Black Roots and Birch Trees

Black Creatives, men and women alike; have made the music industry everything it has been renowned for. Yet, even with all we know about the history of popular music, many of these artists take a backseat to more accepted faces such as Elvis Presley, Mick Jagger, Jimmy Page, and your choice of Beatle. Although it is no secret that black innovators often go unnoticed, or if they do see notoriety, they are often belittled, stolen from, then tucked under a whitewashed history book. For about 50 years, various flavors and spices of rock and roll dominated the charts. The recipe was changed slightly by each new 5'10" Londoner or California group with long hair, until it's distinctly black roots were watered down and white dominated. To this day, rock genres are almost universally associated with white musicians and white fans, while hip-hop is designated to black culture. While there is no dispute about the latter, even the most blonde and blue eyed bands can trace their influences back to acts like Little Richard, James Brown and Muddy Waters.

Besides the music itself, nothing has quite empowered culture like the fashion of music. In the 50's and 60's, a man; especially one of color wearing makeup and flamboyant clothing was as of yet almost unheard of and seen as degenerative (and to an unfortunate degree, still is). Before David Bowie and Freddie Mercury, there was the late, great Little Richard; an R&B legend and a pioneer in androgyny with his heavy eye makeup and the aura of an early Hollywood starlet. As anything that's new, beautiful, and bizarre does, this created a snowball effect, collecting negative reactions and eruptions of applause. R&B, Funk, and the Blues were especially masculine genres of music, making Little Richard's ethereal appearance that much more important. This would become the building block to Glam Rock, and a heavy influence to David Bowie; who of course is one of the most revolutionary figures in music and the LGBTQ+ canon.

Although there is no longer much debate against rock being the lovechild of black musicians, the Parthenon isn't all men double-breasted suits and hair pomade. Sister Rosetta Thorpe is one of the most underappreciated figures in modern music. More impressive than teaching herself guitar, she as a black woman broke barriers and gained a substantial amount of fame in an industry that overwhelmingly catered towards men; both black and white. It is said that she not only is responsible for the classic rock sound which would dominate the next two decades, but that she was one of Elvis Presley's greatest influences. Unfortunately as history shows time and time again, the achievements of a black woman were much harder to see in the shadow of a white superstar.

Genres most associated with white artists and audiences such as indie music and alt. rock, especially borrow from seemingly forgotten black artists. Lana Del Rey falls ambiguously between those two genres with a dash of pop thrown in for good measure. This unique sound stands out in the modern day. As previously mentioned, one of the artists Elvis Presley channeled was the great Sister Rosetta Thorpe, and Lana channeled the sound and aesthetic of Elvis Presley, and similar artists of his time, for much of her career. She stands out for her songs of summer love, heartbreak, breaking hearts, and occasionally being submissive. These themes were explored by remarkable black women such as Nina Simone, Tina Turner, Whitney Houston, and once again, Sister Rosetta Thorpe. Not to say that these themes are exclusive to any artists, but it is important to recognize the black men and women that put their soul into music that would influence generations of artists across genres that could not even be imagined in their respective lifetimes.

For the past forty years, hip-hop has gone from humble beginnings to one of the most listened to and diverse kinds of music in terms of sound. As recently as 2019, Lil Nas X's rap and country hybrid "Old Town Road" has broken several records and has achieved numbers virtually unseen this century. One of the most polarizing sounds of the past few years is a sound that combines hip-hop, R&B, and pop to creating haunting stories of drug use, sex, and love. The outpouring of emotion and ballads about relationships and vices in many of these songs is reminiscent of the blues; coincidentally many of these songs are heavily R&B inspired. One of the pioneers of this sound is Canada's own The Weeknd, whose "Trilogy" album would create the groundwork for non-black artists such as Lil Peep, Suicide Boys, and Nav. The Weeknd himself names classic rock groups such as Led Zeppelin as one of his many influences, who in turn are the product of the sound created by black artists in the 50's and 60's.

Although hip-hop has overturned rock as the most popular genre only in the last few years, the black creatives of today share something unfortunate with the black artists of the mid-20th century; they are continuously vilified by their white contemporaries and white audiences. There's a degree of hesitation when an older person asks you what you're listening to if you're listening to an artist like Young Thug or Lil Uzi Vert, especially if they're white. Much of what they will say is not too different to what a conservative father from the 1950's would say about a Chuck Berry record; being dismissive of musical merit and focusing on the songs "negative message". So often are songs by black musicians seen as a love letter to drugs, violence, and sex, rather than being seen as what they are: storytelling of trauma that many black creatives experienced that even more black listeners can relate to. More than ever it's important to remember that these stories mean something, and that these artists are more than just vehicles of revenue for wealthy white executives. Thes black creatives matter Black music matters. Black stories matter. Black lives matter.