what exactly happened to black people in the last couple of decades to make their music output take such a nosedive? from awesome jazz and funk/soul to hip-hop shit. was it the 80s crack epidemic?
The shift to hip hop imo, which essentially ended the actual composition of music and instrument playing. In the 60's blacks dominated many areas of music. Motown was producing quality pop music like Ford produced cars, and many unsung black musicians composed and wrote the music. Ray Charles wrote, performed, and composed his music, and the background of James Brown's band was black. This continued into the 70's as funk evolved, but perhaps marked the end to the once prominent level of musicianship.
"Rap" was around before 1979, but it exploded that year with the Sugarhill Gang. Rapper's Delight is a great song, but it's interesting to note that the song is essentially a group of guys rapping over the bass of Chic's "Good Times." From there rap began to slowly creep up the airwaves featuring songs that featured no live instruments, and artists who often could not read music or play instruments. Black artists who took a completely opposite direction still existed and were popular, such as Prince, and also the 80's saw the dominance of Quincy Jones's production skills.
But by the 90s rap was essentially the dominant "black" music, and there wasn't much emphasis on writing music. Sampling is not devoid of musical talent or artist worth, but lacks the merit of instrument playing and musical composition. It's a shame that today rock music is considered as "white" music by blacks, when in reality blacks created it. Jimi Hendrix and Chuck Berry are remembered as a pioneering guitarists, but people like Michael Hampton and Eddie Hazel are forgotten.
I'd love to see more emphasis put on composing music, playing instruments, etc. It's not like it's harder for blacks to access instruments today than it was 50 years ago when Ray Charles was composing classic work.
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