Are Black People Born With Rhythm? Let’s Investigate!

Hi! I’m Nostalgia. If you’re new to my blog, welcome! My blog generally focuses on Japanese rock music and guitar theory, but know that I am indeed a black woman. I was born and raised in multicultural Toronto, Canada, and actually spent my life in what many still consider ‘the hood’ (aka Jane and Finch).

Recently, there’s been a couple Tiktok/Reels that have gone around which led to the inspiration of this article, and I felt it’s time to really give this rhythm discussion a thorough looking through.

The first Tiktok was the Cuff It dance challenge where a bunch of white ladies were dancing…very out of sync, mind you. Their video has come up a few times, often being edited with a black group showing them how it’s done.

Then a few days before writing this article, I saw another video of a bunch of white college students recreating the ‘sausage rap’ as a ‘broken rap’. Many comments on the video said ‘the only thing broken is the beat/rhythm’.

But this doesn’t just stop at dancing. When I picked up guitar as an adult to bring my band dream to life and was digging more into rock bands, let’s just say….it was concerning.

Many rock musicians never took music through school, so they never learned to play with others or keep time. Thanks to tabs and chord charts, most guitar players think they can just pick up the instrument and get on stage. Thus, videos of the worst bands below. Off-key, off-pitch, off-time, and out of sync with each other…..but they think they’re killing it!

Now, it’s been a common stereotype that black people have rhythm and white people don’t, or that black people can naturally sing and dance but white people struggle with that. While I think anyone can do anything with practice, watching videos like the above really got me wondering if the stereotypes are generally true. And if so, why?

A Bit About My Background

Before I get into it, I figured I’ll share a bit about my personal background just so you can see why I feel somewhat confident and comfortable talking about this topic.

And I’ll start this off by saying, I didn’t even realize people actually struggled with rhythm until Tiktok! At least for Youtube or Instagram, people would only upload stuff when they were truly happy with their dance cover!

Growing up in Toronto, my schools were super multicultural, with a big Black and Asian population, and a decent Latino percentage as well. Whether it was music class, or different cultural groups performing at assemblies, it seemed like everyone could keep a beat! Below is a music video my high school made a couple years after I graduated for reference.

While my schools were super multicultural, whites were the visible minority. There were so few that I was good or close friends with pretty much all of them…close enough that my family called me ‘whitewashed’ growing up.

Thing is, they didn’t even wash or influence me, we just ended up having the same interests in music (Hilary Duff, Miley Cyrus, Theme Songs), shows (Family Channel, Slice, TLC, Discovery Channel), and clubs (announcements, violin/viola, cheerleading, leadership), so we naturally spent a lot of time together.

I did have close Black, Asian, and Latino friends over the years too, but I think we were all Anime Fans, Kpop Fans, and/or Nintendo gamers……so I guess you can summarize me and my friends as the proud nerds of the school? I didn’t even notice we were nerds cause at a low-income multicultural school, cliques and popularity tiers don’t exist like the movies.

Anyways, my white friends were the ones who asked me to join the drama club one year cause they desperately needed more people to put on a production. They knew I loved musicals since we’d all sing and dance to High School Musical and Camp Rock songs together. Of course I was down for it!

We ended up doing Little Shop of Horrors, and it was a lot of fun practicing during lunch and after school everyday! But, I will admit…some of them needed extra help with the simple choreography, and a couple were a little tone deaf ^^”

Even the older white teacher who did Audrey 2 (the plant’s) voice really struggled with timing his lyrics, and was off til the very end…which is kinda funny as he taught my music/computers class. The black guy who played Orin the dentist, and the Asian girl who played Audrey the female lead, were amazing though! 😛

And thinking about it, when I started my rookie band recently, we had a white drummer to start. Despite having 8+ months where we practiced the same 2 songs, he would still be off-beat and had extra trouble when fills (like drumrolls) came in. He would noticeably throw everyone else off every time.

Mind you, he had a private drum teacher, and he fought to have his tabs right in front of him all the time. Yet, even with the track playing loudly, he still struggled! He thought we sounded good enough and were ready for the stage though 😐 …And that’s only one of many reasons why I had to kick him out.

Now, as for me, I’m definitely not one of those black people who’d get up and freestyle anytime I hear a beat. I was never into hip hop music (didn’t like the messages) and you’ll never catch me at a club, but regardless, keeping a beat never seemed to be an issue for me. I’d always get 5 Stars and the “In Time” title in Just Dance, even if I never heard a song before….so where did I get my sense of rhythm from?

Is rhythm an innate thing? Is it really in our blood? Or does it more to do with our culture and surroundings? As I thought about it, I came up with 5 reasons of why black people may seem to be born with rhythm and a knack for music.

