Celebrating Independence in Black Art at the Black History Museum

The Richmond Seen was at the Black History Museum & Cultural Center of Virginia this last Saturday for Rhythm and Resistance: Black Sonic Rebellion From Plantation to Playlist—a performance and panel discussion featuring Dr. A.D. Carson, Dr. Michael Sawyer, and curator Ellis Sawyer. The program, with music from Hip-Hop Henry, opened with powerful performances from several artists paying musical homage to the fluidity of Black music — from gospel to blues to hip-hop and beyond. The show also included a B-Boy dance performance by a Richmond-based crew and an original set by panelist and rapper Dr. A.D. Carson, who enthusiastically declared, “I’m not a professor who raps, I’m a rapper who happens to teach.”

The discussion opened with Dr. Sawyer inviting Hip Hop Henry to cue up James Brown’s “Superbad,” testing the cultural depths of the audience. From there, the panelists explored musical genres as tools of resistance, and how Black music consistently defies categorization, especially when those categories are used to commodify our cultural expressions. Dr. Carson shared a personal story about how his brother turned to rap in the wake of their cousin’s murder, illustrating how the transference of pain into art defines Black music and its enduring power to survive political and social constraint.

Dr. Sawyer expanded on this idea, stating, “In music, we pluck away the labels they put on us, and create something that’s ours.”

But Black art has never been allowed to break free without resistance. “Our music has always been both hyper-visible and invisible at once,” Dr. Carson emphasized. He discussed how Black music is often co-opted and sanitized for white audiences, pointing to the example of Ice Ice Baby, a number one hit performed by Vanilla Ice. Though the song’s origin centers around a drive-by shooting and murder, its darker meaning was obscured and made commercially viable through the lens of white privilege.

Become a member of the Black History Museum of Virginia and explore their latest exhibition: Hymns to Hip-Hop: The Unsung Harmony of the Black Music Experience. Visit their website for museum hours and upcoming events!