However, due to changes in American society over time they have not gotten the

proper recognition they deserve.

Throughout history Blacks have had a significant impact music in America.

Mateo Negret, Miles Cudworth, Dan Hickey, Matt McInnis, Sam Sater

Themes: How the social construction of race in America has

created institutions in which African American musicians are in a disadvantaged position.

Many find that the only way to profit is to depict African American stereotypes.

Historically, Black music has been profitable when a White artist represents it.

Black music has been an outlet for whites lacking cultural identity.

Some artists used white privilege for good during the civil

rights movement.

African Influence on the Beginnings of Music

Types of Early Music:Call and Response: Used by slaves to decrease

monotony of work, one would call or play a lead, others would respond. “Shuck That Corn Before You Eat”

“Patting Juba”: Emphasized rhythm over harmony… it was performed by “striking the right shoulder with one hand, the left with the other, which compensated for the beat of drums (Rockin in Time).

The Influence of Spirituals and the Blues

With the influence from Spirituals, Blues and Gospel music was born.

With the Influence of European hymns came jazz

Blues was the foundation of Rock and Roll. African-American Blues artists:

Muddy Waters Bo Diddley Booker T. White B.B. King Howling Wolf

Elvis Presley and Rockabilly

Elvis Presley Influenced by Muddy

Waters and B.B. King. Made large amount of

money off the lyrics and dance moves of these two artists (gyrating hips).

Other White Artists Heavily influenced by Blues and Jazz

Jerry Lee LewisMixed Rhythm and Blues

Johnny Cash

Carl Perkins

The Popularization of Rock and Roll

African Americans were instrumental in the progression of rock and roll music. Mitch Miller, Columbia Records

White Teenagers White teenagers became more and more aware of R

& B and were buying black artist’s records, white kids in high school and college

Poor Southern Whites- Using white privilege for good Poor southern whites spread the message of rock n’

roll to millions

Rock went vanilla: Success through White Privilege

No demand for Black music in the late 1950’s. Sam Phillips Record Producer, Sun Studios

“If I could find a white man with a negro sound and a negro feel, I could make a billion dollars” (Rockin in Time)

Race Records = R&B

White artists copied African-American artists’ songs. This left countless African-American artists bitter and sometimes

broken.

Columbia, Capitol, Decca, and RCA employed new marketing techniques: sell in suburban areas.

Black artists and institutional discrimination

Segregation Practices of Radio Stations.

Industry leaders ban African-American music from the Airwaves.

A color line was established in the record industry that was difficult to cross.

Bob DylanDylan’s early influences included Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, Jimmy Reed, and Howlin’ Wolf.

Using White Privilege for Good Dylan joined the Folk

movement He moved to New York

and wrote many songs on civil rights

On August 1963 he marched on the Washington D.C protest for civil rights led by MLK Junior.

Other White Folk Artists Singing for Civil Rights

6 basic tactics for using white privilege for good as described by Kivel (WP, 146):•Noticing how racism is denied, minimized, and justified •Taking a stance against injustice•Being strategic•Supporting the leadership of people of color• Not doing it alone •Talking to children and other young people about racism

Skiffle During the 1950’s the British Musicians Union

lifted a ban on American Musicians. Many Black artists, like Muddy Waters, traveled

to Britain because they didn’t have the racial tensions that’s America was going through.

This led to the popularization Black American music, as it was soaked up by the British youth.

Skiffle, a mixture of R&B and Jazz made it to the top of the charts.

• Like the British bands, the same Black musicians inspired Hendrix. Yet, the bands from the U.K. never endured racial or ethnic stereotypes in America. The American people saw that they were white and that was all that mattered to them.

• This shows how the social construction of race places restriction on Black musicians.

• “Members of the privileged group gain benefits by their affiliation with the dominant side of the power system” (Wildman and Davis).

Jimi Hendrix & White Privilege

Led Zeppelin

•A prime example of a white band who combined many elements of black music in order to sell albums in America.

•“Whole Lotta Love” was strikingly similar to a song written by Willie Dixon titled: “You Gotta be Loved” (originally performed by Muddy Waters); and a decade prior to the Zeppelin recording(s), “Bring It On Home” was a song written by Dixon and performed by Sonny Boy Williamson II.

