The Story About American Music

The development of American music coincided with the struggle of the racial minorities represented by the best black artists of all time such as Louis Armstrong, Ray Charles, and Prince Nelson among others. American music has a significant correlation to the Native American culture characterized by the unique folk music styles from the diverse ethnic groups. The diversity notable with American music also borrows the African culture brought by the imported slaves who brought African music along. Among the major players in the development of American music is Prince Nelson who was a talented black musician, and songwriter who immensely contributed to the course of American music. He was born in 1958 by an African American couple at the time heightened by racial discrimination but little did people know he would be a significant artist in America's music. Due to the mixture of different cultures and ethnic groups, it was not easy from individuals from minority ethnic backgrounds to make significant steps in their musical careers because intolerance from the diverse audience in the United States grew significantly. Modern American native music is best recognized for pan-tribal gatherings, powwow gathering where traditionally stylistic music and dances are still being executed. The evolution of American music resulted in the development of various other genres in the 20th century beginning with Jazz music in the 1980s. Prince Nelson is among a few African Americans who pushed for this revolution. Prince's release of Album in the early 1980s revolutionized the American music industry because of the inclusion of encapsulating components of music from all genres, Jazz, Blues, and Rock. Prince was a multi-talented artist with an iconic look and bold performance on stage. The rise of Prince coincided with the emergence of disco music, punk rock, progressive rock, funk and soul music in the 1970s. Furthermore, Prince was in his youthful age when hip-hop, pop and rap music and hair metal and were the new waves. Prince's story and the rise to fame through his music that gained popularity in the multicultural America and across the globe.

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In every genre of American music, there are iconic artists who assisted in transcending and shaping the acceptance and popularity of specific music. Prince falls into this category of artists and songwriters because of his ground-breaking 40 years career in that was faced with numerous challenges such as racial discrimination and the presence of numerous music genres that made navigation into the limelight difficult. During the early 1980s, the key determinants of success were acceptance in the multicultural world which also demanded artists to shape their image, craft the meaning and sound of their songs, and become original for universal acceptance. Satisfying all these criteria was difficult for artists such as Prince who did not major in one specific genre. The 1980s marked the entry of more African Americans into the jazz music scene which was initially believed to be the music of the whites. Jazz music originated in New Orleans from a combination of South American rhythms and songs, American blues and European classical music. There has been a dispute on the origin of jazz word; others believe it is a sexual term because it uses sexual overtones. The music was born in America and developed through the experience of African-Americans in the United States. It evolved from spiritual songs and slavery songs with African Americans being the primary innovators. It is believed that jazz acquired blues quality, feel and rhythm from African music, while through European music jazz received harmony, music improvisation and instruments like trumpet, saxophone, and piano. The entry of Prince into the genre dominated by the white marked added to the reflection of individualism and cultural diversity in the country.

During these times, classical artists hold the popular belief that Jazz and other genres such as Chopin and Puccini would not be assessed on a similar level of influence and impact on society. Jazz received considerable respect from the white classical artists and literary figures. Crazy improvisation and wild beat attracted individuals from the higher-ranked echelons in the then American society. However, the entry of African American stars such as Prince Nelson led to the proliferation of new jazz outlook with both negative and positive significances in the society. Critics coined the term "bottom culture" to refer to new jazz and folk culture that the minority groups were introducing. The question that would emerge is, how would the talented African American artists survive from this racial divide in American music? Despite jazz music bearing the African origin identity, many denied this fact but chose to place a new label to the new jazz music as Dixieland Jazz music. Pioneers such as Ku Klux Klan seemed to be forgotten at this point and the revolution by the white supremacists was evident. Combining talent and persistence, Prince beat the odds in the 1980s and enters the list of rare successful African Americans with another unique contribution to the music industry being a societal revolution in which African Americans received various accolades of bringing into being the lost glory and attributes of Jazz music as an African-based genre. Upon Prince first entry into music, his first commitment was to promote his artistic products with the reflection of the then binary outlook of America's multicultural face. At one point, Prince said that his ex-buddies pressured him to exclude white members from his team, but he said that one of his dreams was to have a band with both and white members.

Prince rose to fame and soon it was clear that the once minority music culture slowly became the desire of many people. At this point, Prince had managed to triumph the main stumbling block, his blackness. The remaining imminent issues were fierce competition from other genres of music. Hip Hop and R&B were the main threat but little was known that Prince was multitalented and would later be regarded a key contributor to the present-day Rock, R&B, and Hip Hop because of his boundless and peerless capability to mix and program drum machines. New sounds would emerge from the guitar sounds. As a proof of the contribution of Prince to the Hip-Hop genre is evident from his vibrant, soulful and funky compositions that even now serve as a vital soundscape for rappers and Hip Hop artists alike. Prince would assimilate her long-term jazz experience into the Hip Hop culture made up of four key elements namely rapping, breaking, Djing or scratching using turntables and graffiti writing. Other elements consist of sampling beats and rhythmic beatboxing. He was talented in rapping and beatboxing. Prince music "The Purple One" seems to have been a pacemaker for subsequent hits such as Nicki Minaj's "Blow Your Mind" song and "Poppa Large" hit by Ultramagnetic MCs. Prince collaborated with numerous musician including Norah Jones and Alicia Keys.

Conclusion

Evidently, the US' music industry reflects ethnic diversity in the country since most genres were developed through a mixture of various cultures. The hip-hop, country, jazz, blues, rock and rhythm music were based on cultural and social identity, race, language, religion, sexuality, and gender. Immigration of the Europeans and African slaves led to music growth in America. At present, significant tolerance is evident from the widespread acceptance of Hip Hop which has long been linked with drug and substance abuse, violence and sexuality. Just like jazz, it originated during slavery hence providing a strong sense of culture and identity among the people the music lyrics motivate and brings the importance of value in the society. Although hip-hop music is valued by many, some individuals view the music as thug music, gangster, and hard-core in context. Prince contribution to America's music is unrivaled. It is rare to find an artist of his time and subsequent generation navigate through different music genres and emerge successful and iconic. Even today, it is possible to for a millennial artist to rise and fade without creating impacts like Prince Nelson. No talents can merge human history just the case Prince's musical skills go along with the African American history. His success in Jazz and subsequent contribution to rap, Hip Hop, and R&B epitomizes the African American's struggles, lows, and highs in their journey to make themselves heard. Prince's history tells a lot the world as he spoke to a lot of people through his music whenever rose to perform on stage, he expresses complexities in people's life.