All Music is deeply rooted in Black history.
From originators of entire genres to different styles of dance — Jazz, Gospel, Blues, R&B, Hip Hop, House, and yes… Rock & Roll and Country music too.
Music tells a story of a society and its culture.
When slaves were taken out of Africa and into America, their instruments came with them. For the 400 years they were enslaved, they created their own spirituals, hymns, worship music, and hymns.
While Blackness and the Black experience vary according to where you are on the map, our country is one that has conditioned us to view Blackness as synonymous with “African-American,” glossing over the cultures, agencies, contributions and overall experiences of people across the African diaspora.
America loves black culture, but not the people who embody the essence of its entire existence.
The love of the culture but not its creators has erased African Americans' role in pioneering American music.
The story of American music, past and present, is littered with these contradictory circumstances. These days, despite a strong black presence in music, black people are underrepresented in music industry leadership.
Black people make up 13% of artists and musicians in the industry.
Some will argue that the higher up one goes in the industry, the less representation there is. When black people do make it into executive roles it is often in departments overseeing “urban” programs or covering the genres of rap, hip-hop and R&B. Yet black people are either directly or heavily responsible for the creation of almost every major music genre in America, including those currently dominated by white artists and executives, such as country, rock, and electronic dance music (EDM)
Fans and professionals alike point out a blatant disrespect shown toward black artists, whose sounds and images propel the industry. Every year critics call out the Grammy Awards for its lack of black nominees and winners. In the Grammys 62-year history, less than a quarter of awards for non-genre-specific categories like Album of the Year or Best New Artist have gone to black people.
White men top the list of most Grammy wins overall, as well as in categories like Best Rap Album and Best Jazz Instrumental Album. Fans are consistently outraged by Grammy snubs and upsets of widely-celebrated black songs and albums to less-popular or less-critically acclaimed white ones.
Black people aren’t always seen as valuable, but their creations somehow are.
As a result, black people are systematically erased and excluded from musical genres they helped create. As their art gets monetized and taken mainstream, they, the people, are at the same time being systematically bullied, killed or disadvantaged. It’s a pattern seen over and over again throughout American history.