A Brief History of Modern African-American Music

Written by Rizoh. Posted in Music

Published on October 19, 2009 with 4 Comments">4 Comments

black music history in a nutshell

OK, let’s address the obvious: This paints an incomplete picture because it flatly assumes that Wayne, by virtue of commercial success, perhaps, is representative of the current black music soundscape. Soulja Boy would definitely disagree with that assumption. Otherwise, it’s dead on.

Pop the lid to see what Coltrane’s “Giant Steps” looks like on paper.

Just for kicks:

[Jojet]

TRU

Rizoh

Rizoh is the most powerful man in all the lands. He lives in Houston where he earned a BS in Nerf Herding. He's the founder of The Rap Up, the editor of Roc4Life.com, and is in the Grammy-awaiting band Pervertable Disciples.

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  • Sean

    When you examine the head of Giant Steps, it really isn’t that complex. The complexity comes from the improvisation on top of the head. Jazz and hip hop or similarly structured in the sense that they revolve around soloist playing on top of a repeated melody. In hip hop that melody is the beat, and in jazz that melody is the head. While i don’t know how one would transcribe a rap, that seems to be a more apt comparison to coltrane’s playing.
    For some reason jazz is held as the standard of sophisticated music, while hip hop is scoffed at in reality the origins and structures that formed each aren’t that different. In fact i believe if miles davis were alive today he would be performing on rap albums all the time.

  • Sean

    When you examine the head of Giant Steps, it really isn’t that complex. The complexity comes from the improvisation on top of the head. Jazz and hip hop or similarly structured in the sense that they revolve around soloist playing on top of a repeated melody. In hip hop that melody is the beat, and in jazz that melody is the head. While i don’t know how one would transcribe a rap, that seems to be a more apt comparison to coltrane’s playing.
    For some reason jazz is held as the standard of sophisticated music, while hip hop is scoffed at in reality the origins and structures that formed each aren’t that different. In fact i believe if miles davis were alive today he would be performing on rap albums all the time.

  • Ben

    I completely disagree sean. You can’t compare such an exceptional piece of art like jazz to the bullshit that lil wayne puts out.

    The structure of coltranes piece not only strays far away from the limitations of key but also time signature.
    And you cant compare the structure of jazz to rap just because it is built off of “A soloist playing over a beat” because the “beat” in jazz is more than a simplified single bass note over a repetitive series of “boom…clap…boom…clap”
    Jazz is fucking sophistocated, regardless, miles davis and coltrane were probably higher than lil wayne was when he freestyled his “solo” to a milli. And still they broke the barriers and adlibbed from complex chord structures.

    And regardless of all this. Black musicians have sold their souls down the gutter, even from motown, atleast a black man used to be able to sing and build poetry about love. Now we have songs about straight retarded vanity. Applebottom jeans, boots wit the fur, alcohol, money. Every one is motivated by the most vain reasons…

  • Ben

    I completely disagree sean. You can’t compare such an exceptional piece of art like jazz to the bullshit that lil wayne puts out.

    The structure of coltranes piece not only strays far away from the limitations of key but also time signature.
    And you cant compare the structure of jazz to rap just because it is built off of “A soloist playing over a beat” because the “beat” in jazz is more than a simplified single bass note over a repetitive series of “boom…clap…boom…clap”
    Jazz is fucking sophistocated, regardless, miles davis and coltrane were probably higher than lil wayne was when he freestyled his “solo” to a milli. And still they broke the barriers and adlibbed from complex chord structures.

    And regardless of all this. Black musicians have sold their souls down the gutter, even from motown, atleast a black man used to be able to sing and build poetry about love. Now we have songs about straight retarded vanity. Applebottom jeans, boots wit the fur, alcohol, money. Every one is motivated by the most vain reasons…

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