What does coffee have to do with Hip-Hop and R&B?

It’s National Coffee Day, so let’s start the week with a little pick-me-up!

Kelly Rowland

In 2020, Kelly Rowland released the song “Coffee” as an ode to black women. She described it by saying “I just wanted it to be an expression of black beauty and the different variations and tones and body shapes. I was really inspired by black women.”

Miguel

In Miguel’s 2015 album “Wildheart” he released “Coffee” as the albums lead single. The song received critical acclaim from various music critics including Pitchfork and Rolling Stone.

Andre 3000

In the 2008 film “Semi-Pro”, Andre 3000 of newly inducted Rock-n-Roll Hall of Fame group, Outkast, played fictional basketball player, Coffee Black. Playing for the Flint, Michigan Tropics. The Tropics were part of the ABA, which was being absorbed by the NBA. With a spot in the NBA on the line, the Tropics needed to win their final game, which they did, when Jackie Moon (played by Will Ferrell) had a dream in which his deceased mother (played by Patti LaBelle) described how to score a basketball in a new type of way. It was through this dream that Coffee Black and the Tropics successfully invented and executed the alley-oop.