African-American Musical Culture

African-American music is an umbrella term covering a diverse range of music and musical genres largely developed by African Americans and their culture. Their origins are in musical forms that first came to be due to the condition of slavery that characterized the lives of African Americans prior to the American Civil War. Slavery and other impositions such as the Jim Crow laws shaped the world view of African Americans. Some of the globally most popular music types today, such as rock and roll, funk, jazz, rap, blues, hip-hop, and rhythm and blues were developed from the worldview of the African Americans who created and influenced these genres. It has been said that "every genre that is born from America has black roots."

White slave owners sought to completely subjugate their slaves physically, mentally, and spiritually through brutal and demeaning acts. African Americans used music to counter this dehumanization. White Americans considered African Americans separate and unequal for centuries, going to extraordinary lengths to keep them oppressed solely based on the color of their skin. African American slaves created a distinctive type of music that played a huge role in the era of their enslavement. Slave songs, commonly known as work songs, were a type of music used to combat the hardships of the physical labor they had to endure, and revived the spirits of slaves that their owners sought to break down. Work songs were also used to communicate with other slaves without the slave owner hearing. An example of this is the slave song "Wade in the Water" which was sung by slaves to warn others trying to leave to use the water so their trails could not be traced by the slave catchers. This music sank its roots deep into their experience, integrated into future generations, and greatly impacted the history of the United States. Following the Civil War, African Americans, through employment as musicians playing European music in military bands, developed a new style of music called ragtime which gradually evolved into jazz. In developing this latter musical form, African Americans contributed knowledge of the sophisticated polyrhythmic structure of the dance and folk music of peoples across western and sub-Saharan Africa. These musical forms had a wide-ranging influence on the development of music within the United States and around the world during the 20th century.

Despite the African music genres' influence on other music development around the world, there has been much misconception when analyzing African music. Much African music and music that draws from African ideals is analyzed through a European lens, using musicological analysis. This can be strict and often does not take into consideration much of the cultural used of sound and methods of music making. Some methods within African music making is translated more productively though the music itself, and not on paper.

The modern genres of blues and ragtime were developed during the late 19th century by fusing West African vocalizations – which employed the natural harmonic series, and blue notes. For example, "If one considers the five criteria given by Waterman as cluster characteristics for West African music, one finds that three have been well documented as being characteristic of Afro-American music. Call-and-response organizational procedures, dominance of a percussive approach to music, and off-beat phrasing of melodic accents have been cited as typical of Afro-American music in virtually every study of any kind of Afro-American music from work songs, field or street calls, shouts, and spirituals to blues and jazz."

The earliest jazz and blues recordings were made in the 1920s. African-American musicians developed related styles such as rhythm and blues in the 1940s. In the 1960s, soul performers had a major influence on white US and UK singers. In the mid-1960s, black musicians developed funk and they were many of the leading figures in late 1960s and 1970s genre of jazz-rock fusion. In the 1970s and 1980s, black artists developed hip-hop, and in the 1980s introduced the disco-infused dance style known as house music. Much of today's genres of music is heavily influenced by traditional African-American music. A new museum opened in Nashville, Tennessee, on January 18, 2021, called the National Museum of African American Music which highlights African Americans' contributions in the creation of new genres of music that have influenced the whole world. The museum has a history of African-American music beginning in Africa to the present day. "It’s the only museum in the U.S. to showcase the 50-plus musical genres and styles created or influenced by African Americans — spirituals, gospel tunes, jazz, hip-hop and more."

Historic traits

Most slaves arrived to the America's from the western coast of Africa. This area encompasses modern day Nigeria, Ghana, the Ivory Coast, Senegal, Gambia and parts of Sierra Leone. So, as well as bringing harmonic and rhythmic features from the aforementioned areas to meet European musical instrumentation, it was the historical condition of chattel slavery forced upon Black Americans within American society that contributed the conditions which would define their music.

Many of the characteristic musical forms that define African-American music have historical precedents. These earlier forms include: field hollers, beat boxing, work song , spoken word, rapping, scatting, call and response, vocality (or special vocal effect: guttural effects, interpolated vocality, falsetto, melisma, vocal rhythmization), improvisation, blue notes, polyrhythms (syncopation, concrescence, tension, improvisation, percussion, swung note), texture ( antiphony, homophony, polyphony, heterophony) and harmony (vernacular progressions; complex, multi-part harmony, as in spirituals, Doo Wop, and barbershop music). Amplified sound, and social construct reflects on the pride of African American culture, through experiences we adapt and understand the what how African American culture and sound impact the world.

Olly Wilson, an American Composer, outlines Heterogeneous Sound Ideals that define traditional and common patterns in African Music such as the usage of the aspects of sound (timbre, pitch, volume and duration) along with incorporations of the physical body in musicking. His findings also include usages of call-and-response and the importance of introspections from the audience to express satisfaction and dissatisfaction. These Heterogenous Sound Ideals are found not only in African-American music but also within many other types of music.

History

18th century

During the early 18th century, most of the popular songs are written on single sheets, broadside, and more. In the late 18th century folk spirituals originated among Southern enslaved people, following their conversion to Christianity. Conversion, however, did not result in enslaved people adopting the traditions associated with the practice of Christianity. Instead they reinterpreted them in a way that had meaning to them as Africans in America. They often sang the spirituals in groups as they worked the plantation fields. African-American spirituals (Negro Spirituals) were created in invisible and non-invisible Black churches. The hymns melody and rhythms sounded similar to songs heard in West Africa. Enslaved and free blacks created their own words and tunes. Their songs mentioned the hardships of slavery, and the hope of freedom from bondage.

