Summary of Blues/Rap

Summary of Blues

1. From Africa to America: A Cruel Journey (1500-1800)

There are many different music styles in Africa, the music was really important in their life and there was complex rhythm pattern.
Because of transatlantic slave trade in the 1500s, enslaved Africans' freedom was taken by Americans.
The Blues' story begins with Africans who were brought to the U.S.

2. Slavery in America (1600s-1865)

Africans could not express their feelings.
Africans sang a song to convey and communicate their plans about escaping or their feeling.
Those oral tradition culture and music have maintained through more than two hundred years of slavery.

3. Freedom and the Post-Civil was Period (1865-1900)

The U.S. declared freedom for Africans but they were not really free.
After slavery was abolished, African-Americans became able to use more instruments such as pianos and drums.
There was no fixed form of the Blues.

4. The Blues Take Form: Country Blues+Classic Blues (1900-1930)

By exiting the status of slaves, they were able to gain more experience and create more music.
The earliest Blues was country Blues. That was a vocal music and based on voice. Musicians were mostly men.
Classic Blues was also developing and gaining popularity. It was sung by women and they used more instruments than country Blues.

5. Spreading the Blues: The Great Migration (1910-1960)

With the formation of Blues, music in the early 1900s, hard times remained for African-Americans in the Southern part of the country.
In addition to wage hikes, the North has kept promises of improving living conditions, education and so on.
African-American began moving North, looking for better quality of life and more opportunities for themselves and their families.

6. In the City: Urban Blues and Rhythm and Blues (1940s-1960s)

Most of the musicians who arrived in the city on the Great Migration brought their country Blues and continued to play. It was in the late 1940s and 1950s that the music industry deleted the term "race records". Rhythm and Blues matured in the 1950s and became more and more popular with both African-Americans and Americans audience.

7. Inspired by the Blues: Soul, Funk and Rap (1960s-1970s)

The Civil Rights Movement had become powerful and African-Americans were demanding equality in all areas of their lives. During this time, music that appeared in African-Americans culture was called Soul Music.
The 1970s saw the rise of Punk Music. This music grew out of the soul but focused more on the beat. It was music for dancing.

8. Continuing the Blues Journey

Rap music became mainstream in the 1980s. As Hip-hop and rap expanded into American culture in the 1980s, R&B and spirits remained popular. Some modern artists have found a way to combine the more traditional Blues in their works.