Music is Black Music

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Portrait of Tommy Potter, Charlie Parker, Max Roach (almost hidden by Parker), Miles Davis, and Duke Jordan (from left to right), Three Deuces, New York, circa August 1947.

If you look at any Top 10 music chart, you will quickly see the presence of black singers, songwriters, producers, and culture. As philosopher and social critic Cornel West wrote in his essay, On Afro-American Music: From Bebop to Rap, sounds and styles of the African Diaspora have been the primary source for popular music in the West. This influence is part of a complex cultural, technological, and economic reality. 

From the 16th to 19th centuries, African people were transported to new lands as enslaved people, forced to work hard labour on plantations, in mines, and as domestic servants. While these enslaved people were sent throughout Europe, the Caribbean, and Asia, the predominant number landed in the Americas. Through these cruel and inhuman conditions, new musical trends began to emerge, blending African traditions with European, Latin, and Asian influences. 

In the United States, the influence of African music merged with European styles and transformed into striking new sounds simultaneously filled with hope, humor, and defiance. These rhythms, harmonies, and structures grew into genres including gospel and blues, which further transformed music theory and composition. These sounds further developed into jazz, rock and hip hop, which would embody the black experience in America.

The evolution of race and social justice in the United States is exemplified through the history of black music. Through the 1900s, radio airplay and Billboard magazine charts came to define popular music genres of the day. For much of the century, popular black artists were featured on their own charts — first called “Race Records” and later, “Rhythm and Blues” — which served as a catch-all genre for music that was played by black musicians and marketed to black audiences. As the number of black artists increased, and the types of music they were making diversified, labels began promoting across audiences, as “Urban” became one of the most popular genres in the world. Recently, artists and labels have pushed back against the “Urban” designation in an effort to move beyond categorizing music based on race. 

Culturally, black music is rooted in spiritual transcendence and the struggle for justice — a countercultural expression of speaking truth to power. It inspires and is informed by protest, defiance in the face of brutality, cruelty, and a struggle against systemic injustices. Songs like The Impressions “People Get Ready” and Kendrick Lamar’s “Alright” are captivating and provocative for those critical of the status quo, and often serve as a rallying cry for people struggling to change their realities. 

Technologically, the rise of black music coincided with an era of unprecedented innovation, particularly in mass media and communications, which spread music and culture faster and farther than ever before. Before Napster, iTunes, and streaming, there was vinyl, cassettes, CDs, radio, and television. These modes of distribution allowed consumers to not only listen, but watch and learn about artists in new ways. Album covers and liner notes told stories of inspiration, process, and purpose. Music videos and press photos showcased an artist’s style. Interviews on radio and printed in magazines offered access to their lives. With more ways to connect to their audiences, musicians grew into celebrities, publicly adored and scrutinized. As the barriers to recording and distribution lowered, more people jumped in to share their musical creativity. The influence of the African diaspora extends through these innovations. 

However, many of the early pioneers of black music have been lost in time, their names forgotten. In 1917, the white Dixieland Jass Band recorded the first jazz record, and with it, laid their claim to inventing the genre. Though black jazz musicians were playing in clubs around the country long before the Dixieland Jass Band, their live performances didn’t have the reach of a recording, which became many listeners’ first experience with jazz. Similar injustices continued through the twentieth century and into today, as white performers of blues, rock, hip hop and other genres were mass marketed, while black artists were purposely pushed aside. 

Music is growing and pushing against traditions and standards — from economic and social, to harmonic and rhythmic. Black artists and influences have been and continue to be at the forefront of these revolutions. In Infinite Span, we analyze some of these pioneering artists and movements, and explore why understanding these histories can not only help us develop our lives and careers, but work towards a more equitable and just music industry. 

These cultural, technological, political, and economic shifts affect musicians and businesses in similar ways, regardless of the time period, as new ways of doing things overtake established systems. We cannot say where we are going, but we do know that the current configurations will not remain.