Spirituals during slavery are called Slave Shout Songs. These shout songs are sung today by Gullah Geechee people and other African Americans in churches and praise houses. During slavery, these slave shout songs were coded messages that spoke of escape from slavery on the Underground Railroad. The songs were sung by enslaved African-American people in the fields on slave plantations to send coded messages to other slaves. When slaveholders heard their slaves singing in the fields, they did not know they were communicating messages of escape. Harriet Tubman sung coded messages to her mother and other enslaved people in the field to let them know she was escaping on the Underground Railroad. Tubman sang: "I'm sorry I'm going to leave you, farewell, oh farewell; But I'll meet you in the morning, farewell, oh farewell, I'll meet you in the morning, I'm bound for the promised land, On the other side of Jordan, Bound for the Promised Land."

Other ways enslaved people communicated messages of escape in music were drums. In West Africa, drums are used for communication, celebration and spiritual ceremonies. West African people enslaved in the United States continued to make drums to send coded messages to other slaves across plantations. The making and use of drums by enslaved Africans was outlawed after the Stono Rebellion in South Carolina in 1739. Enslaved African Americans used drums to send coded messages to start slave revolts, which is why white slaveholders banned the creation and use of drums. After the banning of drums, enslaved African Americans created musical sounds making rhythmic music by slapping their knees, thighs, arms and other body parts called pattin Juba. The Juba dance was originally brought by Kongo slaves to Charleston, South Carolina. It became an African-American plantation dance that was performed by slaves during their gatherings when rhythm instruments (drums) were not allowed due to fear of secret codes hidden in the drumming.

Folk spirituals, unlike much white gospel, were often spirited: enslaved people added dancing (later known as "the shout") and other forms of bodily movements to the singing. They also changed the melodies and rhythms of psalms and hymns, such as speeding up the tempo, adding repeated refrains and choruses, and replaced texts with new ones that often combined English and African words and phrases. Originally being passed down orally, folk spirituals have been central in the lives of African Americans for more than three centuries, serving religious, cultural, social, political, and historical functions.

Folk spirituals were spontaneously created and performed in a repetitive, improvised style. The most common song structures are the call-and-response ("Blow, Gabriel") and repetitive choruses ("He Rose from the Dead"). The call-and-response is an alternating exchange between the soloist and the other singers. The soloist usually improvises a line to which the other singers respond, repeating the same phrase. Song interpretation incorporates the interjections of moans, cries, hollers etc... and changing vocal timbres. Singing is also accompanied by hand clapping and foot-stomping.

The Smithsonian Institution Folkways Recordings have samples o
African American slave shout songs

19th century

The influence of African Americans on mainstream American music began in the 19th century, with the advent of blackface minstrelsy. The banjo, of African origin, became a popular instrument, and its African-derived rhythms were incorporated into popular songs by Stephen Foster and other songwriters. The banjo's style overtime merged with European traditions such as a flat fingerboard, and incorporating a five string neck that replaced the three string neck banjo in West Africa. As time progressed, this resulted in the creation of several different types of banjos in the United States used in music.

In the 1830s, the Second Great Awakening led to a rise in Christian revivals and pietism, especially among African Americans. Drawing on traditional work songs, enslaved African Americans originated and began performing a wide variety of Spirituals and other Christian music. Some of these songs were coded messages of subversion against enslavers, or that signaled escape.

During the period after the Civil War, the spread of African-American music continued. The Fisk University Jubilee Singers toured first in 1871. Artists including Jack Delaney helped revolutionize post-war African-American music in the central-east of the United States. In the following years, professional "jubilee" troops formed and toured. The first black musical-comedy troupe, Hyers Sisters Comic Opera Co., was organized in 1876. In the last half of the 19th century, U.S. barbershops often served as community centers, where most men would gather. Barbershop quartets originated with African-American men socializing in barbershops; they would harmonize while waiting their turn, vocalizing in spirituals, folk songs and popular songs. This generated a new style, consisting of unaccompanied, four-part, close-harmony singing. Later, white minstrel singers adopted the style, and in the early days of the recording industry their performances were recorded and sold. By the end of the 19th century, African-American music was an integral part of mainstream American culture.

Early 20th century (1900s–1930s)

In early 20th-century American musical theater, the first musicals written and produced by African Americans debuted on Broadway in 1898 with a musical by Bob Cole and Billy Johnson. In 1901, the first recording of black musicians was of Bert Williams and George Walker, featuring music from Broadway musicals. Theodore Drury helped black artists develop in the opera field. He founded the Drury Opera Company in 1900 and, although he used a white orchestra, he featured black singers in leading roles and choruses. Although this company was only active from 1900 to 1908, black singers' opportunities with Drury marked the first black participation in opera companies. Also significant is Scott Joplin's opera ''Treemonisha'', which is unique as a ragtime-folk opera; it was first performed in 1911.

The early part of the 20th century saw a rise in popularity of African-American blues and jazz. African-American music at this time was classed as "race music". This term gained momentum due to Ralph Peer, musical director at Okeh Records, who put records made by "foreign" groups under that label. At the time "race" was a term commonly used by African-American press to speak of the community as a whole with an empowering point of view, as a person of "race" was one involved in fighting for equal rights. Also, developments in the fields of visual arts and the Harlem Renaissance led to developments in music. Ragtime performers such as Scott Joplin became popular and some were associated with the Harlem Renaissance and early civil rights activists. In addition, white and Latino performers of African-American music were visible, rooted in the history of cross-cultural communication between the United States' races. African-American music was often adapted for white audiences, who would not have as readily accepted black performers, leading to genres like swing music, a pop-based outgrowth of jazz.

