00:00America's soundtrack belongs to black pioneer musicians.
00:03June is Black Music Month.
00:05It's a thing.
00:06And it needs to be.
00:07Allow me to over-explain it to you.
00:10Black Music Month was created by music industry icon and radio
00:13personality Diana Williams and Kenny Gamble, one half of the music
00:17production duo Gamble and Hub.
00:19They were also credited with creating the Philadelphia soul
00:22music genre of the 1970s.
00:25The goal was to preserve, protect, and promote black music
00:27in the same way that country music was regarded.
00:30They enlisted the help of the black godfather of music,
00:33Clarence Avon, and by 1979, former President Jimmy Carter
00:37brought Black Music Month to the White House lawn.
00:39Black Music Month is the celebration of music, period,
00:43because black music is the basis for American music.
00:47Jazz, blues, country, pop, rock, basically almost every genre of music
00:52has been influenced by black artists.
00:54And in many cases, influence leaned more into complete theft,
00:59as most black musical pioneers' artistry was stolen by white artists
01:03who profited greatly from it, even more so than the black musicians
01:07who created it.
01:08Black music has always been money-making music,
01:11and that's what caught the eyes and ears of those with power
01:14in the music industry.
01:15It's the reason why back in 1920, Paul Whiteman could call himself
01:21the king of jazz, even though Louis Armstrong's mentor and teacher,
01:26Joseph Oliver, aka King Oliver, should have been given that title.
01:29I mean, while I'm over-explaining it,
01:31Buddy Bolden is actually the founding father of jazz
01:34in the mid-1890s in New Orleans.
01:37Elvis Presley blatantly stole rock and roll from Chuck Berry.
01:41He even performed songs that were originally composed
01:45and performed by Berry.
01:46Like, who does that?
01:47And we can't forget about the heroine of rock and roll, Sister Rosetta Tharp.
01:51Sis sold out arenas in the 1950s.
01:54She put us on to Little Richer, and she even topped the charts.
01:57But by the 1960s, the same musical revolution she sparked forgot about her.
02:02This type of musical theft and erasure isn't just conveniently tucked away in our history.
02:07It's also our presence.
02:08Miley was good.
02:09As black music made its way into mainstream, black people were being hired and consulted for the
02:14growth and development of black artistry, or urban music.
02:18But it didn't take long for labels to dissolve the black music divisions they'd started
02:23and push out the black execs they hired.
02:25If this isn't a systematic dismantling of black culture's influence on music, I don't know what is.
02:31From songs of freedom sung out by slaves in the field, to Jay-Z breaking through as hip-hop's first
02:37billionaire, black music has come such a long way, but we still have a long way to go,
02:42in order to be fully regarded as the catalyst of America's musical impact.
02:47I mean, when you hear black people have influenced country music,
02:51racists everywhere cry out from their mother's basement.
02:54And some even threaten the person who says the statement, not realizing that it's the complete truth.
03:00And don't even get me started about black artists being excluded from country music.
03:04Siri, play Old Town Road.
03:06Black Music Month is bigger than a celebration.
03:09It's education, history, and the receipts of our cultural contributions to this country.
03:14So don't try us.
03:15Honestly, we need more than a month.
03:17But you know what?
03:18At this point, I'll take it.
03:20Happy Black Music Month.
03:21And until the next celebration of black culture,
03:23I'm Danielle Young, and this is The Over Explainer.
03:30Att� ma kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay Yep kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay kay
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