Music, a gift created from the heavens above, has been around as long as history itself. This art has endured with mankind through every major conflict there was. With society, it has evolved and changed. Through the good times and bad, it tells stories of happiness and dread. Why has music attached itself to the heart of mankind? Some people would go as far as to say music is the voice of mankind.

Music has been around since the beginning of mankind; it is found in every culture around the world. Each variation is different in its own way, due to location and cultural differences.  Depending on the environment, the availability of materials differed, which left each culture to improvise and create their own unique instruments and style of music. Over time these cultures evolved their musical crafts. And during some point in time, their music was shared with other cultures; this would continue throughout the world. This is why there are so many music genres and variations.  

It’s believed that music has been around for almost 55 thousand years. According to music historians, music originated in what we now call Africa. Africa and the other continents of the world were once connected. This titan of a landmass was called Pangea; Pangea is where the human race was supposedly born. This would explain how our species is spread out all over the world. The world is a vibrant and colorful place in the elemental category. A human living in a dense jungle would live different from someone living in an icy tundra. Because of the environment and human innovation, music and instruments are different all over the world due to available material and different ways of thinking.

Music has been around almost as long as religion; the Bible has its own explanation for how the gift of music entered our world. The first musician to play an instrument ever was Jubail; his instruments of choice were the hearth and flute. In the Bible, he was known as the father of these instruments. This story could be found in Genesis 4:21. Its funny to think how music has evolved from simple instruments to the complex poetry of notes we know today. In America, it’s seen how diverse and dense the music genre is. In our cultural melting pot, music has been modified creating new hybrid music genres.

Some people love it, while some people hate it with a burning passion. The genre in question is rap; this genre has its roots traced back to hip hop. The creator of hip hop wasn’t just one person; it was the creation of black youth in the 1970s. Some of the bigger names involved in the creation of the genre are DJ Kool Herc and Grandmaster Flash. Through their pioneering, hip hop started to form, but hip hop’s next evolution was yet to come. The 1980s was when hip hop’s controversial sub genre, gangsta rap, reared its head.

Gangsta rap was popularized by the rap group N.W.A.  This gangsta rap group consisted of Eazy E, Ice Cube, Dr Dre, Mc Ren, Dj Yella, The Doc, and the Arabian Prince. This group was controversial in the sense of using music to depict inner city life. The genre of inner city life regards gang violence, drugs, racism in and out of the police force, and oblivious politicians. They used their music to show the life of thousands of African American men and women. Music is the voice of mankind; this is just one example. There are cases like this all over the world. Each scenario different in its own way.

With that said, music is a voice, and from the outside it may look like notes, but it’s more than that. It’s amazing to think about the hundreds of civilizations that all discovered the gift of music. How did they do this when they were thousands of miles away from each other? Somehow they all discovered it.