In addition, African Americans were becoming part of classical music by the turn of the 20th century. While originally excluded from major symphony orchestras, black musicians could study in music conservatories that had been founded in the 1860s, such as the Oberlin School of Music, National Conservatory of Music, and the New England Conservatory. Black people also formed their own symphony orchestras at the turn of the 20th century in major cities such as Chicago, New Orleans, and Philadelphia. Various black orchestras began to perform regularly in the late 1890s and the early 20th century. In 1906, the first incorporated black orchestra was established in Philadelphia. In the early 1910s, all-black music schools, such as the Music School Settlement for Colored and the Martin-Smith School of Music, were founded in New York.

The Music School Settlement for Colored became a sponsor of the Clef Club orchestra in New York. The Clef Club Symphony Orchestra attracted both black and white audiences to concerts at Carnegie Hall from 1912 to 1915. Conducted by James Reese Europe and William H. Tyers, the orchestra included banjos, mandolins, and baritone horns. Concerts featured music written by black composers, notably Harry T. Burleigh and Will Marion Cook. Other annual black concert series include the William Hackney's "All-Colored Composers" concerts in Chicago and the Atlanta Colored Music Festivals.

The return of the black musical to Broadway occurred in 1921 with '' Sissle'' and Eubie Blake's ''Shuffle Along''. In 1927, a concert survey of black music was performed at Carnegie Hall including jazz, spirituals and the symphonic music of W. C. Handy's Orchestra and the Jubilee Singers. The first major film musical with a black cast was King Vidor's ''Hallelujah'' of 1929. African-American performers were featured in the musical ''Show Boat'' (which had a part written for Paul Robeson and a chorus of Jubilee Singers), and especially all-black operas such as ''Porgy and Bess'' and Virgil Thomson's ''Four Saints in Three Acts'' of 1934.

The first symphony by a black composer to be performed by a major orchestra was William Grant Still's ''Afro-American Symphony'' (1930) by the New York Philharmonic. Florence Beatrice Price's Symphony in E minor was performed in 1933 by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. In 1934, William Dawson's ''Negro Folk Symphony'' was performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra.

African Americans were the pioneers of jazz music, through masters such as Jelly Roll Morton, James P. Johnson, Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, Fletcher Henderson, and Duke Ellington.

Mid-20th century (1940s–1960s)

''Billboard'' started making a separate list of hit records for African-American music in October 1942 with the "Harlem Hit Parade", which was changed in 1945 to "Race Records", and then in 1949 to "Rhythm and Blues Records".

By the 1940s, cover versions of African-American songs were commonplace, and frequently topped the charts, while the original musicians found success among their African-American audience, but not in the mainstream. In 1955, Thurman Ruth persuaded a gospel group to sing in a secular setting, the Apollo Theater, with such success that he subsequently arranged gospel caravans that traveled around the country, playing the same venues that rhythm and blues singers had popularized. Meanwhile, jazz performers began to push jazz away from swing, danceable popular music, towards more intricate arrangements, improvisation, and technically challenging forms, culminating in the bebop of Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, the cool sounds and modal jazz of Miles Davis, and the free jazz of Ornette Coleman and John Coltrane.

African-American musicians in the 1940s and 1950s were developing rhythm and blues into a genre called rock and roll, which featured a strong backbeat and whose prominent exponents included Louis Jordan and Wynonie Harris. However, it was with white musicians such as Bill Haley and Elvis Presley, playing a guitar-based fusion of black rock and roll with country music called rockabilly, that rock and roll music became commercially successful. Rock music thereafter became more associated with white people, though some black performers such as Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley had commercial success.

In 2017, National Public Radio wrote about the career of Sister Rosetta Tharpe and concluded with these comments: Tharpe "was a gospel singer at heart who became a celebrity by forging a new path musically ... Through her unforgettable voice and gospel swing crossover style, Tharpe influenced a generation of musicians including Aretha Franklin, Chuck Berry and countless others ... She was, and is, an unmatched artist."

As the 1940s came to a close, other African-Americans endeavored to concertize as professionally trained classical musicians in an effort to transcend racial and nationalistic barriers in the post World War II era. Included in this group was Henry Lewis, who emerged in 1948 as the first African-American instrumentalist in a leading American symphony orchestra, an early "musical ambassador" in support of cultural diplomacy in Europe and the first African-American conductor of a major American symphonic ensemble in 1968.

The term "rock and roll" had a strong sexual connotation in jump blues and R&B, but when DJ Alan Freed referred to rock and roll on mainstream radio in the mid 50s, "the sexual component had been dialed down enough that it simply became an acceptable term for dancing".

R&B was a strong influence on Rock and roll according to many sources, including a 1985 Wall Street Journal article titled, "Rock! It's Still Rhythm and Blues". In fact, the author stated that the "two terms were used interchangeably", until about 1957.

