Music Library
Explore our collection of songs that champion human rights, equality, and justice.
Ren - Hi Ren
✨ A raw exploration of identity, inner conflict, and the struggle to be heard. “Hi Ren” by Ren is a deeply personal and unconventional piece that explores themes of mental struggle, self-identity, illness, and the search for understanding. Released in 2022, the song blends spoken word, hip-hop, folk, and theatrical performance to create a dialogue between different parts of the artist’s own mind.
Sam Cooke - A Change Is Gonna Come
✨ A timeless anthem of hope, equality, and the struggle for racial justice. “A Change Is Gonna Come” by Sam Cooke is one of the most influential songs of the civil rights movement. Released in 1964, shortly after Cooke’s death, the song became a powerful expression of the hopes, frustrations, and determination of African Americans fighting against segregation and racial discrimination in the United States.
Jackson Browne - Doctor My Eyes
✨ A reflection on moral awareness, compassion, and the danger of becoming numb to suffering. “Doctor My Eyes” by Jackson Browne is a deeply introspective song about confronting the pain and injustice of the world while questioning one’s own ability to respond. Released in 1972 on Browne’s debut album Jackson Browne (Saturate Before Using), the song explores themes of empathy, conscience, and the emotional burden of witnessing suffering.
Bob Marley & The Wailers - Put It On
✨ A call for resistance, self-belief, and standing up against injustice. “Put It On” by Bob Marley & The Wailers is a roots reggae song centred on resilience, perseverance, and inner strength. Released in 1965 as part of the early Wailers’ work and later included on the 1971 album Soul Rebels, the song reflects themes that would become central to Marley’s music: dignity, resistance, faith, and the determination to continue fighting despite hardship.
Plasticines - Human Rights
✨ A punk-inspired reflection on the gap between human rights ideals and the reality of a world that often fails to protect them. “Human Rights” by Plastiscines is a short but provocative song that questions whether societies truly live up to the principles they claim to defend. Released on the French band’s 2007 debut album LP1, the song uses irony and urgency to explore themes of conformity, silence, and the failure to act when rights are threatened.
Lauren Greenfield - Generational Wealth
✨ A visual investigation into wealth, inequality, and the human cost of the pursuit of status and success. “Generation Wealth” by Lauren Greenfield is a documentary and photography project exploring society’s growing obsession with money, luxury, fame, and social status. Developed over more than a decade, the project examines how the pursuit of wealth shapes individual identities, relationships, and communities across the world. Through photographs, interviews, and documentary storytelling, Greenfield explores not only the lives of the extremely wealthy but also the broader cultural desire to achieve wealth at any cost.
Queen Omega - Little Lion Sound
✨ A powerful reggae call for peace, justice, and the protection of future generations. “Little Lion Sound” by Queen Omega is a conscious reggae anthem that combines spiritual reflection with a message of social justice, resilience, and hope. Through her distinctive voice and roots reggae influences, Queen Omega uses music to address the struggles facing communities affected by violence, inequality, and social injustice while calling for collective responsibility and positive change.
Rodriguez - Rich Folks Hoax
✨ A powerful critique of inequality, exploitation, and the illusions created by wealth and power. “Rich Folks Hoax” by Rodriguez is a sharp social commentary on economic inequality and the way wealth can shape people’s opportunities, choices, and perceptions of reality. Recorded in the early 1970s and released on his album Cold Fact (1970), the song reflects Rodriguez’s recurring concern with poverty, social exclusion, and the struggles of ordinary people navigating an unequal society.
Peter Tosh - Legalize It
✨ A reggae anthem challenging criminalisation, inequality, and the right to personal freedom. “Legalize It” by Peter Tosh is one of reggae’s most famous songs advocating for the decriminalisation of cannabis and questioning the social consequences of laws that punish certain behaviours while ignoring broader inequalities. Released in 1976 as the title track of Tosh’s first solo album after leaving The Wailers, the song became a symbol of resistance, individual liberty, and the fight against policies that disproportionately affect marginalised communities.
Sinéad O’Connor - War
✨ A fearless protest against oppression, institutional abuse, and the courage to speak truth to power. “War” by Sinéad O’Connor is one of the most iconic acts of musical protest in modern history. In 1992, during a live performance on Saturday Night Live, O’Connor performed Bob Marley and the Wailers’ song “War” a cappella, but changed its lyrics to condemn child abuse within the Catholic Church. At the end of the performance, she tore up a photograph of Pope John Paul II and declared, “Fight the real enemy.” The moment sparked worldwide controversy, but it also became a landmark example of an artist using music to expose human-rights abuses and institutional impunity.
El General - Rais Lebled
✨ A fearless rap that gave voice to a revolution and challenged authoritarian rule. “Rais Lebled” (“President of the Country”) by the Tunisian rapper El General (Hamada Ben Amor) is one of the defining protest songs of the 21st century. Released in late 2010, the song became the unofficial anthem of the Tunisian Revolution and, more broadly, the Arab Spring. Through direct and uncompromising lyrics, El General addressed then-President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, denouncing corruption, unemployment, repression, and the daily struggles faced by ordinary Tunisians. The song spread rapidly through social media, inspiring thousands of protesters and demonstrating the extraordinary power of music to fuel demands for justice and democratic change.
Peter Tosh - Downpressor Man
✨ A powerful warning to oppressors—and a timeless call for justice and accountability. “Downpressor Man” by Peter Tosh is one of reggae's most uncompromising human-rights anthems. Released on his landmark 1977 album Equal Rights, the song reimagines the traditional spiritual Sinner Man, replacing the "sinner" with the "downpressor"—a Rastafarian term for those who use power to oppress, exploit, and deny the rights of others.