All modern American music exists because of black artists.
Thanks to dozens of ground-breaking POC musicians, we have the music we have today.
I’m thankful for those musicians.
And in light of the uprising surrounding the deaths of black people at the hands of police, I’d like to take a moment.
I want to honor the black musicians who have given us some of the most legendary music.
In fact, Pandora put together a list of 30 Times Black Music Changed the World (I encourage you to read the whole article):
- 1927: Louis Armstrong’s ‘Hot Fives and Sevens’ sessions revolutionize jazz
- 1936: Robert Johnson sells his soul at the crossroads
- 1938: Sister Rosetta Tharpe plugs in her mighty guitar
- 1939: Billie Holiday shines her light on racial injustice
- 1950: Miles Davis redefines cool
- 1956: Chuck Berry [and Little Richard] begets the Beatles and the Rolling Stones
- 1959: Fats Domino inspires ska
- 1961: Motown becomes the sound of young America
- 1962: Ray Charles finds the soul in country music
- 1966: John Coltrane inspires psychedelic rock
- 1964: The Impressions soundtrack the civil rights movement
- 1967: Aretha Franklin brings worship to the pop charts
- 1967: Jimi Hendrix fetishizes the electric guitar
- 1970: Fela Kuti creates Afrobeat
- 1971: Sly and the Family Stone, Parliament-Funkadelic give up the funk
- 1973: DJ Kool Herc makes the turntable the instrument of hip-hop
- 1973: Gamble and Huff pave the way for disco
- 1978: Gloria Gaynor records the ultimate empowerment anthem
- 1978: Bob Marley headlines the One Love Peace Concert
- 1982: Frankie Knuckles invents house music
- 1983: Michael Jackson breaks MTV’s color barrier
- 1984: Prince unleashes Purple Rain
- 1988: Public Enemy and N.W.A create “CNN for black people”
- 1989: James Brown becomes the most sampled artist of all time
- 1992: Whitney Houston redefines the blockbuster
- 1995: Tupac makes hip-hop poetry
- 1999: Jay-Z makes rap big business
- 2016: Beyoncé sparks a new women’s movement
- 2018: Kendrick Lamar wins the Pulitzer Prize
- 2018: Childish Gambino takes aim at modern America
If you’d like to support the movement toward equality for black people, considering donating to these organizations:
- The Coalition for African Americans in the Performing Arts (CAAPA): a nonprofit arts organization that provides support to Black classical musicians and artists
- Campaign Zero: Organization that utilizes research-based policy solutions to end police brutality in the U.S
- Unicorn Riot: Nonprofit media collective dedicated to exposing the root causes of social, economic, and environmental issues
- ACLU and NAACP
- Or find an organization in your city/state here
All music is black music.
The least we (white people) can do is learn about the history of the music we listen to and are influenced by.