African-American music had a long illustrious run. But with hip-hop, they have finally produced some seriously bad music. And I mean bad as in not good. 50 Cent is a long way from Duke Ellington, or even Chuck Berry.
True, what passes for popular music today is a kick in the nuts to the great black composers and performers.
I was watching CMT the other day and i saw this black guy singing country music. I don't remember his name but his voice was great and his song was beautiful. And i was thinking that maybe Nashville is finding that they may have a potential audience with blacks. My husband mentioned that it makes sense since country music, many American musical genres really, sprung from African-American music. I read a lot about the history and progression of music and this is true.
On a related note i recently finished a book called "Hotel California". It's a biographical story of the singer songwriters who lived in the valleys in LA during the period from about 1965 to 75. People like Crosby, Stills, Nash, Young, Linda Rondstadt, The Eagles, Joni Mitchell, and many others. The commentary was how good the music was then because these people sang about their lives and the record companies gave the artists time to develop. But then the era of singer songwriters went away again and people were just singing songs that someone else wrote and it wasn't as good. And how the music business became just a souless machine. There's so much more depth to it, so if you're interested in music i highly recommend it.
Or, how about Wes Montgomery or George Benson on guitar? The Modern Jazz Quartet was also one of my favorites. And, Ella Fitzgerald in Berlin doing scat beats C-rap anyday.
Lets face it, 50 Cent is a long way from ten alley cats in a fifty gallon drum with the lid screwed on top.