“What is Black music?”

It’s with this question that Platinum-selling songwriter and producer Nate “Danja” Hills opens an interview with The Urban Daily, in a conversation about the evolution of Rhythm & Blues.  The chat is appropriately situated between February’s Black History month and Black Music Month in June.

While it’s true, Danja acknowledges, that there are certain genres of music associated with African-American culture (classic soul and neo-soul come to mind), other genres, like classic rock-and-roll, have unexpected roots in Black history as well. At the end of the day, Danja explains, it’s not fair to peg any one culture to a particular genre, as music is a form of expression to be utilized by any one, regardless of race.

Danja’s own career is testament to the idea of R&B’s inclusive nature–over the years, he’s produced for acts as diverse as Justin Timberlake, Chris Brown and M.I.A., all of whom have benefitted from cross-cultural musical elements, including touches of R&B, in their hits.

As Danja says, “Everybody has their own identity and the freedom to do what they want and express [themselves] musically however they want.”