Black Music Month - Lab 068
Join us as we celebrate Black Music Month with Dr. Mark Anthony Neal and 9th Wonder.
In this lab, we follow the history of hip hop, noting how changes in influence from funk to bebop to smooth jazz influence the genre. Not only does hip hop sample from jazz (check out our playlist below for some references), but it also mimics the vetting of musicianship with cyphers and free styling.
If you want to find yourself down a rabbit hole of musical connections, be sure to type your favorite song into WhoSampled.com to learn more about the musical influences we’re still enjoying decades later.
Black Music Month was born out of the Black Music Association which was fashioned after the Country Music Association. The initial goal was to promote unity among artists and demonstrate the large economic power they had.
Celebrating Black Music Month, National Museum of African American History & Culture
Black Spirituals as Poetry and Resistance by Kaitlyn Greenidge
Artists & Music mentioned
James Brown
The Message by Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five
Rebel without a Pause by Public Enemy
Love Train by Con Funk Shun which was recently covered by Silk Sonic
Guest Experts
Mark Anthony Neal is the James B. Duke Distinguished Professor of African & African American Studies and Chair of the Department of African & African American Studies at Duke University where he offers courses on Black Masculinity, Popular Culture, and Digital Humanities, including signature courses on Michael Jackson & the Black Performance Tradition, and The History of Hip-Hop, which he co-teaches with Grammy Award Winning producer 9th Wonder (Patrick Douthit). (source) He also hosts the video webcast, Left of Black. You can find him on Twitter at @NewBlackMan and on Instagram at @BookerBBBrown
Patrick Denard Douthit, better known as 9th Wonder, is a hip hop record producer, record executive, DJ, and rapper from North Carolina. He began his career as the main producer for the group Little Brother in Durham, North Carolina, and has made a lasting impact on hip hop since then. He is a member of Dinner Party with Robert Glasper, Terrace Martin, and Kamasi Washington, and he is Grammy-nominated for his work with Kendrick Lamar and Dinner Party. (source)
More on Black Music Month
Cultural commentator & music industry veteran, Naima Cochrane, gives us an expanded version of her Twitter sermons with a daily prompt for #BlackMusicMonthChallenge. Join in on the fun by responding to prompts and seeing others’ responses on Instagram or Twitter.
Frequency on Spotify celebrates music, aiming to connect the Black community with upcoming and established Black creators.