Go-go is set to join the American Beauty rose (the state flower), the wood thrush (the state bird), and the Capitalsaurus (state dinosaur) as official symbols of the District.

Once in the D.C. Council’s crosshairs for its ties to violence, lawmakers have now voted unanimously to make the percussive genre the official music of the city.

The bill, introduced by Ward 5 Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie this summer, also requires the city to implement programs to support and preserve the homegrown sound. It awaits a second vote from the D.C. Council and the mayor’s signature, both of which are all but assured, before it becomes law.

A citywide conversation about go-go—and what it represents to longtime District residents—started last year after the Shaw Metro PCS store was forced to shut off the music that had cranked from outside the front door for decades. With a series of outdoor concerts and protests, the music became the life force behind many black Washingtonians’ fight against gentrification.

Even after the music returned to that street corner, massive crowds continued to gather at 14th and U Streets NW, and #DontMuteDC became a rallying cry for a new generation of local activists and artists.

To carry on go-go’s legacy, Justin “Yaddiya” Johnson held the Million Moe March and spread vibrant “Long Live Go-Go” posters around the city. Wiley Brown—son of the go-go godfather himself, Chuck Brown—quite literally stepped into his father’s shoes.

“What you see now is a new age of rebellion,” Kymone Freeman, co-founder of We Act Radio, told DCist in May. “We’re rebelling against the status quo that gentrification is natural and we have to get prepared for it. We’re here to say to the powers that be that gentrification is cultural genocide, and the result of public policy without public input.”

An October hearing on McDuffie’s bill was the scene of powerful statements from members of legendary go-go bands about the importance of the music to the future of D.C.’s culture. Go-go even got some shine at the BET Awards when D.C.-native Regina Hall brought the #DontMuteDC movement to the stage.

From go-go book clubs to proposed exhibits, others are envisioning ways to document and preserve the history behind the music. A dedicated go-go museum in Anacostia is on the horizon as organizer Ron Moten raises funds to finish the project at Check It Enterprises, a Southeast culture center.

Though it briefly lays out the background of go-go music, the original bill proposed by McDuffie mades no specific reference to the Council’s efforts to silence go-go music from the 1980s to the early 2000s with curfew laws, fines, and heavy policing of go-go clubs—it focuses on its “syncopated polyrhythms” that unify communities across the city.

However, in December,  the Committee of the Whole amended the bill to repeal the 1987 curfew law, citing the Council’s history of passing legislation targeted at go-go venues.

This post has been updated to reflect that the amended bill does make reference to the Council’s prior history of legislation related to go-go.