach us about freedom? What can a melody reveal about memory, resilience, and the long struggle for human dignity? In this episode of The Cause: Conve
Ep 37: Juneteenth: Freedom Deferred, Freedom Declared, Freedom Demanded
"If there is no struggle, there is no progress." — Frederick Douglass Juneteenth is not merely a holiday. It is not merely a date on a calendar, a festival, a parade, or a cookout. Juneteenth is a historical mirror. It asks us to look honestly at America's promises and America's contradictions, to remember both the wounds and the wonders of the American experiment. In this special episode, Dr.
Ep 36: Love is Love: LGBTQIA+ Liberation Movements and the Long Road to Democracy
Love is love is not sentiment alone. It is a declaration, a demand, a democracy still unfinished. In this episode, Dr. Reiland Rabaka traces the long and defiant arc of LGBTQIA+ liberation movements in America, from the hidden corners of pre-Stonewall queer life to the fury of the 1969 riots, through the grief and militancy of the AIDS crisis, and into today's ongoing battles over transgender righ
Ep 35: "Black Is Beautiful!": The Black Aesthetic and The Black Arts Movement, 1965-1975
Black is beautiful is not a slogan alone, but a summons, a call to consciousness, a chorus of reclamation rising from a people long told to doubt their own reflection. In this episode, Dr. Reiland Rabaka explores the Black Arts Movement, 1965 to 1975, a decade when art was insurgent and imagination was organized, when poetry marched and music mobilized, when theater testified and painting proclaim
Ep 34: The Harlem Renaissance: Early 20th Century Afro-Modernism
The Harlem Renaissance was not merely a moment. It was a movement, a meditation, a declaration that Black life, Black art, Black thought, and Black being would no longer be bound by the narrow scripts of a nation unsure of its own democracy. In this episode, Dr. Reiland Rabaka explores the Harlem Renaissance as early 20th century Afro-modernism, a transformative period when Black people dared to a
Ep 33: The CAAAS 5-Year Anniversary Episode: Building the Beloved Community at CU Boulder and Beyond, 2021-2026
"Five years rooted in history, five years reaching toward freedom—this is the work, this is the cause." — Dr. Reiland Rabaka In this special anniversary episode of The Cause: Conversations on Music, History, and Democracy, Dr. Reiland Rabaka reflects on the first five years of The Center for African and African American Studies/The CAAAS at the University of Colorado Boulder. What began as a vis
Ep 32: Black Studies at CU Boulder and Beyond: Honoring Dr. Charles Nilon and Mrs. Mildred Nilon
This special episode of The Cause brings listeners to a powerful moment of remembrance held on February 16, 2026, marking the installation of a Bench by the Road through the Toni Morrison Society in honor of Dr. Charles Nilon and Mrs. Mildred Nilon. More than a commemorative event, this gathering stands as a public act of memory, recognition, and responsibility. The bench, simple in form yet profo
Ep 31: The Feminist Art Movement
In this episode of The Cause: Conversations on Music, History, and Democracy, Dr. Reiland Rabaka explores the feminist art movement as a vital site of resistance, cultural production, and social transformation. Moving across historical moments and artistic traditions, this conversation examines how feminist artists have challenged exclusion, disrupted dominant narratives, and redefined the boundar
Ep 30: The Women's Liberation Movement
What is Women's Liberation? It is more than a slogan, more than a season, more than a symbolic seat at a table built by patriarchy. Women's liberation is the radical reimagining of the world itself. It is the audacious assertion that women are not property, not afterthought, not footnotes to male ambition, but full human beings endowed with intellect, imagination, agency, and authority. In this es
Ep 29: Afrofuturism: Black Freedom, Black Philosophy, Black Future
What is Afrofuturism, and why does it matter now? In this episode, Dr. Reiland Rabaka explores Afrofuturism as more than a cultural trend. It is a philosophy of freedom, a political imagination, and a practice of worldmaking rooted in the Black Freedom Struggle. It is what happens when Black artists, thinkers, and communities refuse the lie that the future belongs to someone else. The future has