•The intro and outro of the Led Zeppelin version “Bring It on Home” were deliberate homage's of the Sonny Boy Williamson version.

•Zeppelin was sued by Chess Records on behalf of Dixon and Williamson for copyright infringement of both songs. An out of court settlement was reached for both cases in the 1970’s.

Modern Period

•Rise of Hip-Hop, dominated by Black artists. •Social Constructions of Race force artists into stereotypical roles•Attempts to police rap industry in which blacks are seen as a threat to dominant culture

Hip-hop arose in the late 70’s as a counter movement to disco. Artists such as the Sugar Hill Gang, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, and Run-DMC pioneered the movement.

As Hip-hop evolved, new artists depicted the horrors of ghetto life, and protested their treatment by society.

Gangster rap rewarded rappers who unabashedly displayed their violent tendencies, and a trend emerged that glorified the gangster lifestyle.

“Hip-hop has moved away from political and racial talk for the most part has sold excess and riches, women and violence” (Kleinfield, N.R.)

The most successful Black artists circumscribe to societal stereotypes that embrace perceived depictions of Black masculinity.

White artists were often rewarded for putting a white face on black music.

Artists such as the Beastie Boys and Vanilla Ice presented a readily identifiable image to white teenagers.

“If Run DMC introduced rap to white teens, the Beastie Boys opened the floodgates.” (Rockin’ In Time)

Eminem emerged on the Hip-Hop scene, and rose to a dominant position as the highest selling rap artist in history.

Eminem forced into the same masculine stereotype as Black artists.

White artists seen as “insecure image chameleons.” (Kleinfield, N.R.)

Hip-Hop has struggled with conflicting forces; one aspect of society dictates that Black artists must present themselves as thugs in order to be successful, and another aspect criticizes Hip-Hop for it’s glorification of violence.

Societal constructions of race deem black youth a threat to the dominant white culture.

Politicians and powerful interest groups such as Focus on the Family have denounced rap music and attempted to regulate and police it.

Informal means of institutional discrimination work to hinder the spatial mobility of black artists who are perceived as a threat.

“Rap music is fundamentally linked to larger social constructions of black culture as an internal threat to dominant American culture and social order.” (Rose, Tricia. Pg. 113, Reader)

Race has had a powerful impact on shaping rap music, and the success of Black artists is contingent upon societal constructions of race.

The influences that Blacks have had on American musical culture is immeasurable. From slave spirituals of the 19th century to rap in the 21st, blacks are arguably responsible for much of what is marketable in the music industry. Through racial discrimination, white privilege, and the social construction of race, Blacks have not been given proper recognition or credit when it comes to American music. The social institutions on race that have risen out of American History have restricted Blacks from attaining social mobility in music without buying into the negative racial stereotypes that hinder their progress in society.

Sources• Brooks, Tim. Lost Sounds: Blacks and the Birth of the Recording Industry 1890-1919. 1. Chicago: University of Illinois press, 2005.

• Dixon and Don Snowden, "The Willie Dixon Story: I Am The Blues." pg. 222-223, 1989, Da Capo Press - New York.

Hayes, Steven J. "Jimi Hendrix Biography." Basic Famous People. 04 Jan. 2004. 9 Dec. 2007 <http://www.basicfamouspeople.com/index.php?aid=244>.

• Higginbotham, Elizabeth, and Margaret L.Andersen. Race and Ethnicity in Society; Kleinfield, N.R. Guarding the Borders of the Hip-Hop Nation. New York: 212-228

• Kivel, Paul. "How White People Can Serve as Allies to People of Color." White Privilege. Comp. Paula S. Rothnberg. New Yrok: Worth, 2005. 139-147

• Kleinfield, N.R. Guarding the Borders of the Hip-Hop Nation. New York: 212-228.

• McCrary, Jan. “Effects of Listener’s and Performer’s Race on Music Preferences.” Journal ofResearch in Music Education. 41:3 (1993):200-211.

• Szatmary, P., David. Rockin' in Time: A Social History of Rock-and-Roll. 5. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, Inc, 2004.