It isn’t often I get to review a music video, but I’m glad I have the chance to review the video “Thurgood Marshall” by St. Lenox. His song tells of his admiration for the first African-American justice. This inspirational single is featured on St. Lenox’s album “Ten Hymns from My American Gothic”, which was released October 21^st. Let’s watch “Thurgood Marshall” together while we talk about what makes this video so awesome.

It’s wonderful that St. Lenox chose to write a song about Justice Marshall and the impact he has on St. Lenox. In the first verse, he refers to Justice Marshall as his “new hero” who is “A righteous and a mighty force to wash away/The sins of a dark chapter”, which shows his respect for the revered lawyer. The lyrics are St. Lenox’s way of expressing respect and admiration for the lawyer-turned-judge, who also won the historic “Brown v. Board of Education” case. St. Lenox describes sitting in the library feeling “lost in all the books” when “Justice Marshall reached out of the history books and spoke to me”, giving him the inspiration he needed to be “mystified and inspired by the law”.

The video was filmed throughout a library, with the camera flying through rows of books, all while telling a series of narratives detailing the experience of law school from the eyes of a law student. The first story is told with the words appearing long enough for the viewers to read and take in the story. The next story is introduced as “triple time”, indicating that the story will be told quickly. While the story is told in “triple time”, the camera pans through the library and later into lecture hall. We leave the lecture hall and the door opens to another story told much faster than the previous one. The story ends with St. Lenox singing the chorus of the song, while we get a glimpse of him working at his desk.

The fact that St. Lenox views Thurgood Marshall as his hero and inspiration to practice law is awesome. The lyrics and video were moving and encouraging. I loved every moment of it and I know all of you will too. I think it’s also worth noting that art imitates life, as St. Lenox obtained his Ph.D. and is currently a practicing attorney in New York.

Final Grade: A

About The Author

Lauren Beverly

Music Reviewer

I love to write and have been doing so since the age of eight. Fictional stories have always been a favorite of mine, because it gives me a chance to be creative and to express myself in a multitude of ways. On more than one occasion, a song proved to be the inspiration to several stories I have written. Believe it or not, some of those songs were on soundtracks! That’s mostly what I listen to, aside from hits from the 1950’s up to the 1980’s. I’ve learned that anything can be the inspiration to a story, even a poster from the 1990’s or a DVD cover.

I’ve lived in Upper Marlboro all of my life and spent much of my childhood watching cartoons of all kinds, and listening to my older sister’s cassette tapes. Growing up, I listened to everything Jackson related, Paula Abdul, Elton John, and even the controversial group Milli Vanilli. As a teenager, I continued to listen to old-school hits and that was pretty much all I liked, aside from listening to all of Michael Jackson’s music. To this day, I still love old-school hits. That hasn’t changed.

I own a variety of CDs from artists such as Styx, The BeeGees, Michael Jackson, Queen, The Yellow Submarine Soundtrack, and many others. When a soundtrack comes out, there will always be one specific song from that album that I’ll love. It never fails.

I’ve graduated from Bowie State University in December 2013 with a B.A. degree in English.

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