Ep 28: Black History Month Centennial, 1926–2026: One Hundred Years of Black History Month
"If a race has no history, if it has no worthwhile tradition, it becomes a negligible factor in the thought of the world, and it stands in danger of being exterminated." — Dr. Carter G. Woodson In 2026, we mark 100 years of Black History Month. One hundred years of intentional remembering, rigorous study, and collective struggle around Black life and Black humanity. One hundred years of insistin
Ep 27: The Beloved Community, Part 2: Martin Luther King, "I Have a Dream," and the Beloved Community
Episode Date: January 29, 2026 "The danger of the 'I Have a Dream' speech is not that it is remembered, but that it is remembered incorrectly. It is misremembered. The danger is nostalgia without commitment, reverence without responsibility. Dr. King's dream was not meant to be admired. It was meant to be enacted." - Dr. Reiland Rabaka In this concluding episode of our two-part series, Dr. Reila
Ep 26: The Beloved Community Part I: Martin Luther King and the Beloved Community
"The Beloved Community is not a place we arrive at, but a practice we embody in relationship with one another." - Dr. Reiland Rabaka In this first part of our January series, Dr. Reiland Rabaka explores the meaning, origins, and practical demands of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s vision for the Beloved Community. Far from an abstract ideal, the Beloved Community represents a way of being and actin
Ep 25: Kwanzaa: A Celebration of Culture, Family, and Community
"Kwanzaa tells us we are the harvest our ancestors dreamed of and the seeds of new worlds not yet born." - Dr. Reiland Rabaka In this powerful and timely episode of The Cause: Conversations on Music, History, and Democracy, Dr. Reiland Rabaka offers a deeply rooted meditation on Kwanzaa as a cultural practice, a philosophical framework, and a living tradition born from the Black Freedom Movement
Ep 24: The Women's Suffrage Movement
In The Women's Suffrage Movement, Dr. Rabaka lifts up the intertwined histories of women's rights, abolitionism, racial justice, and democratic reform. This episode serves as a companion to Episode 23, The Abolitionist Movement, deepening our understanding of how these movements shaped one another. The episode examines the evolution of suffrage organizing, the contributions of Black women's clubs,
Ep 23: The Abolitionist Movement: The Roots of Anti-Racism and Allyship
"The abolitionists were the first to teach us that freedom must be shared, that justice must be collective, and that allyship is not performance but participation." - Dr. Reiland Rabaka Episode 23 of The Cause Podcast takes listeners deep into the heart of The Abolitionist Movement, exploring how the fight to end slavery laid the foundation for modern anti-racism, civil rights, and contemporary
Ep 22: Beyond the Game: Voices from the Black Student Athlete Summit
In this powerful conversation, Dr. Reiland Rabaka is joined by DaWon Baker, CU Boulder's Associate Athletic Director for Impact & Strategic Engagement, along with three CU Boulder students and student-athletes who recently attended the 2025 Black Student Athlete Summit in Chicago. Together, they share what it means to be part of a national gathering that celebrates Black excellence, amplifies voi
Episode 21: A Conversation with State Rep. Junie Joseph
In this episode of The Cause Podcast, Dr. Reiland Rabaka speaks with State Representative Junie Joseph, a dynamic legislator representing Colorado's District 10. Born in Haiti and now serving in the Colorado General Assembly, Representative Joseph shares her remarkable journey of resilience, civic engagement, and community-centered leadership. The discussion explores themes of representation, equi
Ep 20: Global South
Episode Date: October 9, 2025 "The Global South is not just geography—it's a shared story of survival, solidarity, and hope." - Dr. Reiland Rabaka In this powerful episode of The Cause: Conversations on Music, History, and Democracy, Dr. Reiland Rabaka explores The Global South—not just as a place, but as a living, breathing movement for liberation. Through stories of art, activism, and resistan
Ep 19: Decolonization
