dancerella said:

Who said I was offended? A and now this picture and a lot of inaccurate assumptions follows. Why?

Adisa said:

I assumed you were offended because the headline on that photo says "aw jeez, not this shit again" which implies that you're tired of hearing people comment on this. I appologise if i'm wrong but I do know that some people get pissed of when topics like these are started.

Adisa said:

My bad, it was voices carry who posted the pic. My humble appologies.

Luv4oneanotha said:

You're the one who needs to grow up. And you MOST DEFINITELY need a lesson in music history. To suggest that synth, heavy metal etc are mere sub genres is ridiculous.

And even though you've made a complete turn-around now, admitting that your statement doesn't apply to the world outside of the US, that still doesn't cut it. Even within US borders, not all music originated from black music. To suggest that shows how ignorant you are.

End of discussion.

catharsis said:

I believe that the comment was talking about American music tradition. What we call "rock n roll" today comes from black music. This is [b]basic[\b] music history. Ray Charles sang country music as well as the blues, etc. He was very right about country artists being african american.


Heavy metal and punk come out of rock n' roll, rock comes from the blues, etc.

Rhondab said:

Thank You!

I find this subject pretty interesting , since it deals with the areas in which race, culture, and commerce all intersect .

Anyone with any knowledge of American music will tell you that the origins of most of the major styles are racially mixed. There are "Black" influences in Country music, and "White" influences in Blues and Jazz. There is no purity in the music styles of America .

A lot of the Black styles , from Swing Jazz in the 1930's to Hip-Hop and R&B today, will often have a large White audience. I'm sure a lot of it has to do with what one poster above mentioned, in that these styles emphasize a beat that encourages dancing. The "Beat" of the music grabs listeners from across the spectrum . This enables "Black" styles to cross-over into the mainstream

Also, I find that a lot of people don't really explore musical styles other than what is presented as readily available to them. So a Black kid might just automatically tune into the local Hip-Hop station, or a White guy might just gravitate to the Rock station, or if they live in a certain part of the nation to the local Country station . It fits into their comfort zone : "This is what everybody else like me listens to, so I'll listen too "

Another thing I find interesting is that Black audiences will often discard a style that they consider "Old", and the audiences of those styles will then become predominatly White (or even Asian). Go to a Jazz or Blues concert, or even a concert by an older R&B legend like James Brown or Solomon Burke, and except perhaps for older Balck people who were fans back in tha day, you'll see a mainly White audience. This is true for a lot of reggae and African music as well. This months MOJO magazine has an article about Bob Marley, and he was saying back in the late 1970's that one of his disapointments was his inabilty to attract a substantial African -American (as opposed to Caribean American) audience to his work. He played the Apollo Theater hoping to get an African American crowd, and was suprised to see a lot of the same White faces he saw at most of his New York engagements !

jjhunsecker said:

Sadly i have to agree with you on that,
Majority of african americans have forgotten their own culture,
In college im in a jazz and old rhytm and blues appreciation club,
majority are white, and it kinda made me sad becaus ei was expecting more of an ethnic background.

jjhunsecker said:

that is true. when i was little i was introduced to a lot of "old" music be it rock, jazz, latin, rnb, funk by my father and mom who love music. i think that it has a lot to do with the black community and how the past and present of black culture have a gap inbetween it. most black kids today are the products of parents who were part of the time when teen pregnancy was high in the black community. those teens were more into hip hop and more recent rnb and pop so that is what they listened to and so there kids listen to it. somehow the value of it has been lost to modern day hiphop crap. its too bad. well my kids aren't deprived! but seriously its something to think about.

In repsonse to the original question, it is stereotyped and felt by mainstream media and hell even blacks that we only listen to r&b/hip-hop.

It's not true at all. But, since a paintbrush is used to paint us all with the stroke as liking the same things and thinking the same way, then this is the assumption that people come up with.

Of course today's black music has a more mixed audience than white music does. That's why rap and hip hop has dominated R&B for 15 years. If white kids had not gotten into it and major corporations had not made sure that it was the only thing played on R&B radio, R&B would have moved on to the next phase, like it always has, and rap/hip hop would be underground again.
[Edited 3/1/05 12:02pm]

I haven't read through all these posts so forgive me if this is a retread but R&B music in general just has a more diverse audience. With Rock you get a mostly white audience but it's all good. I still love a good rock album and good rock in general. But unlike most black folks my taste is all over the map.

procrastination101 said:

The interesting thing is the response from different audiences. I'm Black, and I like lots of different types of music. If it's good, I can get behind it, whether it's Sinatra, hank Williams, Miles Davis, or Stevie Wonder. But I've had other blacks tell me that I should only be listening to Hip-Hop or R&B, and ther's something "wrong" with me for liking anything else !! If I tella White guy that I also love Led Zep or Pearl Jam, usually the response will be something like : "That's interesting . Cool "
[Edited 3/1/05 13:08pm]

I'm noticing more and more blacks, now more than ever before, exploring all kinds of music because hip hop has taken over R&B, they don't like it, and they are looking elsewhere.

I'm black and proudly blast my "white music" whenever I please
I think people just wanna listen to whatever appeals to them and they can relate
to. I like all kinds of stuff and race is no excuse to be close-minded.

vainandy said:


I Agree! I like some hip-hop but 50Cent and all his clones are
just intolerable sometimes

jjhunsecker said:

I think you are so right about black people not getting into older music. Hip hop and r&b are very trendy and tends to be all about what the hot style of the moment is. So older music kind of gets forgotten about. I personaly love music from the 80's so that's what i'm mostly into. I had to get out and explore that music on my own, as I was too young at the time. I guess maybe the bottom line is that some how white people are a little more open minded when it comes down to hearing different sounds?

jjhunsecker said:

i went through the same thing in high school. people would tell me all the time that i was weird or not proud to be black because i was into metal at the time. i don't have that problem any more because all of my friends are into all different kinds of music and think it's cool that i like "weird" music, hehe! i would also like to add that ocasionally, i'll meet a black person that thinks what i listen too is cool and they'll ask questions. i just hate when people assume i listen to gansta rap and r&b because i'm black. that shit pisses me off!