Black History Month Soundtrack

Every February we observe Black History month. We honor the legacy of our music and where it stems from. We would not be where we are today, or have the music we have now if it wasn’t for those in the past. In the 1700’s, West African rhythms and chants were brought over to the United States. This eventually transformed into jazz and blues. In the late 1800’s, Scott Joplin, James Scott and Joseph Lamb will bring together West Indian rhythms with European progressions creating the music form we know as ragtime. During prohibition, jazz and blues music became extremely popular, commonly played in speakeasies. When George Gershwin composed Rhapsody In Blue, this allowed jazz to be brought out of the clubs and into concert halls for the first time. In the early 1930’s, Duke Ellington helped to bring about the swing movement with his creation of It Don’t Mean A Thing If It Ain’t Got That Swing. By the 1950’s, the term Rock ‘N Roll was being used to describe the rhythm and blues music that was played by Disc Jockey Alan Freed. In 1959, Berry Gordy Jr. founds the Motown label who signed artists such as Andre Williams and Marvin Gaye. While the 60’s were all about soul, by the 70’s, disco music was flourishing. By the late 70’s, DJs were now being looked at as artists and in 1979 The Sugar Hill Gang released Rapper’s Delight, one of the very first rap hits. This paved the way for NWA’s release of Straight Outta Compton to go gold in 1988, which was the arrival of gangsta rap into the mainstream. Fast forward thirty years and here were are today with a plethora of genres and styles of music being played all over the US.

In celebration of this month, we’ve created a Black History Month Soundtrack for you as a playlist on Spotify. You can play the playlist directly from this post below.

Please note that parental advisory is necessary for some of the songs featured on this playlist.