Episode Date: September 25, 2025 "Decolonization is not simply political. It is also cultural and musical. We can decolonize our minds, our art, and our institutions as we imagine a world rooted in justice, peace, and love." — Dr. Reiland Rabaka In Episode 19 of The Cause: Conversations on Music, History, and Democracy, Dr. Reiland Rabaka takes us deep into the meaning and urgency of Decolonizat
Ep 18: Social Justice
"Social justice is not charity, it's not something we give away when it's convenient—it's about transforming the very structures of society so that everyone can thrive." – Dr. Reiland Rabaka In Episode 18 of The Cause: Conversations on Music, History, and Democracy, we conclude our Justice Series with a powerful exploration of Social Justice. Dr. Reiland Rabaka examines how movements for equity, a
Ep 17: Food Justice
In Episode 17 of The Cause: Conversations on Music, History, and Democracy, Dr. Reiland Rabaka turns his attention to the politics of the plate—food justice. This episode digs deep into how access to healthy, affordable food is tied to democracy, power, and equality. From the grassroots brilliance of Ron Finley, the "Gangsta Gardener" of Los Angeles, to Fannie Lou Hamer's Freedom Farm Cooperative,
Episode 16: Environmental Justice
"Environmental justice is about more than saving the planet—it's about saving people, especially those who've been left out of the conversation for far too long." — Dr. Reiland Rabaka In this episode, Dr. Rabaka examines the intersection of environmentalism, social justice, and the fight for equality. This powerful conversation unpacks how environmental issues disproportionately impact marginali
Ep 15: Radical Democracy: Power to the People!
"When we talk about radical democracy, we're not talking about partisan politics—we're talking about people power. We're talking about reimagining democracy so it's not just something we vote for, but something we live every single day." — Dr. Reiland Rabaka In this powerful episode of The Cause, Dr. Reiland Rabaka dives deep into the roots, meanings, and modern-day relevance of radical democrac
Ep 14, Pacifism & Peace Activism
What does it really mean to fight for peace? In this episode of The Cause: Conversations on Music, History, and Democracy, Dr. Reiland Rabaka explores the radical legacy of pacifism and nonviolent resistance in African American history and beyond. From W.E.B. Du Bois and Martin Luther King Jr. to Bayard Rustin and Angela Davis, Dr. Rabaka brings forward voices that have imagined—and embodied—a dif
Episode 13, Hip Hop Studies Part 3: The Hip Hop Movement
In this powerful closing chapter of our Hip Hop Studies series, Dr. Reiland Rabaka invites us to step beyond the music and into the deeper meaning of hip hop as a worldwide movement for change. While most people think of hip hop as just beats and rhymes, Dr. Rabaka challenges us to see it as something much larger: a living, breathing social movement rooted in community, activism, and the ongoing f
The Cause Podcast: Conversations on Music, History, and Democracy Trailer
The Cause: Conversations on Music, History, and Democracy with Dr. Reiland Rabaka explores how music and culture inspire movements for justice and social change. Hosted by Dr. Reiland Rabaka — Professor of African, African American, and Caribbean Studies, and Founding Director of The Center for African and African American Studies (The CAAAS) at the University of Colorado Boulder — each episode un
Ep 12, Hip Hop Studies Part 2: Political and Gangsta Rap
"These artists weren't just entertainers—they were educators, cultural critics, and community historians." — Dr. Reiland Rabaka In Part 2 of our Hip Hop Studies series, Dr. Reiland Rabaka explores the evolution and impact of political and gangsta rap—two vital branches of hip hop that challenged systems, spotlighted injustice, and reshaped public dialogue around race, poverty, policing, and powe
Ep 11, Hip Hop Studies: The Roots of Rap
"Rap is something you do—hip hop is something you live." — Dr. Reiland Rabaka In Episode 11 of The Cause: Conversations on Music, History, and Democracy, Dr. Reiland Rabaka launches our new Hip Hop Studies series with a powerful exploration of the cultural, political, and historical foundations of hip hop. This episode traces the origins of hip hop from its roots in the Bronx to its connections
Ep 10, The Beloved Community
