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The African-American Music Appreciation month is in June, but that doesn’t mean we can’t celebrate Black music locally grown from cities around the nation all year. This thread is a little different than what most people are probably thinking. This isn’t a thread to discuss which cities have the best music which is subjective. This isn’t a thread to discuss what kind of music you like personally. This is a thread to discuss how local cities and their communities party. Whether it’s hip hop, club music, house music, bass, gogo, bounce, afro beats, soca, or reggae etc. etc. There are so many ways Black people party locally in their cities all over the nation. This thread is a battle to decide which genre has the livest parties judged based off energy and dancing and the biggest impact and connection to the city locally.
Criteria
-Amount of energy at the party (Provide Youtube Video Examples)
-How much crowd participation is involved in the scene? Are most people dancing or standing around?
-Can you attend a party for the genre every weekend in the city?
-How connected is the genre to the city? What is the connection locally and politically?
-How old is the genre?
-How is the genre ingrained in the local community? What type of impact has it had in the local community and culture?
So would you say Boston Fusion is the local music genre? If it’s only 8-10 years old, I assume it’s not popular among all age groups right? What age group is the oldest that enjoys Boston Fusion? Are there people in their 50-70’s that like it? What are its origins?
So would you say Boston Fusion is the local music genre? If it’s only 8-10 years old, I assume it’s not popular among all age groups right? What age group is the oldest that enjoys Boston Fusion? Are there people in their 50-70’s that like it? What are its origins?
Boston Fusion is hard to describe but it's a mix of electronic, afro. Caribbean and hip hop music. Usually played in mixes on the radio and hard to find online. They're played in clubs on hip hop/afrobeat/latin nights. Usually pretty uptempo and incorporating a lot of rhythmic hip-hop artists like Chris Brown, Omarion Kid Ink, Doja cat, Tory LAnez, Nicki Minaj, Drake, Fetty Wap, A boogie, PnB Rock etc etc. Mixed in with Aidonia, Burna Boy, Jorja smith, Justin Beiber, Rochy RD, Gyptian, Bad Bunny Jada Kingdom. ITs best heard on JAMN 945's Saturday Night Throwdown LATE at night, and then their "Tropical Blenz" show. Lotta Fat Man Scoop vocal transitions....less King Von, Llil Durk, Moneybagg, City Girls, Pooh Sheisty but it's sprinkled in here and there. not as much as DaBaby though..
even better. goes between reggaeton, dancehall, hip hop, and pop pretty fluidly
This dates back to Kiss 108 being the pop/hip hop station back in the 1980s (Wendy Williams started her career there, in Boston). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WXKS-FM
"Sunny Joe White, a young programmer (who had previously programmed WILD in Boston) came aboard at "Kiss 108" upon its shift to disco and had much to do with the station's early success.
At the end of 1979, WXKS' AM station dropped disco to adopt an adult standards format, while WXKS-FM slowly evolved into urban contemporary when disco's popularity crashed. By the end of 1981 and into early 1982, the station became a CHR with a heavy Rhythmic/R&B/Dance direction under the guidance of White, and in turn, became one of the most influential top 40 stations in the nation, in part due to their reputation for breaking songs that did not fit the traditional top 40/CHR model, and given that Boston lacked an urban contemporary FM outlet during this period (since WILD was an AM daytimer), it wasn't afraid to play songs from that genre. The genre would later become the format now known as rhythmic contemporary, which is now the current format of sister station WJMN. By 1988, WXKS-FM began to shift out of the rhythmic direction and evolved into its current successful mainstream top 40/CHR format. "
So Boston was sort of a pioneer in the "Rhymthic Hip Hop" we know now. THe JAMN 94.5 station eventually became a style of radio format and brand for IHeart radio and has been deployed in Denver and Portland. Artists like Marky Mark and New Kids on The Block and even Donna Summer and BBD are emblematic of that. Even BIA is of the ilk.
WILD the black-owned station in Boston from ~1970-2011 even had a Caribbean programming segment as early as 1984.
When JAM'N 945 hit the scene in 1993 it debuted as a heavily dance-oriented station with overt hip hop messaging and advertising but somewhat lite-on hip hop music. JAMN 945 became the dominant hip hop station in the city and its JAMN mixers were highly regarded (DJ Spinderella from Salt N Pepa, Clinton Sparks, the Baka Boyz, Statik Selektah all used to DJ there).
Boston relied on multicultural sounds to make hip hop popular in the city and the upbeat mix of Caribbean electronic and hip hop is a sound identifiable as "fusion" but isn't much written about, just understood and you know it when you hear it.
Wave music or Wavey Music/MassWave is a type of rap that sounds well "wavey" its slick talk, laid back, wisecrack punchlines with nonchalant street tales. Its slower and more for the younger generation who sees mainstream music success as attainable from Boston so they try to put out a product that's suitable to that. The attitude is lowkey cool and slow/chill/cocky... Examples below
Older Boston party music includes a lot of things like Tom Tom Club, Prince, Rob Base, Teena Marie, New Edition/BBD, Heavy D was extremely popular, another upbeat sort of crossover artists who weren't full-blown mainstream. IN fact in the New Edition pic, one of the intro scenes is them dancing to Genius of Love...that and Hangin on a String by the Loose Ends older African Americans in Boston seem to have nnostalgic feelings about and they get played often. Not sure how popular 'Hard' rap ever was in the Boston nightlife scene or even folks like Chill Rob G or EPMD. I cant say.
(1991 mix of JAMN 94.5 predecessor-includes Loose Ends around 19:00)
certain Latin songs like Tra or Mi Contacto might get played in a primarily black function twice a night. Or a Latin language version of no Scrubs with a dembow beat. Followed by DMX/migos.
Guru Ed OG and other scruffier Boston artists love the Jazzy sound- I'm not a huge fan.
That generation liked things like the Boston Kite Festival which has since been gentrified post ~2010 . I attended a few times with my dad.
Gogo music for DC has defined everything about the local culture of the city. It was recently made the official music of the city and the history of GoGo music will be taught in city schools. Also, the city will begin subsidizing bands and venues to preserve GoGo.
Its connection to DC has overshadowed every other art form and musical genre for the DC region. When DC is represented nationally, GoGo is the main theme used.
Last edited by MDAllstar; 07-21-2021 at 01:25 PM..
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