Fifteen books about the impact of Black music on pop culture

At Teen Vogue Jaelani Turner-Williams tagged fifteen books about the immense impact of Black music on pop culture, including:

A Little Devil in America: In Praise of Black Performance by Hanif Abdurraqib

Divided into five “movements,” A Little Devil in America encapsulates the roots of Black performance in entertainment, with optics set on America’s consumption of Black culture in eulogy, jubilation and self-expression. Award-winning poet-essayist and cultural critic Hanif Abdurraqib dedicates poignantly-written vignettes to his fascination with Black performance, from Whitney Houston – despite the vocal powerhouse being an unskilled dancer – to soul and gospel singer Merry Clayton being the unsung hero on The Rolling Stones’ 1969 classic “Gimme Shelter.” In A Little Devil in America, Abdurraqib explores and honors the abstract form of Black performance.

Read about another entry on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue