To celebrate Black Music Month, FLO, Destin Conrad, GIVĒON, Mickey Guyton and more reflect on why Black music is so important.
DESTIN CONRAD, Shenseea, NEYO, Ice Spice and FLO
Angel Rivera; Joyce Charat; @JUNIORMARQUES; Coughs; Tom Emmerson
Black music is the foundation of so much of what we hear, feel, and move to in modern music. It’s more than a sound — it’s a force that has shaped culture, built community and told the stories that often go unheard. Whether within R&B, hip-hop, dancehall, gospel, country, or afrobeats, Black music has always been a channel for truth, joy, pain and resilience. It’s the soundtrack of the Black experience, but its impact has never been limited to just one community; Black music moves the entire world.
For Black Music Month, Billboard wanted to go deeper than the charts, the viral hits and the well-known milestones. We wanted to know what Black music really means, on a personal level. So Billboard asked a range of artists — from veterans like Ne-Yo and Machel Montano, to breakout stars like Kehlani, Ice Spice, GIVĒON and Shenseea, to rising voices like Destin Conrad, BRELAND, J.P., Mickey Guyton, Lila Iké and FLO — to reflect on three simple but powerful questions: What does Black music mean to you? Why is Black music so important? And, how has Black music shaped your life or career?
The answers we received were personal, passionate and deeply honest. Some artists spoke about growing up surrounded by the sounds of church choirs or reggae legends. Others reflected on how Black music gave them the freedom to express themselves without limits. Together, their voices remind us that Black music isn’t just a genre—it’s a legacy. It’s a lifeline. And it’s still writing its story every single day.
-
Ne-Yo
Image Credit: @JUNIORMARQUES What does Black music mean to you?
Black music is music with soul. Black music is music that invokes the spirit and pulls emotions out of you, whether you want it to or not. Black music is a superpower, and it has been a major, major part of my life— pretty much my entire life, from birth on up. Growing up in a house full of people who did everything to music, Black music has been the blood in my veins for pretty much the entirety of my life.Why is Black music so important?
I believe that Black music is important because it’s music that invokes the soul — it pulls at the spirit.
I believe we’re given emotions for a reason. They are tools to help us throughout life, and music helps us control these emotions. Music helps us get in touch with them. Black music helps us get in touch with them.
The importance of Black music is the importance of understanding who you are as a person—understanding what your emotions are for and how to properly manage them.
How has Black music shaped your life or career?
I grew up in a household with all kinds of music. I grew up in Las Vegas, Nevada, and my mother has been my musical hero my entire life. Every night, she would come home with a new genre of music for me and her to sit and listen to before I went to bed, before getting ready to go to school the next day.
It started off with soul music and then moved into other genres. I can honestly say that my love for music was initially formed and cultivated through Black music. From there, I learned to move beyond genre and pay more attention to melody and lyric — the things in music that genuinely matter, what the music is making you feel.
That all started with Black music. My understanding of myself and what music was going to mean to me as a man started with Black music.
-
Ice Spice
Image Credit: Coughs What does Black music mean to you?
Black music has guided me throughout my entire life — through happy times, through struggles, through the grind, and through success.
Why is Black music so important?
Black music is the ultimate form of expression for our culture, and has allowed us to impact people globally.
How has Black music shaped your life or career?
Black music has allowed me to travel the world, open businesses, be influential and contribute to the expansion of women in hip-hop.
-
GIVĒON
Image Credit: Ben Dorado What does Black music mean to you?
Black music means everything. It’s a part of my DNA — not just as an artist, but as a man.
Why is Black music so important?
I think it’s so important to me personally because it taught me acceptance. Some of these songs talk a lot about the Black experience, and it’s comforting to know there are other people with the same experiences.
How has Black music shaped your life or career?
Black music shaped my life. It taught me how to distinguish between something authentic and something more manufactured, just from the emotion in the vocals my mom would play around the house — the music she would listen to. I learned from an early age what a raw vocal sounds like.
It shaped me by allowing me to now take care of myself and my family because I get to be one of the people creating. It’s always been a gift.
-
Kehlani
Image Credit: Brianna-Alysse What does Black music mean to you? And why is it so important?