Fats Domino was not convinced that there was any new genre. In 1957, he said: "What they call rock 'n' roll now is rhythm and blues. I’ve been playing it for 15 years in New Orleans". According to ''Rolling Stone'', "this is a valid statement ... all Fifties rockers, black and white, country born and city bred, were fundamentally influenced by R&B, the black popular music of the late Forties and early Fifties". Elvis Presley's recognition of the importance of artists such as Fats Domino was significant, according to a 2017 article: the
"championing of black musicians as part of a narrative that saw many positives in growing young white interest in African American-based musical styles". At a press event in 1969, Presley introduced Fats Domino, and said, "that’s the real King of Rock ‘n’ Roll" ... a huge influence on me when I started out".

By the mid-1950s, many R&B songs were getting "covered" by white artists and the recordings got more airplay on the mainstream radio stations. For example, "Presley quickly covered "Tutti Frutti" ...So did Pat Boone", according to ''New Yorker''. "In 1956, seventy-six per cent of top R. & B. songs also made the pop chart; in 1957, eighty-seven per cent made the pop chart; in 1958, it was ninety-four per cent. The marginal market had become the main market, and the majors had got into the act."

The 1950s also saw increased popularity of hard blues in the style from the earliest part of the century, both in the United States and United Kingdom. The 1950s also saw doo-wop style become popular. Doo-wop had been developed through vocal group harmony with the musical qualities of different vocal parts, nonsense syllables, little or no instrumentation, and simple lyrics. It usually involved ensemble single artists appearing with a backing group. Solo billing was given to lead singers who were more prominent in the musical arrangement. A secularized form of American gospel music called soul also developed in the mid-1950s, with pioneers such as Ray Charles, Jackie Wilson and Sam Cooke leading the wave. Soul and R&B became a major influence on surf, as well as the chart-topping girl groups including The Angels and The Shangri-Las, only some of whom were white. In 1959, Hank Ballard releases a song for the new dance style "The Twist", which became the new dance crave from the early 60's into the 70's.

In 1959, Berry Gordy founded Motown Records, the first record label to primarily feature African-American artists aimed at achieving crossover success. The label developed an innovative—and commercially successful—style of soul music with distinctive pop elements. Its early roster included The Miracles, Martha and the Vandellas, Marvin Gaye, The Temptations, The Supremes, and others. Black divas such as Aretha Franklin became '60s crossover stars. In the UK, British blues became a gradually mainstream phenomenon, returning to the U.S. in the form of the British Invasion, a group of bands led by The Beatles and The Rolling Stones who performed blues and R&B-inspired pop, with both traditional and modernized aspects. WGIV in Charlotte, North Carolina was amongst a few radio stations dedicated to African-American music that started during this period.

The British Invasion knocked many black artists off the US pop charts, although some, among them Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett and Aretha Franklin and a number of Motown artists, continued to do well. Soul music, however, remained popular among black people through highly evolved forms such as funk, developed out of the innovations of James Brown. In 1961, a young boy named Stevland Hardaway Morris recorded his first record under Motown's Tamla record at the age of 11 as Stevie Wonder and that was the start of his great career.

In 1964, the Civil Rights Act outlawed major forms of discrimination towards African Americans and women. As tensions started to die down, more African-American musicians crossed over into mainstream taste. Some artists who successfully crossed over were Aretha Franklin, James Brown, and Ella Fitzgerald in the pop and jazz worlds, and Leontyne Price and Kathleen Battle in the realm of the classical music.

By the end of the decade, Black people were part of the psychedelia and early heavy metal trends, particularly by way of the ubiquitous Beatles' influence and the electric guitar innovations of Jimi Hendrix. Hendrix was among the first guitarists to use audio feedback, fuzz, and other effects pedals such as the wah wah pedal to create a unique guitar solo sound. Psychedelic soul, a mix of psychedelic rock and soul began to flourish with the 1960s culture. Even more popular among Black people, and with more crossover appeal, was album-oriented soul in the late 1960s and early 1970s, which revolutionized African-American music. The genre's intelligent and introspective lyrics, often with a socially aware tone, were created by artists such as Marvin Gaye in '' What's Going On'', and Stevie Wonder in ''Songs in the Key of Life''.

1970s

The 1970s was a great decade for Black bands playing melodic music. Album-oriented soul continued its popularity, while musicians such as Smokey Robinson helped turn it into Quiet Storm music. Funk evolved into two strands, one a pop-soul-jazz-bass fusion pioneered by Sly & the Family Stone, and the other a more psychedelic fusion epitomized by George Clinton and his P-Funk ensemble. The sound of Disco evolved from black musicians creating Soul music with an up-tempo melody. Isaac Hayes, Barry White, Donna Summer and among others helped popularized disco music. However, this music was integrated into popular music achieving mainstream success.

Black musicians achieved some mainstream success, though some African-American artists including The Jackson 5, Roberta Flack, Teddy Pendergrass, Dionne Warwick, Stevie Wonder, The O'Jays, Gladys Knight & the Pips, and Earth,Wind & Fire found crossover audiences. White listeners preferred country rock, singer-songwriters, stadium rock, soft rock, glam rock, and, in some subcultures, heavy metal and punk rock.

During the 1970s, The Dozens, an urban African-American tradition of using playful rhyming ridicule, developed into street jive in the early '70s, which in turn inspired a new form of music by the late 1970s: hip-hop. Spoken-word artists such as The Watts Prophets, The Last Poets, Gil Scott-Heron and Melvin Van Peebles are also cited as the major innovators in early hip-hop. Beginning at block parties in The Bronx, hip-hop music arose as one facet of a large subculture with rebellious and progressive elements. Many youths in the Bronx used hip-hop to talk about how unfair it was to be a minority during this time. DJS spun records, most typically funk, while MCs introduced tracks to the dancing audience. Over time, DJs, particularly Jamaican immigrant DJ Kool Herc for instance, began isolating and repeating the percussion breaks, producing a constant, eminently danceable beat, which they or MCs began rapping over, through rhymes and eventually sustained lyrics. Hip-hop would become a multicultural movement in young black America, led by artists such as Kurtis Blow and Run-DMC.

