Doja Cat’s new album, Scarlet, is rich with satanic imagery, symbols, and direct references to the devil. The lead single on the track, ‘Paint the Town Red’, contains the self-referential lyric “… she the devil,” while the music video for ‘Demons’ features Doja Cat as a fully-fledged demon with horns and jet-black skin. This had led to religious communities accusing Doja Cat of promoting Satanism and devil-worship. But she is far from the first artist to be accused of practicing Satanism. Notions of the occult and the devil have been tethered to traditionally black music genres for centuries.
Jazz was commonly referred to as ‘the Devil’s music’, a label that was passed on to its successors, namely blues, RnB, hip-hop, and rap. The burgeoning of jazz music threatened the legacy of European classical music, as it transformed the long-established structural and congenital understanding of music. Jazz thrived on breaking the rules, relying on improvisation and unadulterated emotion. The distinct black roots of jazz music challenged not only traditional ideas of music, but American race relations and societal values, as jazz is uniquely and ubiquitously an extension of black American culture. As such, it became a controversial cultural phenomenon.
News headlines from the era exemplify the indignation and resentment that many held for jazz music as it exploded in popularity, as well as captured fears that jazz posed a threat to the moral and cultural values at the time. The Morning Tulsa Daily World featured an article titled ‘Jazz Stunts Are Shattering Our American Nerves’ published December 3, 1922. The New-York Tribune’s August 15, 1920 headline read, “Urge Better Music as the First Step in Dance Reform.” An article titled “No Art Exempt in Moral Law, Says Dr. Van Dyke” published in The New York Herald on March 13, 1921 even went as far to say that “[jazz] music – if it can be called music at all – irritates, demoralizes, and vulgarizes those who listen to it.”
All the aspects of jazz that were singled out as immoral or nefarious – the rejection of classical principles, the sensuality of movement, the “immodest dress and indecent dancing” (to quote the aforementioned New York Herald article) – all threatened the country’s dominant cultural structures built on the oppression of people of colour.
The strong reaction to jazz is also deeply coloured by religion. During the 1920s, the United States experienced a large religious revival with the emergence of Fundamentalism – a religious movement that involved a strict undertaking of Christian ideology and conservative values. Conservative white Christians slapped the accusation of Satanism and sin on every social or cultural movement that they felt threatened by. It wasn’t just the music itself that was targeted, it was the musicians too. Many black artists, from Jelly Roll Morton, one of the most influential pioneers of jazz music, to legendary blues musician Robert Johnson, have been accused of selling their souls to the Devil in exchange for talent and success. The outrage against African-American music, veiled under religious righteousness, was fundamentally about race as the genres exemplified the growing physical, cultural, and societal freedom of black Americans. The crusade that followed its popularization was a direct attempt by white Americans to curb and control black creative expression.
While accusations of Satanism have been forcefully attributed to black music genres, it may seem counterintuitive that many POC artists intentionally feature satanic or occult icons in their lyricism and music videos. Even further, some artists use their bodies to reclaim demonic symbols. In the early 1990s, hip-hop group Three 6 Mafia was fully oriented around Satanic imagery, as exemplified by their name. More recently, artists like Tyler, the Creator, Lil Nas X, and Lil Uzi Vert channelled demonic imagery and Satanic messages through their music or personas.
The reasoning behind it is ambiguous and is likely intended to be provocative and controversial. However, the recurrence of demonic imagery, whether self-declared or externally designated, is particularly evocative considering the complex and deeply rooted relationship between traditionally black genres and religious systems. Doja Cat and Playboi Carti have adorned their bodies with satanic tattoos. Playboi Carti has tattoos of upside-down crosses, pentagrams, and more recently, the word ‘Satan’.
But why are Satanic images and demonic symbols being deliberately used by POC artists, considering their racially charged history? By subverting the demonic association with genres popularized within black American communities, artists like Doja Cat or Playboi Carti follow a larger history of black artists undermining religious power structures.
Is this a deliberate attempt to convert the youth into Satan worshiping heathens? Probably not. It more likely has to do with the deeply intertwined history of black music, conservative backlash, and the power of religious symbolism.
Illustration by Kate Granholm.