Nashville’s futuristic National Museum of African American Music sets the tone for Black History Month and beyond.
“ Are you havingfun?”The attender at theNational Museum of African American Music(NMAAM ) swooped by , true care in his voice . I was confessedly concentrating — hard — at the “ allow ’s Make a Hit ” interactive booth . “ You be the manufacturer ! ” order the focus underneath . “ What ’s your way ? ”
I pick a funk - heavy metre , then superimposed female vocals . “ Your production style is Philly Soul ! ” it declare , spitting out my tune , which I could then relieve to the RFID bracelet given to me at the entryway , allowing me to take heed to my muddy creation over and over at home plate . “ Others in the genre include Benny Sigler and Gamble and Huff . ” Generous comparisons — these were the producers that laid the cornerstone for disco , after all — but informative .
12 Essential Ways to Experience Nashville’s National Museum of African American Music
What to see, listen to, and do when you visit.
Opened on Martin Luther King , Jr. Day in 2021 , the 56,000 - straightforward - foot NMAAM trades on one very important tenet : You ca n’t justreadabout music , it has to be feel . The producing booth is one of several . There ’s also a effectual booth where you’re able to knock along to artists like Kendrick Lamar and Nicki Minaj , and dispute a pal to a rap battle , and one to create a hip - hop beat .
In a elbow room with a green sieve , guest execute gospel with Nashville ’s own Dr. Bobby Jones and the Nashville Super Choir . And among artifacts like Whitney Houston ’s mink - trimmed crownwork , Trina ’s gem - studded boots , and BB King ’s Lucille guitar are digital “ Roots and Streams '' tables to map out melodic home tree . Choose an artist like Jay - Z and see his peer ( Nas ) , his influences ( Eric B. & Rakim ) , and who he ’s influenced ( Ye ) . slue your RFID watchstrap up to the table , add those to your playlists , and re - live the experience at home .
But it ’s not all high technical school . Pluck a single - string diddley bow to get a flavour for the legal document that greatly influenced the strait of the blues . There are expositions on people and milestones you may not be as conversant with , like Brenda Andrews , the first African American charwoman to become a better half in a major worldwide medicine publishing mathematical group , and a record from the first sinister record fellowship , the jazz- and blue air - centrical Black Swan , which pave the way for today ’s Black - owned labels .
Photo courtesy of the National Museum of African American Music
And there ’s a whole dance studio , perhaps the first for a museum , where you may abide by along with choreography for Sung dynasty by artists like Motown pioneers The Contours ( “ Do You Love Me ” ) and Montell Jordan ( “ This is How We Do It ” ) . So , yes , I was induce fun . Even if my own song kind of blow .
Contrary to ceremonious knowledge , Music City was not nicknamed for state medicine . As the narration goes , when theFisk Jubilee Singers — the legendary globetrotting HBCU singing group compose of descendants of the enslave — performed spirituals for Queen Victoria , she was enamored , declare that they must be from a “ metropolis of music . ” And that , they were . The choral group is still go potent , celebrating their 150th day of remembrance in 2021 and sporting afull schedule of coming show , including one at a Lakers game . The Fisk Jubilee Singers alone make Nashville a all appropriate home for a museum spotlighting the story , make , and cultural import of African American medicine .
But there ’s more : In the 1920s , Nashville locus host blue act like Bessie Smith and Ethel Waters . The urban center ’s Jefferson Street was in proximity to three HBCUs , and fostered a prosperous Black residential area , with clubs likeClub Baronbringing in acts like Little Richard , Tina Turner , Otis Redding , and Jimi Hendrix . Elsewhere , the Grand Ole Opry ’s level has been visited by James Brown ( at the invitation of area ace Porter Wagoner ) , as well as the Pointer Sisters .
Do you have what it takes to make a hit?|Jason Kempin/Getty Images Entertainment
While other city like Memphis and Detroit may seem more poised for a museum focusing on Black music , Nashville is one place where it all intersected . Which is why the commission of NMAAM — deposit right across the street from the Ryman Auditorium and blocks away from honky tonk row — is to “ educate the world , preserve the bequest , and keep the central persona African Americans play in produce the American soundtrack . ”
Five galleries link 50 genres and 1,500 artifacts throughout history , fromWade in the Water , which dates back to the 1600s , toCrossroads , documenting the emergence of blues , A Love Supreme , sharpen on the Harlem Renaissance and jazz , the post - WWII R&B and Civil Rights ofOne state Under a Groove , and the lively exhibits ofThe Message , comply hip - hops and rap to the present . The Rivers of Rhythm interactive table in the heart link them all via a timeline . at times an in - room performance will pop up — if you ’ve ever want to be step from a larger than life Prince performing " Purple Rain , " this is where it can happen .
Along withStax Museumin Memphis , NMAAM was add to theCivil Rights Trailin 2022 , bringing the number of stops in Tennessee up to 14 and cement their post in history . Plus , the time to come : On weekend , an emerge artist level in the lobby hosts up - and - arrive acts , with sound pipe out to the street . And who knows , with the late introduction of theBlack Opry — currently featuring arevue of BIPOC creative person on tour — you may just see a Country Music discussion section added soon .
Do you have what it takes to make a hit?|Jason Kempin/Getty Images Entertainment
Other Museums to Explore Black Music History
National Jazz Museum in HarlemHarlem , New YorkThis Smithsonian affiliate makes it a priority to conserve and to expose diverse audiences to jazz music , bring about 100 free shows in New York annually . It ’s also home to theSavory Collection , which span over 100 hour of live recording of nothingness legends made from New York City radio broadcast air between 1935 and 1941 .
