Rhythm, the drum, and call-and-response — carried across the Middle Passage and never lost.

Sorrow songs and field hollers — the first American music born of Black life.

The Delta taproot. Nearly every American popular form grows from its twelve bars and bent notes.

New Orleans improvisation — the closest thing America has to a classical music.

The Black church gave soul its fervor — and rock its first electric guitar.

West African clave meets jazz horns — mambo, salsa, and Latin jazz cross every border.

Built from blues and gospel — the godmother plugged in before anyone named it.

Gospel feeling on a secular stage — the music that scored the movement.

Rhythm became the melody, all on “the one” — and the dancefloor was born.

Two turntables and a microphone — a new global language, straight out of the Bronx.

Black Chicago and Detroit built the future of dance music — and the world still moves to it.