2015

Within the insular internet music world, and the realm of pop in which Blood Orange’s music often moves, Dev Hynes stands out as a beacon of dissent, anger, courage, and empathy. His social media presence flickers with notes on injustice in pop culture and society, writ large. Last year, he was assaulted by security at Lollapalooza after a set in which he spoke out against police brutality whilst wearing a T-shirt bearing the names of black men and boys murdered by law enforcement: Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, Jordan Davis, and Oscar Grant.
On the somber, pulsating vocal collage "Do You See My Skin Through the Flames?" he connects these percolating thoughts and attendant, mushrooming feelings of isolation and exhaustion through music for the first time. "I have nothing left to give when you don't notice what’s wrong," he sings, "Charleston left me broken down but it's just another... (Continues)

2015

In an interview with The Cut back in August, Sybrina Fulton was asked if she had yet forgiven George Zimmerman, the neighborhood-watch volunteer who shot and killed her son, Trayvon Martin, in a Florida suburb in 2012. “I’m very honest about my feelings and I have not gotten there,” Fulton said. “Everybody forgives in their own time. I’m just not there. I will never forget, and I have not forgiven.” The interview occurred just a few days after clashes between police and protesters had reached a boiling point in Ferguson, Mo., and a week after Fulton met with the mother and sister of Sandra Bland, the 28-year-old black woman found dead in a jail cell in Waller County, Texas after being detained for a minor traffic violation in July.
Dev Hynes’"Sandra’s Smile” is an ode to Bland, and for all the victims of America’s brutal systems of authority. It’s especially a song for those like Sybrina... (Continues)