The New Orleans Jazz MuseumNew Orleans , LouisianaStationed in the Old US Mint , The New Orleans Jazz Museum celebrate jazz in the city widely recognise as the musical style ’s provenience . So much so , that near the Gallic Quarter liesNew Orleans Jazz National Historic Park , the site of free outdoor concerts plus tours by Ranger who often are musician themselves .
American Jazz MuseumKansas City , MissouriKansas City ’s historic18th and Vine Districtwas make in the early 20th century when Black Missourians were n’t allowed to move below twenty-seventh Street . Hundreds of businesses thrived , and a new style of jazz was pioneered . Learn all about it inside this museum before gossip area clubs like theMutual Musicians Foundation , which has feed pop weekend jam session since the 1930s . Make it a two - fer — the Jazz Museum is right next door to theNegro Leagues Baseball Museum , which was also added to the Civil Rights Trail just last year .
In addition to history, you can also pick up some style tips.|Jason Kempin/Getty Images Entertainment
Trap Music MuseumAtlanta , GeorgiaSouthern bunker , named after the slang for drug peddling establishments , has since become one of the most popular forms of tap music . It ’s only meet that its namesake museum — co - founded by Atlanta rapper T.I.—pays homage to its beginnings . You ’ll find a assemblage of Atlanta hip hops memorabilia tracing the music genre and its practitioners , admit the pinkish Chevy owned by 2 Chainz that once sat in front of the celebratedPink Trap House . All this plus a taproom and an interactive Escape Room , with the ultimate goal of escape the trap .
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Delta Blues MuseumClarksdale , MississippiHome to player like John Lee Hooker and Muddy Waters , Clarksdale and the surround areas are thought to be where blues began , probably most know as the location of “ The Devil ’s intersection , ” the junction where Robert Johnson sold his soul to the deuce ( purportedly ) , marked by a threesome of electrical guitars . The Delta Blues Museum , in a former train depot , explores the birth of the genre .
B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive CenterIndianola , MississippiThe mankind who would become the caption B.B. King was give birth Riley B. King on a plantation near the small town of Indianola , Mississippi . He would play on street corner for change , before hitchhike to Memphis in 1947 and kickstarting an extraordinary calling earning him everything from a Grammy lifetime accomplishment awarding to honorary doctorates to Kennedy Center Honors to his own Google Doodle . This museum tells the story of King ’s boost to fame in the context of the Delta , race recounting and polite justice . It ’s also the site of the annual BB shot King Homecoming fete every summer .
Stax Museum of American Soul MusicMemphis , TennesseeAs the story goes , Otis Redding first draw out up to Stax Records as a chaffeur for a banding who had come to record at the studio . Their session bombed , he was allowed to take the mic , and that was the beginning of him eventually becoming the jewel of the recording label . This 17,000 - square - foot museum sit on the site of the old recording studio , a.k.a . Soulsville , USA , which produce 167 hits with artists like Redding and Booker T. Step back in time with memorabilia like Isaac Hayes ' custom gold Cadillac , plus vintage recording equipment . And do n’t bury to bring your saltation shoes for the Soul Train disco music floor .
A ring belonging to Moneybagg Yo at Trap Museum’s “Trapper of the Year” exhibit.|Prince Williams/WireImage/Getty Images
The Universal Hip Hop MuseumBronx , New YorkAfter the50th anniversary hip hops retrospectiveat the Grammys this twelvemonth , the Universal Hip Hop Museum get it on you ’re eager to turn over deep into the genre . And when this two - tale , $ 80 million museum in the birthplace of hip hop opens in the ending of 2024 it will be a repository for over 30,000 man of memorabilia , plus a very cool - sounding 1970s subway automobile that will duplicate as a bridge . Until then there’spop - ups at the nearby Bronx Terminal Market . There will also be a full - on virtual experience with performances — what they ’re call off a metaverse — so keep a lookout for that . For now you could search digital spaces like aninteractive timelineand interviews colligate toitems in the collection .
Motown MuseumDetroit , MichiganHitsville , USA is the original military headquarters and recording studio apartment of Berry Gordy ’s Motown Records , today housing artefact , photographs , and memorabilia , and a regenerate on a higher floor flat where Gordy live with his family during the former day of the recording label . It’scurrently close until the end of February 2023 for a$50 million expansion , to spread as a mind - blowing 50,000 - straight - foundation complex of amusement . Until then , there ’s theMotortown Revue , a practical showing also experienced on what they ’ve dubbed the " Motown Mile , " eight interactional stall along the Detroit waterfront .
The Colored Musicians Club & Jazz MuseumBuffalo , New YorkThe Colored Musicians Club & Jazz Museum begin as a union meeting place for the African American musicians excluded from the whites - only Buffalo player union , Local 43 . In 1917 they formed their own mating , Buffalo Local 533 , with a societal golf-club component for musician to socialize and booze cheap beer after gigs . After purchasing their permanent blank on Broadway it became a thoroughfare for performers like Duke Ellington , Nat King Cole , and Dinah Washington , and in 1999 was hold a diachronic saving land site . Last year an enlargement was announced , to further cement its place and future in African American chronicle .
That’s a pretty cool nickname.|Raymond Boyd/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
