AFRAM Blog Post #2

Sierra Craig

“Future generations… will be taught that while rock may have had its beginnings among blacks, it had its true flowering among whites”. In this Slate article, the author talks about how this sentiment is a fear that seems to have come true. To take it one step further, I don’t think that black people ever even got the recognition that rock music had its origins within their community. When people think of rock music, they almost exclusively think of white male artists, and many don’t know that these artists drew inspiration from black musicians and culture in the first place. One of the points that was brought up that I found especially interesting was the notion that rock music became white because black people effectively “self-segregated” with the momentum of the Civil Rights movement and the desire to be self-sufficient. This almost entirely places the blame on black people for the loss of the ownership that they deserve for rock music. This draws a connection to the second reading revolving around Jeff Chang. Similar to the first article, Chang speaks on the relation to social movements and current events in history that draw on music to fuel it. Chuck D once described rap music as “CNN for black people”, because it allowed people, especially black and brown people, to stay connected to all of the constant injustices that were happening to black Americans across the country. Chang draws on the example of the LA riots and Rodney King, and this reminds me of how the song “Alright” by Kendrick Lamar almost became the ‘anthem’ of the Black Lives Matter movement after Trayvon Martin was killed. Music is constantly shifting and changing with major historical events, and black people stay on the cutting edge of expression through music. In the former case where there was erasure of black people from rock and roll (supposedly because of the Civil Rights Movement), with more contemporary movements like BLM, black music is, and will always be, at the center of the struggle.

Kendrick Lamar, “Alright”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-48u_uWMHY

Beyoncé and Kendrick Lamar: “Freedom”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FWF9375hUA