From Spirituals to Hip-Hop: The Sound of Black America

It is hard to imagine modern music without Black America. Nearly every popular genre in the world has been shaped by it.

Spirituals and gospel

The spirituals sung by enslaved people combined faith, hope and coded messages of endurance. Their vocal power and call-and-response style fed directly into gospel, which remains the heartbeat of many Black churches and a training ground for countless singers.

Blues and jazz

The blues emerged in the Deep South in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, giving voice to hardship, humor and resilience. Jazz, developing in cities such as New Orleans, brought improvisation and swing, and went on to become one of the most influential art forms of the twentieth century.

Rhythm and soul

Rhythm and blues, soul and funk carried the energy of the church into dance halls and radio. Motown, Stax and many independent labels created a sound that soundtracked the civil rights era and beyond.

Hip-hop

Hip-hop grew from block parties in the Bronx in the 1970s, built on DJing, rapping, breakdancing and graffiti. It began as the creative voice of young people with few resources and became a global culture, shaping fashion, language, film and art.

The global conversation

The story does not stay in America. Black American music borrowed from and gave back to Africa and the Caribbean. Highlife, Afrobeat, reggae, dancehall and amapiano all enter into a long conversation with jazz, funk and hip-hop. Rhythm travels, and every place adds its own voice.

When you hear a bass line that makes you move without thinking, you are hearing a very long family history.