African Americans in Pop Culture Essay

African Americans have had an incredible lasting impression on popular culture. African American singers, artists, entrepreneurs, athletes and actors have all had their say and have really stood out within the past few years. Theyve also grown and not grown in several(predicate) ways all around from medicinal drug, to television, to movies. African American stereotypes still exist in all aspects of pop culture, slice many are trying to arouse away from what audiences assume is the typical black person.African Americans have been fighting for and against their own stereotypes when they started breaking out into music, then branching out into television, and making it braggart(a) in the film industry. Theyve gone from being the dumb, uneducated, and underprivileged minority of America, and have started to make themselves more known as gang bangers and thugs, which are often seen as heroes in popular culture. African Americans havent alone made a name for themselves or left a foot print in only their culture, but in American culture all around.African Americans have been making their mark in music all throughout history. Many started with the chicane and bebop rebellion during the 1940s and 50s in Detroit. They made their point by trying to be different. They didnt want to follow the typical white, swing music criteria, and thats exactly what happened. Bebop wasnt so mainstream, and thats what made it their own. They preferred small, unique combos to play instead of big named stars in the music industry. Detroit was take away light on the working class people of the town and precious to really make a sound for them.The 1940s created an afro-modernism, a response to the urbanization, industrialization, and modernization of African American Culture. Because of their movement ahead in music, they also made their movement in business. And so emerged an incredibly successful, black capitalist enterprise, Motown Records, founded by Barry Gordy. along with the m ovement in Detroit, the Harlem Renaissance had happened even before all the rage for jazz and bebop, which raised awareness to the visual arts, which led to even more developments in music.And even earlier at the beginning of the 20th century, blacks were starting to be accepted into acclaimed schools to study music and they were allowed to join the base of white people in symphony orchestras. During the 50s, doo-wop and soul music became popular. Thats when legends like Ray Charles emerged and paved the way for others. Soul music remained popular among blacks for long after the pop sounds started to reel through.By the end of the decade and moving into the 70s, blacks were starting to crossover into the typical white music trends. Psychadelic music had become popular. Jimi Hendrix, along his wah-wah pedal innovation, became one of the virtually popular guitarists during the era. Right after that, soul had become the popular music in the black community and was starting to revolut ionize African-American music. Soul had act success in popularity during the 70s, but the 70s also brought along a rise in black bands.White people were listening to country, disco, and all sorts of rock music, while the African-Americans had their funk, pop, soul, and jazz music that was on a totally different spectrum from their white counterparts. The 70s was also when Djs started mixing their own beats and playing their funk records the way they wanted to so they could get their audience to dance. And with the beats produced by Djs along with the poets who would read their poems to those beats, came the emergence of hip hop music. The era of hip hop music was a new revolution in African American popular culture.