By: Kala Fogg

In honor of the King of Pop's 59th birthday, we rounded up our favorite of his wokest songs.

1. They Don’t Care About Us (1996)

With a song written specifically to fight racism, and lyrics that read “Black man, black mail, throw the brother in jail” and “but if Martin Luther was livin he wouldn’t let this be” how could we not acknowledge his effort to out the injustices that exist in our world? This was one of his most controversial songs, people often interpreted his lyrics to be hateful and discriminatory when all MJ really intended to do was expose the importance of human rights.

2. Black or White (1991)

Straight off the Dangerous album Jackson hits us with another classic to dismiss racism; to do so he combined hard rock, rap, and his memorable voice. The legend really wanted to emphasize that it’s not cool to judge anyone by their skin color or because of where they come from. This track can still be put on repeat today for it’s relevance, don’t you think?

3. Man in The Mirror(1988)

The moonwalking king of pop has had some pretty hard hitting records about how he wants the world to change for the better, however in this ballad he reminds us through his own reflection that change starts within, you must be apart of the change you want to see. Props to you MJ, impacting generations through music!

4. Heal the World (1992)

There’s no need to explain why this was chosen for our list. The title may be self- explanatory but it’s something we sure need to focus on. Not only do we want to make the world a better place for you but also for “me and the entire human race”. It’s time to let our selfish ways go and focus on us all, we hear you Michael!

5. Earth Song (1995)

If you thought the only form of injustice was social injustice, here’s some news it’s not. Mr. MJ knew that this earth wasn’t being taken care of and as a result we were gifted Earth Song. This song should serve as the Environmental Justice anthem internationally, this legend told us to think about “crying whales” and “ravaging seas”, c’mon how could we not celebrate this musical wake up call to care for the planet we live on?