Black music is the origin of every style of music. You can trace every style of music back to Black people and Black art. I personally feel like if you were to remove Blackness from any art on Earth, it wouldn’t be what it is. That’s a bold take. I think that it’s what gives the heart, it’s what gives the soul, it’s what gives the feeling. You can turn on any beat, you can turn on any movie, you can put on these certain things that hits us the same way, a certain way in the same spot that’s of cultural significance.
It’s even why sometimes cross-cultural situations, when something isn’t relevant culturally to someone else, you’re like, “Damn, you wouldn’t understand because it doesn’t hit you the same.” It’s important that that lives forever, that something is able to come out 30 years from now, because it’s culturally relevant in our bones and in our bodies, that when it comes on and that beat hits the same way, or that sample is relevant from when we were children, or references that movie that we grew up watching hits that same spot, it’s gonna carry on forever. That’s just the legacy that is underneath it.
How has Black music shaped your life and career?
I’m honored that I’m able to even be considered in the conversations that I’m included in and be honored by all the Black people that came before me in these spaces. I was shaped by neo-soul. Neo-soul is probably one of the Blackest genres that there is, straight out of Philly by all really incredible and notable Black people who created an entirely new genre. That’s all I grew up listening to. It’s the reason why I sing the way I sing. It’s in my runs, it’s in my word choices, it’s in my beat choices, it’s in my style. And that’s all due to Black people, Black women singers.
-
Shenseea
Image Credit: Joyce Charat What does Black music mean to you?
For a woman who has been through a lot and doesn’t like to ask for help, Black music has helped me become vulnerable.
Why is Black music so important?
Black music is important because it articulates the voices of our people. It helps us grow, build character, tell stories we’ve all been through and shed light on the truth.
How has Black music shaped your life or career?
Black music, to me, has given me a chance to escape from my hardships. It has been liberating, inspirational, motivational, historical and cultural. I’m just proud to contribute to the art as a Black woman.
-
Mickey Guyton
Image Credit: Joseph Llanes What does Black music mean to you?
Black music means everything to me. Black music sets trends. It’s always ahead of its time. Everybody tries to emulate it and create their own versions of it. Black music is essential and so important to society, and it means so much to be a part of that.
Why is Black music so important?
Black music is important because it sets trends, it sets movements — it moves the world forward through its innovation. Black music is about self-preservation. Black music became what it is because of self-preservation, and that’s why it’s so important.
How has Black music shaped your life or career?
Black music has shaped my life. I started in the church — that was my first introduction to Black music. Church taught me how to sing, it taught me how to harmonize. From there, I discovered all these incredible Black artists, from Whitney Houston to Stevie Wonder and the entire Motown era. That inspired my life.
The church and learning how to harmonize eventually led me to country music — discovering artists like Charley Pride, Linda Martell, and so many essential people in country music who helped start the genre. Black people started country music, and being from the South, I’m so proud of that.
-
Machel Montano
Image Credit: Anil Mathi What does Black music mean to you?
To me, Black music means soul. A lot of times, music can be seen as mathematical, both in its musicality and even in its lyrics.
But to me, Black music has an element of spirituality and of spontaneity, a reflection of feelings from beyond the physical realm. It’s rhythmic and it invokes movement, which is an expression of the spirit.
Why is Black music so important?
Black music is important because of its rich history and the significant role it has played in not just music but also in the stories it has told. Many forms of music today have evolved from the roots of Black music, especially African music. In a lot of cultures, music has told the stories of human development and behavior, their rituals and practices, their struggles and triumphs.
Why is it important to me? In my culture, the art form of Calypso stems from the African tradition of the Grio — the voice of the people. An art of storytelling based on social commentary and humor. I started in Calypso and grew into its offshoot, Soca music. Soca, which was described as “the soul of Calypso,” was influenced by the instruments and rhythms of India, along with inspirations from American Soul music.
How has Black music shaped your life or career?
The establishment of my career involved taking this foundation and developing it by fusing Soca with reggae and dancehall, and also R&B, rap, hip-hop and house music. All pillars of Black music and its sound, its style and its stories.
-
FLO
Image Credit: Tom Emmerson What does Black music mean to you?
