{"id":4249,"date":"2019-10-09T23:19:04","date_gmt":"2019-10-10T04:19:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/?p=4249"},"modified":"2019-12-15T19:43:58","modified_gmt":"2019-12-16T01:43:58","slug":"what-it-means-to-be-black-a-people-and-their-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/2019\/10\/09\/what-it-means-to-be-black-a-people-and-their-music\/","title":{"rendered":"What It Means to Be Black: A People and Their Music"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cBeyond the obvious fact that you are black, is your music black music?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNo.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cTo answer that, I\u2019m going to give you a brief musical background of myself.\u201d1<\/sup><\/a><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Excerpt of Isaac Hayes’ interview in The Los Angeles Free Press<\/i>1<\/sup><\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

So begins an excerpt from an interview of the \u201cblack superstar\u201d Isaac Hayes from a 1972 issue of the <\/span>Los Angeles Free Press<\/span><\/i>, in which Hayes discusses the blackness of not only his music, but himself. He recounts hearing a \u201chillbilly sort of country & western\u201d music in his early childhood before hearing any swing or other black music. In addition to this, he went through many other phases, including multiple classical music phases, and only after that started learning jazz, while also singing gospel in church. He concludes:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSo I wouldn\u2019t say I\u2019m black. Sure I\u2019m a member of the black race, and I can relate to black <\/span>experiences<\/span><\/i>. But musically, you have a fusion of cultures. You\u2019ve got Africa in it, you\u2019ve got Europe in it, you\u2019ve got Latin America, you\u2019ve got jazz, you\u2019ve got pop, you\u2019ve got country & western, you\u2019ve got it all.\u201d 1<\/sup><\/a><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n