Norshore Music Collection

Historical Note

The Norshore music collection is a collection of music recorded and largely produced by African American (a.k.a. Colored/Negro/Black) musicians. Originally classified as “race music” in the early 20th century, jazz and blues were the dominant forms of popular music produced, recorded or written by African Americans. The musical sound changed over the years. Contemporary forms of music created by African Americans now consist of a synthesis between European musical styles and natural harmonic styles originating from Western and Sub-Saharan Africa. The history of slavery also affected the musical styles of African American music over the years, which often includes call and response, improvisation, and blue notes. African American musicians achieved little commercial success overall, until the introduction of hip-hop/rap music in the late 1970s. The genre featured African Americans using playful wordplay in a ridiculing manner typically known as “the dozens” and applying their poetic lyrics against a sampled beat of music. Hip-hop/rap music enjoyed unprecedented commercial success and still enjoys crossover appeal to this day. The Hip-Hop/Rap genre is also labeled “Urban music.”