Bootsy Collins, Charles Fold, the Isley Brothers, and Otis Williams are funk, soul, and gospel music icons who are celebrated in Black culture. They’re also all from Cincinnati, Ohio, and were cemented in history as the inaugural class of inductees into the city’s Black Music Walk of Fame in 2021.
The 2022 class included legends Penny Ford, techno-funk band Midnight Star, mega-producer Hi-Tek, and jazz musician Wilbert Longmire, who was inducted posthumously. Now a year later, Cincinnati is preparing for the official public grand opening of its Black Music Walk of Fame, and the 2023 class will include The Deele, James Brown, Philippé Wynne, and Louise Shropshire.
Hamilton County Commissioner Alicia Reece spearheaded the $20 million project in early 2021 ahead of the annual Cincinnati Music Festival, one of the country’s largest African American music festivals. The festival is a major economic driver for Cincinnati and Hamilton County, bringing in an average of $107 million annually.
A similar concept in Atlanta was created in 2021 with the Black Music & Entertainment Walk of Fame. In the two years since the Atlanta inception, honorees have included Beyoncé, OutKast, Quincy Jones, and Usher. With both a national and international appeal, the BMEWOF honors iconic individuals and organizations that have impacted Black culture and community alongside those who continue to lead into the future.
While Atlanta’s music history is known nationally and globally, it’s fair to say that Cincinnati isn’t as familiar to people around the world as a music mecca. And it’s equally fair to say that as rich as both cities are from a musical perspective, neither city has produced the same notoriety as Detroit has.
Yet each has dedicated time, space, and money toward celebrating Black music, entertainment, and the people who dedicate their lives to creating it.
So that begs the question: if cities that are less recognized globally for their music contributions have put so many resources toward honoring their respective Black music heritages, why hasn’t Detroit done the same?
Detroit is the home of techno music. It revolutionized music with the Motown Sound. Berry Gordy, Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, The Supremes, The Temptations, Diana Ross, Marvin Gaye, Anita Baker, Smokey Robinson, the Winans, the Sheards, the Clarks. The list goes on. The influence of Detroit on blues, funk, gospel, and soul music is evident in so many ways that it deserves to be an integral part of the way the city markets itself to the rest of the world in a way that goes beyond its nickname.
And while the Motown Museum is a wonderful way to immortalize the legacy of a generation of influence, Detroit music goes beyond Motown. It’s J Dilla, its Royce da 5’9”, it’s Big Sean, it’s Trick Trick, it’s Esham, it’s Illa J, it’s Rance Allen, it’s the Clark Sisters, it’s Vanessa Bell Armstrong. Again, the list goes on.
Undoubtedly, there are questions about the logistics of making a Black Music Walk of Fame happen in Detroit. (Who chooses the inductees? Where would it go? Who would finance the project? How would it be maintained?) But it would be a tourist attraction for locals and people around the world, and, also undoubtedly, generate so much revenue for surrounding businesses as people came from near and far to experience the city in this unique way.
Reece said of her efforts to make the Black Music Walk of Fame a reality: “I want to make sure that people know not only that these artists are from Cincinnati and from Hamilton County, but to learn their stories and major contributions to the world.”
Don’t we want the same for Detroit? Let’s find a way to make it happen.
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