In a recent social media post, Questlove called upon his fellow artists to encourage them to write protest songs after the #MikeBrown & #EricGarner rulings, “I urge and challenge musicians and artists alike to push themselves to be a voice of the times that we live in.”

He goes on to explain, “I mean real stories. Real narratives. Songs with spirit in them. Songs with solutions. Songs with questions. Protest songs don’t have to be boring or non danceable…They just have to speak truth.”

For all of the artists taking up Questlove’s call to write more protest songs, here is some inspiration…RPM’s List of Recent Protest Songs on Spotify.

• Glory – John Legend & Common
• Be Free – JCole
• 212 Degrees – Jasiri X
• Don’t Shoot – Game, Rick Ross, 2 Chainz & more
• Police Story – Anti-Flag
• Black Rage – Ms. Lauryn Hill
• Same Love – Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
• It Ain’t My Fault – Preservation Hall Jazz Band
• Ice El Hielo – La Santa Cecilia
• No No Guantanamo – Sean Hayes
• Reagan – Killer Mike
• Land Of The Free – Esperanza Spalding
• The Rose And The Thistle – Flobots
• The Body Electric – Hurray For The Riff Raff
• The Jailer: Part 2 – Star Jaguar feat. Erin McKeown, Brer Rabbit (Flobots) and Shawn King (Devotchka)
• Cease Fire – Chadwick Stokes (Dispatch, State Radio)

This list is just a start. Contact us with any we have missed or any new ones to add.