by NMAAM | May 22, 2020 | Blog
Some American high school and college seniors sonically associate graduation season with Vitamin C’s 1999 hit song “Graduation (Friends Forever),” but for many Black graduates, Kanye West’s GRAMMY Award-winning 2007 LP Graduation holds greater salience. Graduation...
by NMAAM | May 12, 2020 | Blog
Little Richard, who died May 9, 2020 at the age of 87, was a musical genius and a phenomenal stage performer. Born Richard Wayne Penniman in Macon, GA in 1932, Little Richard’s break came in 1947 when Sister Rosetta Tharpe, the Godmother of Rock ‘n’...
by NMAAM | May 8, 2020 | Blog
“Stompin at the Savoy” was a popular instrumental tune that charted throughout the 1930s, a significant time in jazz music history. Benny “King of Swing” Goodman released its most popular rendition, though a talented African American saxophonist Edgar Sampson wrote...
by NMAAM | Apr 10, 2020 | Blog
Before the popularity of Black-owned music labels, a few high-spirited individuals were the first to embark on owning their own. In the most turbulent of times and in the most unlikely of places, these Black record producers changed the course of music history. Berry...
by NMAAM | Mar 26, 2020 | Blog
When we think about the iconic voices of popular music, Black women singers certainly come to mind. From Gertrude “Ma” Rainey to Ella Fitzgerald to Aretha Franklin; Chaka Khan, Whitney Houston, and H.E.R.; Nina Simone, Missy Elliot (the first woman in hip-hop inducted...
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