The Truth Has a Sound: Kelly Price on Music, Healing, Resistance and Finding Your Voice with Linda Tigani

Story by Bennie Randall - Editor In Chief / Photos: Vonoi Global Media

Linda Tigani, Chair and Executive Director of the New York City Commission on Racial Equity, and Grammy-nominated singer, songwriter and performer Kelly Price came together at a NYC CORE event for a powerful conversation about music, truth, healing, creativity and the responsibility that comes with having a voice.

At the heart of the conversation was NYC CORE’s ongoing work to create a Truth, Healing and Reconciliation Plan for New York City. Tigani explained that the commission’s goal is not simply to create another document, but to create meaningful opportunities for New Yorkers to tell their stories and participate in the healing process in ways that reflect who they are.

For Price, music has always been one of those ways. She shared that her connection to music began almost before she could understand what music was. According to her grandmother, at just nine months old, Price could already hear music and respond to it. By the age of six, she knew she was a songwriter. What began as a child making up songs developed into something much deeper.

She began putting those melodies and ideas onto paper, creating songs with structure and intention. Price described music as something that was not simply a career choice. She wanted to become a lawyer, but she came to understand music as part of what she believes was God’s purpose for her life. More importantly, music became her therapy.

When professional counseling was financially out of reach, songwriting gave Price a place to process what she could not always say aloud. She explained that healing requires the whole person, body, soul and mind, to participate in the process. For her, music became the place where those pieces could meet. Price spoke about songwriting as a spiritual experience. She does not necessarily see herself as creating a song from nothing. Instead, she describes herself as receiving something that already exists and translating it through her own experience.

When she is deeply immersed in writing, hours can disappear. She can begin writing and look up many hours later, still completely absorbed in the process. That depth, she explained, is part of what makes artists appear different to the outside world. The creative process can take a person somewhere that is difficult to explain to someone who has never experienced it. "I can write what I can't say," Price explained.

That idea became one of the defining themes of the conversation. Music can communicate difficult truths in a way that ordinary conversation sometimes cannot. A person might become offended by something said directly to them, but hear that same truth inside a song and allow themselves to receive it. For Price, that is where the responsibility of artists begins.

Price challenged the audience to think differently about the music they consume and the messages they allow into their homes. She pointed to Marvin Gaye’s "What's Going On" as an example of music that asked a question generations later are still asking. The question remains relevant because music can carry ideas far beyond the moment in which it is created.

Price argued that audiences often absorb lyrics without fully considering what they are repeating. A song can have a powerful beat that makes people move while the words communicate something they may not consciously recognize. For Price, repetition matters because the things people repeatedly hear and say can influence the way they think, speak and ultimately live.
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That responsibility extends beyond musicians. Price challenged filmmakers, entertainers, parents and audiences to think about what they are creating, supporting and allowing into their lives. Artists often say they never asked to be role models. Price offered a different perspective. When people are placed in positions of visibility, whether they ask for it or not, their behavior becomes an example to someone else. Choosing not to acknowledge that influence does not eliminate the responsibility.
She also connected that responsibility to filmmakers and storytellers, pointing to directors such as Spike Lee as examples of artists who have used their platforms to communicate ideas about society, culture and Black life. For Price, art is not simply entertainment. It can be a record of who we are, a reflection of where we have been and a tool for imagining where we can go.

Tigani then brought the conversation directly into the work of NYC CORE. She explained that the commission is exploring different ways New Yorkers can tell their stories as part of the Truth, Healing and Reconciliation process. Not everyone wants to write. Some people may want to record their story as audio. Others may want to tell it on video. Others may want to turn their experiences into music, poetry, visual art or testimony.

That question led naturally into a discussion about resistance music. Price's own understanding of resistance began in the church. For her, the earliest resistance music was music of faith and hope. It was the belief that the words being sung could eventually become reality.

But her understanding of resistance expanded as she grew up in Far Rockaway.
Price recalled seeing the effects of poverty, the crack epidemic and addiction around her community. She described walking to school as a child and being told to avoid crack vials and needles on the ground.

She remembered being just six years old and questioning why she had to grow up in an environment where simply walking home could require avoiding dangerous objects on the sidewalk. That memory became part of her understanding of truth.
The circumstances surrounding a person do not necessarily tell the complete story of who that person is.

Price spoke about growing up in public housing, receiving food stamps and Medicaid, having only a few outfits and sometimes wearing shoes that were so worn they seemed to talk when she walked. Those were facts about her circumstances.
They were not the definition of her identity. "The fact of where you are is not the truth of who you are," Price told the audience. That distinction became one of the most powerful moments of the conversation.

Price encouraged the audience to identify their own creative gifts without comparing themselves to anyone else. She reminded the room that creativity does not have to look like songwriting or performing. Someone's creative expression might be baking cookies and giving them to children. It might be painting, writing, cooking, filmmaking, organizing, speaking or simply finding a unique way to care for another person.

The point is to discover the gift that belongs to you. Price recalled her grandmother's wisdom that comparison is the killer of joy. When people constantly compare their creative work to someone else's, they can lose sight of what makes their own contribution unique. Her message was simple: You cannot be someone else. There is only one you.

That idea connected directly to the commission's larger mission. Truth and reconciliation cannot happen if people are only encouraged to tell stories that fit a predetermined format. People need space to discover their own voices and determine how their experiences should be expressed.
Reparations, Equity and the Role of CultureThe conversation also moved into the distinction between racial equity and reparations.

Tigani emphasized that racial equity concerns what people deserve as members and taxpayers of society, while reparations addresses historical harms inflicted upon specific communities, including the legacy of forced labor. Price and the speakers on stage connected the conversation about reparations to culture and the arts. Music, storytelling and creative expression can become tools for documenting experiences, preserving history and creating spaces where communities can confront difficult truths.

That is why investment in the arts became part of the conversation.
Culture does not exist separately from social change. It often provides the language through which communities understand themselves and communicate with one another. The event demonstrated that connection through the appearance and recognition of artists and public figures whose work has helped shape culture and public conversation.

Price encouraged the audience to identify their own creative gifts without comparing themselves to anyone else. She reminded the room that creativity does not have to look like songwriting or performing. Someone's creative expression might be baking cookies and giving them to children. It might be painting, writing, cooking, filmmaking, organizing, speaking or simply finding a unique way to care for another person.

The point is to discover the gift that belongs to you. Price recalled her grandmother's wisdom that comparison is the killer of joy. When people constantly compare their creative work to someone else's, they can lose sight of what makes their own contribution unique. Her message was simple: You cannot be someone else. There is only one you. That idea connected directly to the commission's larger mission. Truth and reconciliation cannot happen if people are only encouraged to tell stories that fit a predetermined format. People need space to discover their own voices and determine how their experiences should be expressed.

The conversation also moved into the distinction between racial equity and reparations. Tigani emphasized that racial equity concerns what people deserve as members and taxpayers of society, while reparations addresses historical harms inflicted upon specific communities, including the legacy of forced labor.
Price and the speakers on stage connected the conversation about reparations to culture and the arts. Music, storytelling and creative expression can become tools for documenting experiences, preserving history and creating spaces where communities can confront difficult truths.

That is why investment in the arts became part of the conversation.
Culture does not exist separately from social change. It often provides the language through which communities understand themselves and communicate with one another. The event demonstrated that connection through the appearance and recognition of artists and public figures whose work has helped shape culture and public conversation.

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