"Blacks create and move on. Whites document and then recycle."- Miles Davis
- Thread starter Poitier
- Start date
He is right to a certain extent. In the hip-hop industry, we usually try to figure out something new to add or experiment with a beat. Yea we will use old recordings, but in a new way.
It's why I can't get into Country, it's legit the same through out that industry. Same topics, lyrics, look recycled over and over. But then people try to make a similar argument with Rap/hiphop.
Who do you think runs the business side of hip-hop. No coincidence.
I wonder if it is truly cultural. Marketing is supposed to repackage and sell you things you didn't know you needed and it's target is people with money. Not us.
Now I'm on a tanget, lost my train of thought lol.
It's why I can't get into Country, it's legit the same through out that industry. Same topics, lyrics, look recycled over and over. But then people try to make a similar argument with Rap/hiphop.
Who do you think runs the business side of hip-hop. No coincidence.
I wonder if it is truly cultural. Marketing is supposed to repackage and sell you things you didn't know you needed and it's target is people with money. Not us.
Now I'm on a tanget, lost my train of thought lol.
We see this in Rock.
I'd argue that we see this in all genres of music that have white businessmen and no/very little cultural awareness. Once it hits mainstream, it becomes diluted, essence destroyed, then re-branded. Then overplayed until the pubic cries for something else to be violated for their entertainment.
Thanks for bringing back The Root
Thanks for bringing back The Root
Or even the Renaissance. I wonder how they came to be like that?
It makes you wonder how much of their "culture" is really their culture. It may stem from their bleak climates, I dunno, great question.
Other countries and races were doing their own thing separate from white folk.
White folk starting migrating and interacting with other cultures.
What I don't get is what happens every time they meet someone else.
They take things that either entertain or is useful (for themselves) and leave out the origin in it's entirety.
People can argue that other races did this as well. But no where near on the same scale.
European culture as a whole got most of their ideas from Middle Easterners and the Chinese to an extent. Its a big myth that Europeans are this worlds saving grace. If you look at history Europeans weren't really innovators, but mostly recycled ideas. The Greeks were mostly influenced by people from the Asian minor, hell I look at Ancient Greece more as a ASIAN civilization than European. After coming after the Asian minor would be Northwest Africans like the Egyptians/Nubians but only to an extent.
The Ancient Romans definitely weren't innovators. They only cared for expanding their empire and gaining more wealth. Anyways point being throughout European history they only really recycled old ideas.
Interesting that you mentioned Country music. Country music kind of ties into what Miles Davis was talking about. The slaves invented the music form. The Appalachian Whites added their folk songs. Now people think that White people created Country music.
Here are excerpts from a 1998 Chicago Tribune article about the history of Country:
"... The relationship between blacks and country music, however, began centuries ago. In fact, blacks in the rural South helped create country music and remain avid fans today, according to Pamela Foster, author of a new book, "My Country: The African Diaspora's Country Music Heritage."
"In the antebellum South, banjos, fiddles and harmonicas were the dominant instruments played in black culture. Unfortunately, history has distorted these facts to make people believe jazz, blues and spirituals were the staples of black culture at that time when, in fact, it was country," said Foster, who documented the contributions of more than 450 African-Americans involved in country music since the 1920s.
Historians acknowledge that country music is derived from a melting pot of cultures. Mountain or hillbilly music, in particular, combines the ballads and folksongs brought to the South by immigrants from the British Isles in the 18th and 19th Centuries and the rhythmic influences of African immigrants. The banjo, which mimics the banjar played in Africa, was invented by Southern blacks in the late 1690s. Slaves also played the fiddle, which was introduced to them by their white masters.
"The fiddle was the primary instrument for dance music among a lot of classes of people in the 18th and 19th Centuries," said Paul Wells, director of the Center for Popular Music at Middle Tennessee State University.
"If you had a bunch of guys getting rowdy in a tavern, they could have been dancing to a fiddle played by a black person. If there was a fancy dance on the plantation, the musicians likely were slaves.
"Blacks have contributed to the development of a lot of American popular music. It didn't start with Pat Boone copying Little Richard songs in the '50s. It's been going on much longer than that."
For years, country superstars have made No. 1 hits from songs created or first performed by African-Americans. Though some old-timers, including Chet Atkins, Hank Williams and Bill Monroe, acknowledge they learned their craft from black street-corner musicians, most African-American contributors have been ignored. Except for Charley Pride, no African-American has ever made it big in Nashville, a town with more than 25 record labels.
"Black artists feel like they have been left out of a whole industry for no reason other than color," said Cleve Francis, who had a brief country-music career during the early 1990s. "Country music has mirrored the racial divide in this country. Other forms, such as pop and opera, have integrated but, blacks have never been welcome in Nashville."
The Roots Of Country Music
seems true to me...
I had no idea of this at all. God damn, is that why I like the old country sound more?!
Folks look at me funny when I say that. They keep thinking this country rock shyt is country. I'm like nah, the old sound when it came from the soul.
God damn I wasn't crazy.
Thank you for the info man
I had no idea of this at all. God damn, is that why I like the old country sound more?!
Folks look at me funny when I say that. They keep thinking this country rock shyt is country. I'm like nah, the old sound when it came from the soul.
God damn I wasn't crazy.
Thank you for the info man
Yep. You like the old Country music more, because you were listening to White people singing the Blues that they learned from Black people.
Btw, in 1962 Ray Charles crossed over from Blues into Country music to make an album called "Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music." That album became one of the highest selling Country albums of all time. In fact 54 years later it is still listed as the 4th best all time Country album ever. That should give you some idea about African American musicians who are from the Country and their connection to Country music; this is despite the fact that African Americans by and large haven't been all that interested in White people version of Country music.
100 Greatest Country Music Albums
Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Birnin Zana
Honorary Wakandan
He's def right on that.