Disclaimer: This isn’t meant to be a serious, scientifically-based article. Please don’t get offended nor use it to say ‘blacks are better’ or whatever, cause I love and appreciate both sides. If anything, where I grew up, stereotypes were always kinda funny! We can laugh at them cause we got to see that they were mostly true, but also knew people who didn’t fit into it. Regardless, it’s always fun digging deeper and just thinking about where stereotypes come from and why they remain somewhat true 😛

1. Historical Music & Genre Preferences

The first thing that came to mind when I was considering this article is the type of music each race gravitates towards. African tribes have always loved their drums, and even when they became slaves, they would sing about their pain and that led to the Blues.

The Blues, while it may be slow and simple, you’ll notice that within the name of the ’12 bar blues’, there is structure: 12 bars of 4 beats each. And if you didn’t know, pretty much all popular genres of music originated from the Blues, notable ones being Jazz, R&B, and Rock n’ Roll. Even country music was invented by blacks, and black people created the fiddle and the banjo! Funk, soul, disco, techno, rock, all black origins!

With time, you’ll notice that pretty much every ‘black’ genre of music tends to be very beat heavy, as in the drums or beat are very prominent and noticeable. You don’t have to guess where the beat is cause you can hear and feel it, especially if it was played on speakers.

Now, let’s consider some whiter genres. It was hard to find some real authentic white music as things like rock and jazz were create by blacks but were taken over. However, there are a few true white genres, like Bluegrass, Opera, Metal, and we’ll consider country music, jazz, and contemporary music since they pretty much took it over for decades now.

What you’ll notice is that a lot of these genres may feature a variety of instruments, but sometimes drums isn’t present, or it’s very subtle. The beat isn’t very loud and consistent like it would be in many black genres. If it’s metal, it’s too fast to really get into the groove. If it’s jazz, it’s a bit more experimental and all over the place. These genres don’t allow much opportunity to just get used to a solid beat and internalize good rhythm.

In modern time, we do tend to associate popular dances and dance styles with music that contains and maintains a beat. Whether it’s break dancing, or salsa, or Kpop or whatever, you can count the steps and that is what helps people stay in time and be in sync with each other.

But ironically, the few truly white styles of dance are done to music which doesn’t really main a beat, like ballet and contemporary music. They have to really feel the words or the instruments, thus it’s either up for interpretation or requires a strict teacher who just knows when things should happen.

Little personal story. I now work in a field that is white dominated, and often contains people who are twice my age. When I attended my first work party, we were in a small cozy venue and our bosses got a rhythm guitarist to play and sing throughout the night. Most of the time, we were just sitting, eating, and talking.

Then near the end of the night, others got drunk (I don’t drink), and some white ladies were pulling me in to dance with them. I actually asked them “What are we dancing to? O-o” Like how do you dance to just guitar? I was confused! But they were really getting into it, singing and dancing to songs I either didn’t know, or only knew thanks to games like Band Hero.

I’m trying to move and fit in with them, but I was so lost. I’m not a club person but damn, there wasn’t much to feel or really move to. Ironically, I saw this video by Dave Chappelle long before that, but I’m only now realizing just how true it is.

Let’s also consider that country music has been a best seller in the USA for decades, and is often labelled the ultimate white genre. Personally, I don’t really think it’s something you dance to. Maybe that’s just me as a black person, but I have yet to see it being featured on shows like So You Think You Can Dance or Dancing With The Stars…and it’s definitely not trending on Tiktok.

I think country music is something you listen to in your truck on the way to work or while having a drink at a bar with your friends. Maybe you’ll play it on the radio while you hang on your porch, thinking about life and the girl that broke your heart. Besides line/square dancing (which we’ll talk about in #5), what other dance styles or moves can you associate with country music?

After publishing this article, I was watching this video where these guys ask people to make dinner for them in their own homes. I’ve seen other videos, and they are Canadian, but looks like they went to the south for this experiment. In a few scenes, they go to the local bar and you can see people dancing to country. Not much rhythm though.

I had to think a bit of a time where I recalled country music having a beat and people dancing intime, and what came to mind was Hannah Montana’s “Hoedown Throwdown”, which I learned back then. But then in the clip, she said she’s going to ‘add a little hip hop’.

Heck, when her father, popular and best selling country artist Billy Ray Cyrus came back recently, he also top charts again when he collabed with Hip Hop artist Lil Nas X for Old Town Road. A strong beat just makes people wanna dance.

2. Growing Up In The Church

While the blues came from slavery days, so did hymns, and hymns led to what we know as Gospel music. Gospel music is very, very lively. It includes a full band (drums, bass, guitar, piano/keyboard, sometimes organ and saxophone or trumpet as well), and a big lively choir with bold vocal talent and beautiful harmonies.

