Marsalis: Racism and greed put blues at the back of the bus

[firedupdem]

New York (CNN) -- Jazz master Wynton Marsalis says the blues is the true American music -- the heartbeat and unifying principle of jazz, country, R&B, gospel and other styles -- but it's been relegated to the back of the bus by greed and the legacy of racism.

Marsalis grew up in New Orleans, Louisiana, son of Dolores and Ellis Marsalis. He was a trumpet prodigy, surrounded by top-notch musicians and steeped in the city's eclectic music. He was encouraged to excel by his father, a jazz pianist who instilled in his son a love of musical excellence and integrity.

snip

CNN: What led to the compartmentalization of these kinds of music, that came from the same roots?

MARSALIS: Money and racism. I don't know which one came first.

CNN: Why was blues not regarded as something of value in this country?

MARSALIS: It came from who we didn't like. That's what it was -- it wasn't that we couldn't see it. Who it came from, we did not like them.

CNN: So do you include African-Americans in that? So black people didn't appreciate it?

MARSALIS: They didn't appreciate it. They don't now. That's part of the whole kind of self-hatred that comes from that type of slavery that the black American still labors under. That racism was heavy.

The legacy of it -- it wasn't just 50 years. It was seven generations, and if a generation is 33 years, ... seven or eight . That's a long time. And to recover from it has proven to be very difficult.

CNN: So is that what's going on with rap?

MARSALIS: No question. Rap is the repetition of the minstrel show.

But it's not going to go away, it was too many people. If it had been 100,000 people, it can go away. ... But it can't be millions of people and their descendants. was a very powerful and successful system. And it went on for a long time.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/OPINION/10/24/wynton.marsalis.blues.race/index.html

[Fire1]

1. So true. Rap is but another diversion and the dumbing down

of a culture. That is, your run in the mill rap. Those with a "message," I can appreciate. Tupac, for example. The rest is mostly garbage.

[Brewman_Jax]

2. Rap music that gets the air time

is controlled by the market. 70% of rap purchases are by young white people in the 18-30 age range and most of what's aired is the thug stuff. Most likely bought by bored and/or curious white kids bored in their bland suburban existance wanting to see what life on "the gangster side" is like. Most of them would freak out if in a room with more than 5 black people present.

Rap has its subsets, from political commentary to thug life, but it's only about what brings in the money.

[Fire1]

3. 70% of legitimate purchases, yes. Most of the youth in our

culture burn their cd's and I can certainly understand why and they too, try to emulate the gangsta lifestyle.