When we were assigned the Soundtrack to our life assignment, I started asking my friends on what were the top 10 songs and albums that impacted their lives. I actually made it my facebook status. Within a couple minutes the comments piled up and said everything from Lauryn Hill’s The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill to Linkin Park’s Hybrid Park to Michael Jackson’s Thriller to Yolanda’s “Still I Rise,” etc. I could go on and on. But what this assignment made realize was that most of friends (African America Teengers-20 year olds) predominately listen to only one genre and refuse to venture outside of it. That one genre is Hip-Hop/R&B (Modern R&B and Hip Hop are pretty much twins).
After making this realization I looked at my own iTunes and not to my surprise 95% of my iTunes was Hip-Hop/R&B. The other 5% was a mix of rock (Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Maroon 5, Creed, Bon Jovi, etc), reggae, pop and gospel. So I asked one of my co-workers that same day what genres were on her iPod? Her mind began fondling thoughts as she answered saying everything from Screaming, to rap, to boy bands to country to modern autotune pop music. She then started naming bands and artist I’ve never even heard of. I almost embarrassed to say to her the only artist I recognized from her list was Lil Wayne and 2pac.
The imprint of African Americans on America music is hugh! But throughout musical history black’s creativity and founding in genres has been overshadowed, stolen or erased by whites. Blacks have certain connection to hip-hop unlike the numerous genres they have previously started and as a result they will not let go hip-hop. Also, hip-hop is based around the concepts around struggling. Every black in America struggles everyday and as result they relate to hip-hop music more than any other genre. Even though hip-hop is consumed by whites, its made for blacks. In other words black people listen to hip-hop because its their music and they relate to it. So the iPods of African Americans will continue to be dominated by hip-hop until stops making music for them.
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It's sad to say that a lot of white people only listen to rock and they refuse to step outside of that bubble into the realm of hip hop, or at least a lot of my friends who are into a lot of rock music. I have a couple Tupac songs on my iPod as well as some Jay-Z and Snoop Dogg, but that's about it. And it pains me to admit that. I'm trying to make an effort to branch out into other genres, but it becomes comfortable to stay where you are.
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