"My Black Is" Honors Classic & Contemporary Black Artists & Music with Curated Playlists, New Video Content & More

"My Black Is" Weekly Themes include POWER, LOVE, HISTORY and CULTURE

"My Black Is" Presents New Visual Content with Artists including Muhammad Ali, Fugees, Sly & The Family Stone, Chloe x Halle, Miguel and Others

For Black History Month 2021, This Is Certified, Sony Music's Hip Hop and R&B catalog division, has partnered with BET Digital in the launch of "My Black Is," a four-part thematic series commemorating Black artists--past, present and future--and their abiding essential influence on popular culture, from the underground to the mainstream.

Each week's "My Black Is" theme-based programming will present newly-curated playlists showcasing classic tracks from timeless artists alongside the fresh sounds of contemporary Black musicians who're making history here and now. New visual content reflecting "My Black Is" themes--featuring artists ranging from Muhammad Ali, Fugees and Sly & The Family Stone to current hitmakers like Chloe x Halle, Miguel and others--will be released each week in February.

Link to “My Black Is: A Celebration Of Cultural Excellence” video here: https://Certified.lnk.to/ForTheCulture

The first of the series, "My Black Is Power," premieres Monday, February 1 with subsequent installments--"My Black Is Love," "My Black Is History" (celebrating the classics of Hip Hop, R&B and Jazz) and "My Black Is Culture" (a look at younger artists and evolving Black Culture)--arriving each week throughout Black History Month.

Link to “My Black Is” Spotify Playlist here: https://Certified.lnk.to/MyBlackIs

Later this week, "My Black Is Power" will unveil a brand-new animated video of “I Am The Greatest," the title track from the Grammy-nominated spoken word album of Muhammad Ali, originally released through Columbia Records as a comedy album in August 1963. I Am The Greatest debuted six months before the legendary boxer was named the heavyweight champion of the world, announced his conversion to Islam, and changed his name from Cassius Clay to Muhammad Ali. The album sold half a million copies in the United States and was nominated for a Grammy Award in the "Best Comedy Performance" category at the 6th Annual Grammy Awards in 1964. According to an article published by The Guardian June 6, 2016, "Some have argued that The Champ was the first rapper. But more important to rap than his disses of his opponents was his manner outside the ring." In subsequent years, Muhammad Ali's I Am The Greatest album has been recognized as a bedrock influence on rap music while his iconic status as "The Greatest" has made a historic impact on hip hop culture.

Just in time for Valentine's Day 2021, "My Black Is Love" commemorates the 25th anniversary of the Fugees' breakout masterpiece, The Score (originally released February 13, 1996) and unveils the official "Killing Me Softly" music video, unavailable in the US since the The Score's release. The Fugees' hip hop reimagining of "Killing Me Softly with His Song," a #1 chart-topper for Roberta Flack in 1973, featuring stunning lead vocals from Ms. Lauryn Hill, became a signifying sound and romantic anthem of the era. SPIN called the track "an instant classic, pumped out of every passing car from coast to coast, with Ms. Lauryn Hill's timeless voice never losing its poignant kick." "Killing Me Softly" hit #2 on the US charts while becoming the UK's top-selling single in 1996. The Fugees version of "Killing Me Softly" won the 1997 Grammy for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal, mirroring the song's success at the 1973 Grammys when Roberta Flack won Grammy Awards for Record of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance while songwriters Charles Fox and Norman Gimbel took home that year's Song of the Year Grammy. The 25th anniversary of The Score will be celebrated in 2021 with new content appearing throughout the year.

"My Black Is History" will premiere a new animated video for "Everyday People"--Sly & the Family Stone's anthemic celebration of human diversity. An irresistible call for peace and understanding, the universal message of "Everyday People"--"We got to live together"--still rings true everyday, now more than ever. Recorded and released in 1968, "Everyday People," a psychedelic pop/soul classic written and produced by Sly Stone, became a crossover phenomenon, the first single by Sly & the Family Stone to hit #1 on the Soul chart and #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, a position it held for four solid weeks in February-March 1969. One of the most popular songs of the 1960s, "Everyday People" has a timeless easy groove that still makes people happy and gets them on the dance-floor. The first major American pop-rock group with a racially-integrated lineup of male and female musicians, Sly & the Family Stone broke down multiple barriers with their melodic hook-filled radio-friendly sound, a groundbreaking amalgamation of pop, rock, soul, funk, R&B and straight-up stardust magic. Active from 1966-1983, Sly & the Family Stone, a pioneering ensemble ahead of its time, made records that will always sound new.

The final week of the series, "My Black Is Culture," focusing on current young artists who are directing the flow and future of Black music and will premiere new episodes of the This Is Certified animated series, "My Life in 60 Seconds."

The first showcases Atlanta-born sister duo Chloe x Halle, tracing their musical journey from YouTube beginnings through their two Grammy-nominated albums: The Kids Are Alright (2018) and Ungodly Hour (2020). Learning to write songs as pre-teens, Chloe x Halle launched a YouTube channel covering Beyoncé's "Best Thing I Never Had." Moving to Los Angeles with their parents in 2012, Chloe x Halle appeared on The Ellen Show and won Radio Disney's fifth season of The Next Big Thing in December 2012. A year later, their version of "Pretty Hurts" caught the attention of Beyoncé, who signed Chloe x Halle to her management company, Parkwood Entertainment, in 2015. The sisters made a cameo in Beyoncé's Lemonade and opened for the superstar on "The Formation World Tour" (2016) and for Jay-Z and Beyoncé's "On the Run II Tour" (2018). Chloe x Halle won the Billboard Women in Music Rising Star Award in 2020. Since 2018, they have starred as the characters Jazlyn and Skylar on the popular ABC sitcom Grown-ish.

The final "My Life in 60 Seconds" segment features Grammy-winning multi-platinum selling contemporary R&B artist Miguel, whose groundbreaking discography includes four studio albums, 21 singles, four mixtapes and seven EPs. Miguel's debut studio album, the RIAA Platinum-certified All I Want Is You, was released in November 2010, establishing him as a cutting edge force in R&B. His second studio album, 2012's Kaleidoscope Dream, was a crossover smash, hitting #1 on the Billboard R&B chart and #3 on the Billboard 200; the RIAA Platinum-certified album generated the triple platinum single, "Adorn," a track that won Miguel the Grammy for Best R&B Song. Outside his solo work, Miguel's a well-respected musical collaborator who's worked with Mariah Carey ("#Beautiful"), J. Cole, Janelle Monáe, Big Sean, Jessie Ware, A$AP Rocky (the gold "Everyday"), Mac Miller (the platinum "Weekend"), Hudson Mohawke, Dua Lipa, Kygo and others. His third album, 2015's Wildheart, peaked at #2 on the Billboard 200 and earned two Grammy nominations including Best Urban Contemporary Album. His 2017 release, War & Leisure, debuted at #9 on the Billboard 200.

Check out new "My Black Is" playlists, videos and content on BET.com throughout Black History Month.