Now imagine not just hearing the above on a CD, but getting to be in the presence of that every weekend at church. You’re in an environment where you’re encouraged to sing, dance, and give praise to God as the music touches and uplifts you. You also get to feel the drums and bass, thus further internalizing the beat. Most black people are protestant (non-catholic, ie Baptist, Pentecostal, Methodist), and this is what’s common in their churches.

I’m Seventh-Day Adventist, so we follow the Sabbath which starts Friday sunset to Saturday sunset. We’re not allowed to work or do anything else (no work, chores, shopping, cooking, or worldly things) on the Sabbath, so people don’t mind a longer service. Our main morning service tends to be 3-4 hours long, and there’s a separate evening service that’s a few hours long to close the Sabbath as well. I find the evening service tends to have a Caribbean flare with Christian calypso songs!

During morning service, the music probably takes up about 1/3 of that as they would have song service (where everyone sings together with the band, about half an hour), then the choir may have their own performances with a band, an individual or two may also sing their own song with a CD backing track, then the choir will sing again with the band to end things off.

You can bet black church bands are really good! While they do practice with the choir and band director a day or two before service, they still need to be great at improvising as the director may be praising too hard and decide to loop the song a few more times or even change the key suddenly, or the pastor may request a song near the end of the service. The conjugation also gets used to keeping a beat and following along.

Now, among white people, church-going is a lot more divided, and for those who do go, they tend to be of Catholic faith. These churches tend to focus more on hymns, carols, and Gregorian chants. They may only use their voices, or may only incorporate a piano or organ for their regular service.

Their churches tend to focus more on the meditative aspect of music, as opposed to praising so hard you can’t help but move and clap. Even more popular Christian bands like Hillsong that use more instruments still tend to have a quieter and comforting feel to it.

Here’s a couple other funny videos for ya. One shows 3 white people attending a black church for the first time, and the second is famous comedian KevOnStage talking about why black church is so long, especially since he’s been attending white churches for a couple years at that point.

3. Black Families LOVE Music

You’re going to have a hard time finding a black person who doesn’t love music because they too were surrounded by all the time…and I’m sure you’ve seen those black mammas and aunties dancing in the church above. Don’t worry, the dads and uncles got the moves too!

Growing up, I recall listening to gospel on tapes, my father playing classic acts like Michael Jackson on his record player, my mom singing along to her Mariah Carey and Celine Dion CDs, and my brother blasting his hip hop and rap music from his room. I recall the community pools playing 90s R&B music on the radio, and heck, even my high school would play music requests 5 minutes before the first bell.

I’m pretty sure most black kids grew up in a similar fashion. Not only did they hear music in the church and at school, but they were probably woken up to their mom blasting music on a Saturday or Sunday morning to wake us up as she cooks and/or cleans the house.

If there was ever a family gathering or neighbourhood party, you can bet music is blaring from start to midnight. Elders love their music just as much, if not more than their kids, and it makes them happy to see kids and babies dancing.

We’re at that age where Millennials are having or already have kids, and let’s just say….millennials had access to a lot of music thanks to Limewire, Youtube, and music channels like BET and MTV. They were first on trend for a lot of popular dances or even created them, so now that their kids are interested, the mammas are getting in on the action too! No way are they letting their kids upstage them.

Now, I can’t say a whole lot about white families in this regard as I haven’t heard much information nor can really look this up, but from the many reality shows I’ve watched, white homes tend to be a lot quieter, or they would prefer a TV playing in the background. White mammas dancing while folding clothes and or singing while washing dishes just doesn’t seem to be a norm for them.

4. Creativity In School Programs

In general, black people tend to end up in low-income areas which may not have the best budgets for school, but even then, music programs seem to be pushed and encouraged, even if it’s just a way to keep them off the streets. That, or the students create their own clubs which tend to be in the singing or dancing department as they are free to start up and can be practiced anywhere.

I find that for cheerleading/dance squads, drumlines, and bands in black schools, students tend to have more control and say in what they do. Thus, they end up picking modern songs they like and are able to put their own modern, creative spin on it.

You can certainly pick up on their passion or energy just by watching them since you can tell they love what they’re doing. You’ll notice even in the clips below, the students don’t require a conductor to keep time for them. They’re all feeling the music and beat.

Months back, I was wondering why there is such an advertence to music theory among guitarists (who are…mostly white), and I had a thought that maybe they just never took music in school. After conducting a poll, it was clear that almost 50% of current guitarists never took music in school.

For those who did take music, it was usually choir, or their teachers would teach them how to play an instrument but not how to read or anything related to theory. Some of these individuals wanted to take music, but they had to pay for their own instruments or meet certain criteria to take the class.

This was a big surprise for me as my schools (while in ‘the hood’) always had music as a core subject between Kindergarten and Grade 8. We started with recorders, then moved up borrowed brass or wind instruments. My middle school even had a mandatory dance class in Grade 7 (we even had a Chess class that year. I only found out way later that’s not normal anywhere lol). In high school, even the teachers had their own band. The arts were always loved and encouraged!