"The Beloved Community is about us putting all of our lights together—about transforming ourselves and transforming this world." — Dr. Reiland Rabaka In this milestone 10th episode of The Cause: Conversations on Music, History, and Democracy, Dr. Reiland Rabaka reflects deeply on one of his greatest causes: The Beloved Community. Tracing its philosophical roots from Josiah Royce to Howard Thurma
Ep 9, Civil Rights Movement Music
"When the world would not listen to what we say, we sang." – Dr. Reiland Rabaka In this powerful episode of The Cause: Conversations on Music, History, and Democracy, Dr. Reiland Rabaka explores the deep cultural, spiritual, and political roots of Civil Rights Music—from the sacred sounds of the Black church to the anthems that echoed through marches, protests, and mass meetings. Drawing connect
Ep 8, Rock & Roll and the Civil Rights Movement
"Rock & roll wasn't just about rebellion—it was about revolution. It was young, it was Black, and it was bold enough to break down barriers." – Dr. Reiland Rabaka In this episode of The Cause: Conversations on Music, History, and Democracy, Dr. Reiland Rabaka explores how rock & roll helped shape the Civil Rights Movement and American democracy itself. From its deep roots in gospel and rhythm &
Ep 4, Part 2, Interview, Otis Taylor, Musician, Pioneer of Trance Blues and Banjo
In Part 2 of our conversation with legendary blues musician Otis Taylor, we dive deeper into his artistic journey, his distinctive trance blues style, and the historical and cultural significance of his work. Taylor shares personal stories about the power of storytelling through music, the African roots of the banjo, and how his music continues to challenge narratives and inspire change. 🎧 Tune in
Ep 7, Rhythm and Blues and the Civil Rights Movement
Rhythm and Blues wasn't just a genre—it was a powerful force in the fight for civil rights. In this episode of The Cause: Conversations on Music, History, and Democracy, Dr. Reiland Rabaka explores how R&B artists used their music to challenge injustice, inspire activism, and uplift communities during one of the most pivotal times in American history. From Sam Cooke's "A Change Is Gonna Come" to J
Ep 6, Black Women's Liberation Movement Music, Overview by the Author
How did Black women use music to fight for freedom? In this episode of The Cause: Conversations on Music, History, and Democracy, Dr. Reiland Rabaka explores the themes of his recent book, Black Women's Liberation Movement Music: Soul Sisters, Black Feminist Funksters, and Afro-Disco Divas. From the raw soul of Aretha Franklin to the boundary-pushing funk of Betty Davis, this episode highlights th
Ep 5, Allyship
"It is certain, in any case, that ignorance, allied with power, is the most ferocious enemy justice can have." -James Baldwin. What does it mean to be an ally? More importantly, what does it mean to be an active ally? In this episode of The Cause: Conversations on Music, History, and Democracy, Dr. Reiland Rabaka takes a deep dive into the meaning of allyship—breaking down the difference between r
Ep 1, An Introduction to The Cause
Welcome to The Cause: Conversations on Music, History, and Democracy with Dr. Reiland Rabaka. In this inaugural episode, Dr. Rabaka introduces listeners to the heart and soul of the podcast—a space dedicated to exploring profound causes like social justice, racial equality, and cultural empowerment through the lens of music and historical dialogue. Join us as we delve into the intersection of art,
Ep 3, Part 1, Interview, Otis Taylor, Musician, Pioneer of Trance Blues and Banjo
In this two-part special of The Cause: Conversations on Music, History, and Democracy, Dr. Reiland Rabaka sits down with renowned blues musician Otis Taylor for an intimate and dynamic conversation. In Part 1, they explore Taylor's journey into music, his unique style, and his deep ties to African American history and culture. Taylor shares stories about his upbringing, his influences, and how he'
Ep 2, The Funk Movement, Book Overview by the Author
In the second episode of The Cause: Conversations on Music, History, and Democracy, Dr. Reiland Rabaka takes us deep into the rhythmic roots of his latest book, The Funk Movement: Music, Culture, and Politics. This episode explores how funk music became a vital soundtrack to the Black Power movement, transcending mere entertainment to embody a cultural and political revolution. Dr. Rabaka highligh
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