1980s

One of the most recognizable artists of the 1980s, Michael Jackson had record-breaking success with his albums ''Off the Wall'', ''Bad'', and '' Thriller'' – the latter remaining the best-selling album of all time. He transformed popular music and united races, ages and genders. Jackson would eventually lead to successful crossover black solo artists, including Prince, Lionel Richie, Luther Vandross, Tina Turner, Whitney Houston, and Janet Jackson. Pop and dance-soul of this era inspired new jack swing by the end of the decade.

Hip-hop spread across the country and diversified. Techno, Dance, Miami bass, post-disco, Chicago house, Los Angeles hardcore and Washington, D.C. Go-go developed during this period, with only Miami bass achieving mainstream success. But, before long, Miami bass was relegated primarily to the Southeastern US, while Chicago house had made strong headways on college campuses and dance arenas (i.e. the warehouse sound, the rave). DC's Go-go garnered modest national attention with songs like E.U.'s Da Butt, but it proved mostly to be a regional phenomena. Chicago house sound had expanded into the Detroit music environment and mutated into more electronic and industrial sounds creating Detroit techno, acid, jungle. Mating these experimental, usually DJ-oriented, sounds with the prevalence of the multi-ethnic New York City disco sound from the 1970s and 1980s created a brand of music that was most appreciated in the huge discothèques that are located in cities like Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, Detroit, Boston, etc. Eventually, European audiences embraced this kind of electronic dance music with more enthusiasm than their North American counterparts. These variable sounds let the listeners prioritize their exposure to new music and rhythms while enjoying a gigantic dancing experience.

In the latter half of the decade, from about 1986, rap took off into the mainstream with Run-D.M.C.'s '' Raising Hell'', and the Beastie Boys' ''Licensed to Ill'', the latter becoming the first rap album to enter the No.1 Spot on the ''Billboard 200'' and helping break down the doors for white performers to do rap. Both of these groups mixed rap and rock together, which appealed to rock and rap audiences. Hip-hop took off from its roots and the golden age hip hop flourished, with artists such as Eric B. & Rakim, Public Enemy, LL Cool J, Queen Latifah, Big Daddy Kane, and Salt-N-Pepa. Hip-hop became popular in America until the late 1990s, when it went worldwide. The golden age scene would die out by the early 1990s as gangsta rap and g-funk took over, with west-coast artists Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Warren G and Ice Cube, east-coast artists Notorious B.I.G., Wu-Tang Clan, and Mobb Deep, and the sounds of urban black male bravado, compassion, and social awareness best represented by the rapper Tupac Shakur.

While heavy metal music was almost exclusively created by white performers in the 1970s and 1980s, there were a few exceptions. In 1988, all-black heavy metal band Living Colour achieved mainstream success with their début album ''Vivid'', peaking at No. 6 on the ''Billboard 200'', thanks to their Top 20 single "Cult of Personality". The band's music contained lyrics that attack what they perceived as the Eurocentrism and racism of America. A decade later, more black artists like Lenny Kravitz, Body Count, Ben Harper, and countless others would start playing rock again.

1990s, 2000s, and 2010s

Contemporary R&B, as in the post-disco version of soul music, remained popular throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Male vocal groups in the style of soul groups such as The Temptations and The O'Jays were particularly popular, including New Edition, Boyz II Men, Jodeci, Dru Hill, Blackstreet, and Jagged Edge. Girl groups, including TLC, Destiny's Child, SWV and En Vogue, were also highly successful.

Singer-songwriters such as R. Kelly, Mariah Carey, Montell Jordan, D'Angelo, Aaliyah and Raphael Saadiq of Tony! Toni! Toné! were also significantly popular during the 1990s, and artists including Mary J. Blige, Faith Evans, and BLACKstreet popularized a fusion blend known as hip-hop soul. The neo soul movement of the 1990s looked back on more classical soul influences and was popularized in the late 1990s/early 2000s by such artists as D'Angelo, Erykah Badu, Maxwell, Lauryn Hill, India.Arie, Alicia Keys, Jill Scott, Angie Stone, Bilal and Musiq Soulchild. According to one music writer, D'Angelo's critically acclaimed album ''Voodoo'' (2000) "represents African American music at a crossroads ... To simply call tneo-classical soul ... would be oignore the elements of vaudeville jazz, Memphis horns, ragtime blues, funk and bass grooves, not to mention hip-hop, that slip out of every pore of these haunted songs." Blue-eyed soul is an influence of African-American music performed by white artists, including Michael McDonald, Christina Aguilera, Amy Winehouse, Robin Thicke, Michael Bolton, Jon B., Lisa Stansfield, Teena Marie, Justin Timberlake, Joss Stone, George Michael, and Anastacia.

Along with the Singer-songwriters influence in hip-hop and R&B, there was an increase in creativity and expression through Rapping, Rap music. Musical artists such as Tupac Shakur, Tupac, The Notorious B.I.G., The Notorious B.I.G (Biggie), N.W.A, N.W.A (Niggas With Attitude), Lil' Kim, Lil Kim, Snoop Dogg, Snoop Dog and Nas broke into the music industry and left a lasting remark on Rap music. 90's Rap music introduced many different sub genres within Rap including Gangsta rap, Gangsta Rap, Political hip hop, Conscious Rap and Pop rap, Pop Rap. Gangsta rap, Gangsta Rap today is what we understand as simply being 90s rap. Gangsta Rap was were we saw rappers like Snoop Dogg, Snoop Dog, Dr. Dre and Tupac Shakur, Tupac shine. Gangsta rap songs focused on gang violence, drug dealing and poverty. Gangsta Rap was also a major player in the East Coast–West Coast hip hop rivalry, East Coast vs West Coast beef that many 90s rappers participated in. Main players in this East Coast–West Coast hip hop rivalry, East Coast vs West Coast beef were rappers Tupac Shakur, Tupac and Suge Knight on the West Coast and The Notorious B.I.G., The Notorious B.I.G. and Sean Combs, Puff Daddy on the East Coast.

By the first decade of the 21st century, R&B had shifted towards an emphasis on solo artists with pop appeal, with Usher Raymond, Usher, Rihanna, and Beyoncé being the most prominent examples. Furthermore, the music was accompanied by aesthetically creative and unique music videos. Examples of these types of music videos include but are not limited to: Beyoncé's "Crazy in Love", Rihanna's "Pon de Replay", and Usher's "Caught Up". These music videos helped R&B become more profitable and more popular than it had been in the 1990s. The line between hip-hop, R&B and pop was significantly blurred by producers such as Timbaland and Lil Jon and artists such as Missy Elliott, T-Pain, Nelly, Akon and OutKast.

It may appear as though hip-hop (called urban music) is race-neutral today; but it still remains a genre of music created by African-Americans. In the early years of hip-hop, the lyrics spoke of the hardships of being black in America. White owned record label companies controlled how hip-hop was marketed. This resulted in changes in the lyrics, culture and marketing of hip-hop to suit white audiences. Scholars of hip-hop and African-American hip-hop creators noticed a change in hip-hop over the years as white owned record label companies controlled how hip-hop is marketed to whites. Hip-hop is used to sell cars, cell phones, and other merchandise.

The hip-hop movement has become increasingly mainstream as the music industry has taken control of it. Essentially, "from the moment 'Rapper's Delight' went platinum, hiphop the folk culture became hiphop the American entertainment-industry sideshow."

In the early 2000s, 50 Cent was one of the most popular African-American artists. In 2005, African-American rapper 50 Cent’s album ''The Massacre'' sold more than a million album copies in its first week. In 2008, Lil Wayne’s album ''Tha Carter III'' sold more than a million copies in its first week also.

In June 2009, Michael Jackson died unexpectedly from a cardiac arrest, triggering a global outpouring of grief. Within a year of his death, his estate had generated $1.4 billion in revenues. A documentary film consisting of rehearsal footage for Jackson's scheduled ''This Is It'' tour, entitled ''Michael Jackson's This Is It'', was released on October 28, 2009, and became the highest-grossing concert film in history.

In 2013, no African-American musician had a ''Billboard'' Hot 100 number one. This was the first time there was no number one in a year by an African American in the chart's 55-year history. J. Cole, Beyoncé, Beyonce, Drake (musician), Drake, and Jay Z were all top selling music artists this year, yet none were on the Billboard Hot 100, ''Billboard'' Hot 100 number one. This caused a lot of debate.

Plans for a Smithsonian-affiliated Museum of African-American music to be built in Newark, New Jersey, and an R&B museum/hall of fame have been discussed.

Black protest music went mainstream in the 2010s. Beyoncé, Solange Knowles, Solange, Kanye West, Frank Ocean, and Rihanna released black protest albums during Donald Trump's candidacy. Beyoncé released her first black protest album ''Lemonade (Beyoncé album), Lemonade'' in 2016.

In the late 2010s, mumble rap which originated from African-American Vernacular English became popular with artists like Playboi Carti, Young Thug and Lil Baby. Mumble rap's intent is to make the emotion in a song more dramatic. By focusing more on the melody of the song rather than on the lyrics themselves, and allowing a big instrumental base, this effect is given. While talking with HipHopDx, one of the most notorious mumble rappers, Future (rapper), Future said: "When I freestyle I know there are bits you don’t really understand, but that’s what you like it for – that's what its all about to me, that's art."

Cultural impact

Since its roots, African American music has and continues to impact American culture. Through the hybridization of African, European, and Native American cultural elements, African American music has made itself "a distinctly American phenomenon".

Jim Crow & Civil Rights Era (early to mid 20th century)

During this time in history, African American men and women in the South utilized the songs and sounds of African American music to get through this time. The music made and the songs sung during the Jim Crow and Civil Rights era awakened "the passion and purposefulness of the Souhern Civil Rights Movement" that "provided a stirring musical accompaniment to the campaign for raial justice and equality". African American men, women, and children from across the nation came together in social settings such as marches, mass meetings, churches, and even jails and "conveyed the moral urgency of the freedom struggle". Also during this time, African American music served to keep uplift the spirits and hearts of those fighting for the cause. Guy Carawan referred to the Civil Rights Movement as "the greatest singing movement this country has experienced".

"We Shall Overcome"

Often revered as "the anthem of the Civil Rights Movement", "We Shall Overcome" started off as a hymn from the 19th-century that ended up being used as a protest labor song in a labor strike against American Tobacco in Charleston, South Carolina during 1945-1946. Overheard by Zilphia Horton, Zilhpia Horton in a Tennessee tobacco field on a picket line in 1946, a worker by the name of Lucille Simmons changed the original wording of "I Wil Overcome" to "We Will Overcome", which ultimately made it more powerful for such a mass movement as the Civil Rights Movement.

In 1947, Horton added some verses to the song and taught Pete Seeger her version. Seeger also revised the song from "We will" to "We shall". In April 1960 at Raleigh, North Carolina, folk singer Guy Carawan sang the new and revised version of the sang at the founding convention of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), ushering its quick spread throughout the Civil Rights Movement. Seeger, Carawan, and Frank Hamilton then copyrighted the song to prevent it from becoming a "commercialized pop song".

"We Shall Overcome" continued to spread rapidly as the Civil Rights Movement gained more supporters and momentum. Protestors across the nation sang the song as they marched for rights, we beat up and attacked by poice dogs, and sent to jail for breaking segregation laws. "We Shall Overcome" and many other protest songs during the Civil Rights movement became its soundtrack. Outside of the U.S., the song has been used in freedom movements around the world. In India, the song is known as "Hum Honge Kaamyab, Hum Honge Kaamyaab", which is a song that most school kids in India know by heart.

Harlem Cultural Festival (1969)

The Harlem Cultural Festival was a series of music concerts held in Harlem's Marcus Garvey Park, Mount Morris Park in Manhattan, New York City. This festival "celebrated African American music and culture and promoted the continued politics of Black pride".

At 3 PM on Sundays from June 29, 1969 to August 24, 1969, a variety of artists would perform on-stage from different genres amongst tens of thousands of people. Such artists that performed were Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, B.B. King, Sly and the Family Stone, The 5th Dimension, Gladys Knight & the Pips, Mahalia Jackson, and many others.

Black Lives Matter movement (2010s-present day)

Economic impact

Record stores played a vital role in African-American communities for many decades. In the 1960s and 1970s, between 500 and 1,000 black-owned record stores operated in the American South, and probably twice as many in the United States as a whole. According to The Political Economy of Black Music By Norman Kelley, it says "Black music exists in a neo-colonial relationship with the $12 billion music industry, which consist of six record companies." These companies are Warner Elektra Atlantic (WEA), Polygram, MCA Music Entertainment, BMG Distribution, Sony Music Entertainment, and CEMA/UNI Distribution. African-American entrepreneurs embraced record stores as key vehicles for economic empowerment and critical public spaces for black consumers at a time that many black-owned businesses were closing amid desegregation. In addition, countless African Americans have earned livings as musical performers, club owners, radio deejays, concert promoters, and record label owners. Many consumer companies use African-American music to sell their products. Companies like; Coca-Cola, Nike, and Pepsi have used artists to sell to the youth and other followers of the genres. A prime example of the economic impact that African-American music is the way the NFL exposes new and old music with its super bowl halftime show.

International influence

The genres of Jazz and Hip-Hop spread around the world. These genres traveled to Africa and Asia and influenced other genres of African and Asian Music. Many state that without African-American music, there would be no American music. The songs and tunes that African's came to America with created a fundamental foundation for American music. The textural styles, slang language and African-American Vernacular English, African American Vernacular English influenced American pop culture and global culture. The way African-Americans dress in hip-hop videos and how African-Americans talk is copied for style and profit in the American market and the global market. Blues, jazz, and hip-hop were created in African-American neighborhoods despite African-Americans are marginalized in American society on an economic and social level, the music created by African-Americans had a global impact due to marketing and media. With the advent of the internet, African-American music and culture has become consumed more rapidly around the world on a daily basis. The internet resulted in the mass consumption and appropriation and sometimes mocking of black culture by whites and non-blacks in social media.

Afrobeat

Afrobeat is a West African genre of music created by Nigerians, Nigerian artist Fela Kuti. The history of Afrobeat music began during the early twentieth century when artists from Ghana and West Africa combined their music with Western calypso and jazz. During the interwar period (1918-1939), because traders were looking to expand their networks, sailors were crewing the enormous ships run by European lines, and other Africans were looking for work, the interwar years were a particularly fertile time for the formation of pan-West African urban musical traditions Kuti created Afrobeat fusing traditional West African music with African-American music of Jazz, R&B, and other genres of West African and African-American music. West African musicians fused African-American music with their traditional West African music creating new genres of music. In addition, funk music also influenced Afrobeat. James Brown's Funk music, Brown's dance style and African-American drumming influenced Afrobeat. In London, Kuti joined jazz and rock bands, and when he returned to Nigeria the creation of Afrobeat began in the country by fusing African-American and traditional Yoruba music. In 1969, Kuti toured the United States. Through his travels, Kuti became inspired by the political activism of African Americans. Kuti studied the life of Malcolm X and was inspired by his pro-black speeches. This resulted in a change in Kuti's Music and Black liberation, message in Afrobeat as it became more political discussing the political issues in Africa and Nigeria. Despite having a name that sounds similar to the Afrobeat music made known by Fela Kuti in the 1970s, Afrobeats is a name to generalize large range of genres popular all over Africa and most popularly Music of West Africa. Music referred to as Afrobeats, in contrast to Kuti, is frequently upbeat, digitally generated, and sung in English, West African, and pidgin languages. Kuti's music was characterized by its political content and orchestral style whereas Afrobeats adopts many musical themes found in R&B and Hip-Hop/Rap (Love, sex, drugs, money, hard times, fame).

