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@ProfDYesterday i attended what turned out to be a huge gathering of a diverse cross selection of people. My local high school held an all alumni reunion picnic, attracting graduates from all classes. Although this school had been racially-integrated since the 1920s by the time the 1990s rolled around it was about 95 percent black, and there was less than 1 percent of whites who showed up for this crowded event. As an aside, i might add that as one of the few surviving members of the Class of 1951, it was determined that of about the 3,000 or so people assembled, I was introduced as the oldest alumni present, and I became an object of curiosity, especially to the Millennials.. But that's a whole other post. What was outstanding to me was the atmosphere of this immense gathering of black people. It was loud, jubilant, and animated. (Greg would've recoiled and collapsed into a glob of mayonnaise had he been there.) Naturally, there was music added to the mix via a rotation of DJs playing upbeat music. For some reason, what i became most synchronized with was the throb of house music, which as you know originated in Chicagoland. and is a genre almost cult like in its limited popularity and for some reason it became the only background music being played as the day wore on. I say all of this to point out there were no lyrics to the selections being played, just an incessant throb of drums and instrumental syncopation. I was almost mesmerized by this sound while the crowd just seemed naturally attuned with the incessant beat. When my 2 daughters and i were finally ready to go, walking toward our car i could still hear those drums in the distance. I say this to say that sometimes no words are necessary to verbalize the environment. Just a captivating beat. Music is also what sustains me.

@Troy, we start out listening to our parents music. For most, the soundtrack of our lives is the music created by our peers. As we get older, our taste in music becomes refined and we gravitate towards music that appeals to us regardless of the genre/style and whether it is old or new. That's how we eventually end up listening to a variety of music across time periods and genres. There are folks who were diehard Hip-Hop heads back in the 1990s. As middle-aged adults, they're listening to Smooth Jazz and R&B and they can't stand the Trap music and Mumble Rap their children and grandkids are bumping. 🤣😎

I not sure, you are a musician and may know more. The discoverability of the variety of music out there today (as with books) has become more challenging today despite the web and technology. So I don’t know what am missing. That said i mostly listen to music before my time. Sly Stone heyday was really my parents generation. A lot of the jazz i listen to was recorded before i was born. i don’t listen to the really popular music (on the charts) unless I’m in public. Much of the popular local music never makes the charts (like Black books). There is a gene of music i call it ”hole in the wall music.” A local, Tampa, musician who recently passed was Bishop Bullwinkle was fun. @Cynique house music was extremely popular in NYC when i was a young adult.

@Cynique I was fortunate to see Rap in Haffen park in the Bronx. Cool Herc the was the architect of Hip Hop his dad had a the record store two blocks from my home. I also saw house in the last days of the Paradise Garage. The DJ was Larry Levan and he took Frankie Knuckles under his wings. Which is where Frankie learnt how to DJ. He was initially doing the lights. Frankie is from New York. Larry Levan turned down the gig in Chicago and suggested Frankie Knuckles. I grew up on rap and later became a house head. Later on I heard some Jazz Legends play live. As luck would have I also met the leader of a band called The Family Stand. Went to a couple of their shows. One of which the female lead Jackie McGhee brought me on stage and sang a song to me.

@Cynique, it's awesome that you were able to attend your school's reunion and be recognized too. The drum is the genesis of music. Strip away every other instrument including vocals and as long as the beat goes on, we're good. Soul brother #1 James Brown understood, embodied and emphasized the beat to perfection. James Brown laid the blueprint and heavily influenced black music from the 1960s and beyond. That's why his beats were heavily sampled too. Chicago's House and DC's Go-Go music grew are great examples of a beat keeping folks entertained for hours. The Whispers knew it to when they sang....and the beat goes on....😎

As you all have probably gathered by now...music is a huge part of my life. 😁 I know enough about black music to write a book but I'm just a musician.🤭 Black music has always documented our plight...peace, joy, happiness, love, sorrow, sadness, despair, etc. Music reflects the environment and conditions in which it was created. Listen to black music from any period of time and you'll get an idea of how they were living and saw the world around them. Once music became a profitable form of entertainment, capitalists scoop it up and eventually dictate the narrative according to what they believe will sell. Every generation believes music is *worse* than the soundtrack of their lives. But, the reality is there's always been *good* and *bad* music. I remember when older folks thought 1990s Hip-Hop was a bunch of noise being made by n8gglets who couldn't sing or play real instruments.🤣 Today's music isn't any better or worse than the music of yesterday. It's just reflective of the environment in which it's being created. No shortage of talent either. For example, Kendrick Lamar is a throwback to early Hip-Hop lyricists. The older we get, the further removed we are from the folks creating music. The folks whose music we listened to have gotten older too. They have branched off into other aspects of entertainment. It's harder for Ice Cube to make gangsta records now that he's a multimillionaire. His environment and circumstances have changed as well.😎

Trouble T-Roy Man, thank you for that wonderful jam!!! I was wondering what Cube got some of his samples from. You're a little older than I am so when you hear those 90s Hiphop songs and their samples you can pinpoint the ORIGINAL songs they were sampled from more accurately. Sly's song was more uplifting and inspiring. Certainly more uplifting than feeling things were so bad that he wished his father would have shot his sperm on the mattress instead of in his mother....lol. You didn't see the amount of destitution and depression and hopelessness among the artists of the 60s and 70s that you started seeing among the artists of the 90s and certainly not like today. But this illustrates another issue that I've been seeing over the decades. The DECLINE of creativity among so many of our people as compared to yesteryear. Right up until the 80s we made our own music from scratch.....no sampling prior music.

While the transgenerational epigenetic impact of slavery is apparently a thing, I seriously doubt we will ever be compensated for the evil of slavery. They won't even give us universal heath care, cover our education, or stop locking us up for BS... I have a glass of wine (or two) most evenings 😉

This is taken out of context and is not the point of what I shared. The implication of what you have attributed to me is that all news is fake, what I communicated in my post was that we are being targeted by fake news. You called into question AP. I responded that you need to research what AP does and clarified that the source of much this fake news is sources from social media. To be clear statements like the "news" is fake, a Trump talking point, is unnuanced and one that I reject. I guess you never heard about Yellow Journalism? Again, no. Black people have been fighting against white racism in the media for two centuries. Black-owned and operated newspapers led the way. Today, Google marginalizes their websites and we don't subscribe to them. As a result, their efforts and impact are thwarted. Instead we get "news" from Twitter. @Pioneer1 in much the same way you support this site financially, and by your posts, we have to do the same for newspapers. We all need to pick a Black owned newspaper and subscribe to it -- I don't even care if you don't read it. Our support of what they do for our communities is important. To @ProfD's points it does not have to be that way. We as a people simply don't provide the same level of support for Black media, that we do for white media. All the way from investment to the consumer we just don't get the same level of support. Black people have to run around begging for support from Black people, talking about about FUBU, Support Black Owned Businesses, yada yada. White people have angel investors, the capital markets, inherited wealth, and the support of Black and white people and their disposal... You don't know much about the world Greg. How would you like to be living in any of the major cities across Ukraine right now? Is there a Black population there, we don't know about, doing all the killing and raping?

Hey Troy he's a Troll and your an Aries. It's like Billy goat gruff.