My high school had choir, music council, drum line, jazz band and more. One teacher (RIP Ms. Chase. She was gone far too soon) offered viola/violin lessons after school one year, and that’s when I learned to play viola. While the interest in music class among students was low, there were still extra curriculars for those of us who wanted to take them. The only thing I recall needing to pay for was my clarinet reeds.

Thus, while music class and programs seem to be quite accessible among the lower class which disproportionally affect black people, there seems to be a greater barrier to entry into music programs for the middle or higher class which tends to have more white people.

If there is a music class or program, it tends to be choir or orchestra which aren’t very beat-focused, and thus require a conductor to keep them in time. And if there is a band or drum line, they work extremely hard on accuracy and synchronicity as opposed to groove and stage presence.

Not to mention, from what I’ve seen and heard, their music teachers tend to be sticklers for classical/old music and they want things played as written. Apparently, music teachers would even throw objects and chairs at students o___o This can kill a child’s music creativity, and potentially their love and interest for music as a whole.

5. Dancing & Self-Expression

One thing people will notice quickly about black music and dance is that, as long as you keep the beat, you’re free to express yourself however you want. Even if the song has choreography, every person is allowed to add their own flavour or style to that move, and interpret it as they like. There isn’t a ‘wrong’ way to dance, nor does it have to be perfect, just have fun!

Thanks to their love of being unique and experimental, many popular dance styles and moves were created by black people, even tap dancing! Most cool moves which require groove, flare, and attitude are usually made by black people, so it makes sense why even the Kpop industry is heavily inspired by black music and dances.

Not long ago, There was a time when black people were protesting against Tiktok because black creators would start a dance trend, but then a white person would copy it and get the credit (and the views) instead.

When it comes to traditional white dance, I find that: 1. They’re dancing to music that isn’t very beat heavy, or 2. It’s highly choreographed like you see in ballet, line dancing, and cheerleading.

White people seem to only dance in a group, party, or performance settings, and will just follow the lead. You can see that some of them even try to fake feel and groove by bouncing along, but the concept of freestyling and self-expression is not as apparent.

And what better way to end this article than a clip from White Chicks? The first portion of the video is all white women. They know some dance moves and while they clearly practiced it, they still need to think about what they’re doing and may come off as stiff and awkward. Then you got the black Wayan brothers, disguised as ‘white chicks’ who bring in the real street moves and are just having fun dancing!

In Conclusion…

It’s not that black people are ‘born with rhythm’ and whites don’t have that trait in their genes, I just think white people as a whole don’t have as many opportunities where they are exposed to beat-heavy music and are free to groove, dance, clap, and express themselves through music.

If their parents only dig country music, their church only has choirs, their schools only have orchestras, and the few dance opportunities they have are fully choreographed, when do they ever have the chance to just feel the beat and develop that internal metronome? They may actually have to study and train for it since they lost the chance to develop it naturally as kids.

This also explains why some white people who are from ‘the hood’ or black-dominant schools tend to have more rhythm or flow. A great example is Eminem who is definitely one of the best rappers in the world, so great that even the top black rappers can’t deny it.

Even the little white girl in the video below has obviously spent a lot of time in the black community. She’s dancing to afro house music and totally killing it. She doesn’t have to think about it, she is just feeling the music! Heck, she’s way better than me at dancing, that’s for sure! I’m not even going to try to lie.

Black people have a strong advantage in the rhythm department since our history is rooted in music. Black people have admired tunes and hymns while slaves for comfort, courage, and union. Creating a beat was the easiest thing to do since one can use their hands, feet, or a stick, and it allowed everyone to stay together.

As time went on, we created the blues. Every blues player will reference the 3 kings: B.B. King, Albert King, and Freddie King, as the fathers of Blues music, all of which were black. From the Blues, almost every other genre originated, especially beat heavy black music like hip hop, rap, R&B, gospel, and reggae. Regardless of what our parents were into, they’re bound to share their beat-focused music with their kids.

Facing a lot of discrimination and poverty, sometimes the arts were the only way for Black people to express themselves, or to just kill time. Rapping, dancing, singing, they’re all free to do! There’s even this belief that many black men aim to be famous rappers to make money and get out of the hood, as we’ve seen with Eminem. All this leads to exploring, creating, and improvising to express how they feel in original ways.

Thus, black music tends to have a lot of soul in it. It’s music people can not only relate to and praise to, but it has such a strong beat that you can’t help but dance to it. If not dancing, you’re probably bopping your head, clapping your hands, or tapping your foot to it. Black culture is heavily tied to music, so of course the black babies will be dancing to the beat too!