Black music means everything to us. It is full of expression and inspiration. It’s the soundtrack to love, struggle, joy, pain and so much more. Black music crosses boundaries and spans from rhythm and blues, jazz, dance, soul, reggae, funk. Black music is real music made by authentic and passionate people, and it’s boundless.
Why is Black music so important?
Black music has always profoundly changed and shaped all genres as well as global culture. Black music has always told the stories that may have otherwise been silenced. It’s so important because it brings people together and can create understanding and unity, but most importantly, joy!
How has Black music shaped your life or career?
Black music has shaped the way we’ve grown up. There has always been a song to help us get through any situation. We hope to do that for generations to come. Within Black music there are so many places to draw inspiration from. So many genres, use of instruments, melodies and lyrics that have inspired us to create. We are ever grateful for Black music.
-
Destin Conrad
Image Credit: Angel Rivera What does Black music mean to you?
Black music is the base of all music. Black music is where music begins.
Why is Black music so important?
Black music is the foundation of all music, and the music that moves me the most. And it exists in genres that most people don’t realize.
How has Black music shaped your life or career?
I am Black music. R&B is my first love, and the way I learned how to express myself.
-
J.P.
Image Credit: Eli Stamstad @Mixedby_eli What does Black music mean to you?
Black music is power — the ability to rise and move out of whatever situation you’re in. Black music is definitely power, and it encourages you to do things. It pushes you forward.
Why is Black music so important?
There are so many messages within Black music that need to be told and heard. If I were to pinpoint why Black music is so important, it would be because of the messages that need to be given to the people.
Growing up, I listened to a lot of music that carried real emotions. Hearing those songs that just made you feel good — that helped me become more comfortable with putting my feelings and emotions into a song, putting them on the beat.
It has a lot to do with how I listen to and interpret music. When I hear something that sounds good and makes you want to move, that’s so infectious. I try to take that and implement that same feeling into my music and into how I move through life.
I think, without Black music, I wouldn’t have that edge when it comes to making music.
-
Lila Iké
Image Credit: Christoph Davis What does Black music mean to you?
It’s important to me that I am able to create and/or listen to music that identifies with me as a Black woman — music that empowers me, music that educates me about my history and who I am, music that echoes the spirit of my ancestors, that grounds me, lifts me up, and makes me feel proud to be and to belong.
Why is Black music so important?
Black music is important because, in this day and age, it is easy to get lost in a façade — but sound is always true. No matter what is happening in the world or throughout history, Black music holds a certain power and ability to carry pure emotion and a feel that Black people—and other cultures as well—can uniquely identify and recognize for what it is. It has shaped cultures from then till now.
The way Black music has moved across borders, merged with so many different cultures, and created countless amazing genres speaks for itself. Despite everything that has happened to Black people in the world, the music has always been the truth — rich in spirit, vibrant, and full of powerful energy that uplifts anyone.
How has Black music shaped your life or career?
Black music has shaped my life and career to its core. All the knowledge I’ve attained growing up in a country like Jamaica — where I’m surrounded by Black music every day — has made me who I am. The rhythm, the beat, the language — from reggae to gospel to soul to dancehall — have all brewed within me a sound that helps me express my voice and my message comfortably and proudly.
I am so grateful for my roots and especially blessed to be a part of something so beautiful, something that has touched so many lives around the world. Black music is healing. It is a safe space for the world at large.
-
BRELAND
Image Credit: @THEXXGUY What does Black music mean to you?
Black music, to me, means authenticity, creativity, and realness.
Why is Black music so important?
Pretty much every American genre of music we have comes from Black people in some way. Country music is Black music. Rock music is Black music. Jazz, gospel, pop, contemporary — there are very few genres in America that haven’t been influenced by Black people or straight-up created by Black people, whether history reflects that or not.
How has Black music shaped your life or career?
My parents met in the Howard Gospel Choir, singing gospel music — a Black-created genre at a historically Black college in D.C. I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for Black music in more ways than one.For me, it means knowing my roots run really deep. Whatever sounds I choose to incorporate into my music, I know there are historically Black artists, songwriters, and producers who paved the way for me to have that creative freedom. I’m always trying to mix things up because I know that’s how all the great sounds I love were initially created — by really creative, thoughtful Black people.
