The global success of rapper Lil Nas X’s hip hop country song “Old Town Road” should not be a surprise to anyone. According to The True Origins of Country Music, a very powerful TED Talk by vocalist/ historian Queen Esther, not only is country music rooted in Black culture, but it also originated with blues music and West African music traditions.
When our African ancestors were violently uprooted from their homeland and enslaved by white colonizers, they saturated America with their slang and languages, their native plants, fruits and vegetables as well as traditional African dishes, their rural ways – and their music!
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