Racial Appropriation and Insensitivity in K-pop music

Hip-hop came to Korea in the 1990s. It later developed into a genre of hip-hop in Korea called Korean Hip-Hop and K-pop, Korean K-pop music. Although African-American music influenced genres of Korean pop music and culture, some Korean artists are known to appropriate African-American vernacular and other aspects of Black culture. Groups like the girl group Mamamoo, MAMAMOO have been known to dress up in blackface, and others have gone as far as to speak in "blaccents" and wear their hair in ethnic styles. Artist Zico has also been known to say the n-word in his music, and has claimed in his music that he has a "black soul." As of 2020, within "K-pop, blackface, mouthing or saying racial slurs, and purely aesthetic uses of Black culture and hairstyles" were still common. K-pop was on the rise around the same time of Black hip-hop and R&B, so K-pop artists drew influence from these Western genres for pure aesthetic reasons without understanding, honoring or crediting their African American roots. These groups capitalize off this cultural appropriation because it grabs audience’s attention and the complexities of Black culture they are imitating often go ignored which causes cultural appropriation and not appreciation. According to sources cited in a 2020 Guardian article, many K-pop artists show lack of support when it comes to African American social justice issues. Additionally, "many international fans are waiting for the industry to develop a more sensitive, globalized understanding of race." Although there are cultural differences, they should show some form of support to the African American culture when it comes to social injustice.

See also

* African-American dance
* African American musical theater
* Groove (music), Groove
* Afro-Caribbean music
* Blackface
* Cultural appropriation
* Gandy dancer
* Juke joint
* List of musical genres of the African diaspora
* Music of the African diaspora
* National Museum of African American Music
* Music of Africa
* Music of the United States
* Creole music
* Romani music
* Mexican music
* Cajun music
* Music of New Orleans
* Music of Detroit
* Music of Baltimore
* Music of Georgia (U.S. state)

References

Sources

* Eileen Southern, Southern, Eileen (1997). ''The Music of Black Americans: A History''. W. W. Norton & Company; 3rd edition.
* Stewart, Earl L. (1998). ''African American Music: An Introduction''. .
* Cobb, Charles E., Jr.
"Traveling the Blues Highway"
''National Geographic Magazine'', April 1999, v. 195, n.4
* Dixon, RMW & Godrich, J (1981), ''Blues and Gospel Records'': 1902–1943, Storyville, London.
* Hamilton, Marybeth: ''In Search of the Blues''.
* Leadbitter, M., & Slaven, N. (1968), ''Blues Records 1943–1966'', Oak Publications, London.
* William R. Ferris, Ferris, William; ''Give My Poor Heart Ease: Voices of the Mississippi Blues'', University of North Carolina Press (2009). (with CD and DVD)
* Ferris, William; Glenn Hinson, ''The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture: Volume 14: Folklife'', University of North Carolina Press (2009). (Cover :photo of James Son Thomas)
* Ferris, William; ''Blues From The Delta'', Da Capo Press; revised edition (1988).
* Ted Gioia, Gioia, Ted; ''Delta Blues: The Life and Times of the Mississippi Masters Who Revolutionized American Music'', W. W. Norton & Company (2009).
* Sheldon Harris (music historian), Harris, Sheldon; ''Blues Who's Who'', Da Capo Press, 1979.
* Nicholson, Robert; ''Mississippi Blues Today!'' Da Capo Press (1999).
* Robert Palmer (writer), Palmer, Robert; ''Deep Blues: A Musical and Cultural History of the Mississippi Delta'', Penguin reprint (1982). ;
* Fred Ramsey, Ramsey Jr, Frederic; ''Been Here And Gone'', 1st edition (1960), Rutgers University Press; London Cassell (UK) and New Brunswick, NJ. 2nd printing (1969), Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick, NJ: University Of Georgia Press, 2000.
* Wilson, Charles Reagan, William R. Ferris, William Ferris, Ann J. Adadie, ''Encyclopedia of Southern Culture'' (1656 pp.), University of North Carolina Press; 2nd edition (1989). .

Further reading

* Joshua Clark Davis
"For the Records: How African American Consumers and Music Retailers Created Commercial Public Space in the 1960s and 1970s South,"
''Southern Cultures'', Winter 2011.
*Work, John W., compiler (1940), ''American Negro Songs and Spirituals: a Comprehensive Collection of 230 Folk Songs, Religious and Secular, with a Foreword''. Bonanza Books, New York. ''N.B''.: Consists most notably of an analytical study of this repertory, on p. 1–46, an anthology of such music (words with the notated music, harmonized), on pp. 47–250, and a bibliography, on p. 252–256.

External links

* https://folklife.si.edu/magazine/freedom-sounds-tell-it-like-it-is-a-history-of-rhythm-and-blues
* https://www.loc.gov/collections/songs-of-america/articles-and-essays/musical-styles/ritual-and-worship/african-american-gospel
* https://www.loc.gov/item/ihas.200197383
* https://www.loc.gov/audio/?q=Negro+spirituals
* https://www.loc.gov/item/ihas.200197451

Shall We Gather at the River
a collection of African-American sacred music, made available for public use by the State Archives of Florida

20 historical milestones
in African-American music
*

History of African music
* https://www.masterclass.com/articles/afrobeat-music-guide
* https://www.complex.com/music/2019/08/afrobeats-p2j-interview-beyonce-the-gift-goldlink-diaspora
* http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:42004187

{{Authority control

African-American music,
African-American musicians
African-American culture
American styles of music
Ethnic music in the United States