Unchained: When Musicians Take on Slavery

Stars tackle America's so-called "peculiar institution."

/content/dam/betcom/images/2012/12/Celeb-12-01-12-15/121412-celebs-jamie-foxx-kerry-washington-django-unchained.jpg
Public Enemy, "Can't Truss It" - The powerful video for Public Enemy's 1991 banger "Can't Truss It" vivdly spotlights slave auctions, whippings and other horrors of slavery. (Photo: Island/ Def Jam Music Group)
Erykah Badu's Name Change - As a youth, Erykah Badu changed her name from Erica Wright, which she considered her slave name. Badu is both her favorite scatting sound and a name used by the Akan people in Ghana.  (Photo: Michael Conti/San Jose Mercury News/MCT/LANDOV)/content/dam/betcom/images/2012/03/Shows/106-and-Park-03-16-03-31/032912-shows-106-park-nas-untitled.jpg

Next Gallery

Five Head-Turning Outfits Doechii Rocked During Paris Fashion Week

5 Photos

1 / 10

Unchained: When Musicians Take on Slavery - In Django Unchained, the new Quentin Tarantino film, Jamie Foxx is a long way from singing hooks for Kanye West — he's playing a slave turned bounty hunter turned hero in a movie that deals with the brutality of slavery head on. But Jamie isn't the first music star to take on slavery. Read on to see how other musicians dealt with America's so-called "peculiar institution."  (Photo: Columbia Pictures)

ADVERTISEMENT