African American influence in American popular music

Music

The influence of American Americans on American popular music has been evident for decades. The purpose of this discussion is to trace African-American influence within all styles of American popular music from swing to the present. The research will explore stylistic features: call and response, metric schemes (two-step and four-beat), instrumentation, features of rhythm, and delivery.

No discussion of African-American influence on popular music can began without discussing gospel music. Gospel music including encompassing Negro spirituals are the foundation of every type of music that has evolved in popular music. One of the most evident influences of gospel, have to do with the tradition of call and response. Remnants of call and response can actually be seen today in the sphere of hip hop. This can be seen when a rap artist is performing and sends out a call and demands a response back from the audience.

Swing music is a form of jazz that was developed in the 1930s. Musicologists seem to vary in the way they define swing music. According to Web (1937) "swing is individual improvisation against a formal rhythmic background." Blues writing has a distinctive pattern in which the first two lines of a stanza are similar but not identical and the last word in the third line of the stanza rhymes with the last word in the first stanza. For instance, the first stanza of "Rising High Water Blues" reads,

"Backwater rising, Southern peoples can't make no time

I said, backwater rising, Southern peoples can't make no time

And I can't get no hearing from that Memphis girl of mine (Jefferson)."

A great deal of Blues music contains 10-12 beats or syllables per lyric line. However, some contains more or less. Blues influenced music such as R&B which combines some of the elements of the blues.

In addition the Gospel, Swing and Jazz, soul music has also greatly influenced American popular music and American culture in general. Soul music developed as a natural outgrowth of gospel. Although it is similar to R&B in that people who sing R&B tend to have soulful voices, there are some distinct differences in sound. Soul music relies heavily on the voice-that is the voice is emphasized and in some instances there is very little instrumentation. The music is often recorded acoustically with just a guitar or piano. In addition, it is important to note that this music also evolved out of the Black power movement and tended to be filled with message associated with Black pride and social and political consciousness. According to Scheurer, soul music provided a foundation for the evolution of various types of American popular music.

The influence of African-American Music of popular music has continued throughout the years. Rhythm and Blues is a prime example of the influence of Black Music on popular music. Rhythm and Blue evolved from jazz, blues and gospel. Today many mainstream popular artists have Rhythm and Blues influences. In addition some artists fluctuate between signing R&B and pop music. Although there are often distinctions made between the two genres R&B is definitely a type of popular music that has been greatly influenced by all of the above Genres.

Rap music or hip hop is also a prime example of the influence of African-American Music on popular music. Rap music actually comes from the ancient art form of poetry. The original intent for rap was to tell a story -- provide a narrative. Within the context of African-American folk tradition storytelling is extremely important -- the griot is important. Griots are the keepers of the oral traditions -- the storytellers. According to Powell (1991) "To the accompaniment of drums or other percussive instruments, griots entertain and educate their audiences by reciting tribal history and current events. Their performances are often embellished by satirical asides, proverbs, jokes, praise and ridicule." Rap is often reflective of this tradition.