Learn the roots

Rootnote U

Lessons and historical accounts on how contemporary music actually got here: the decades, the technology, and the artists that shifted the sound. Start with Lesson 1 below.

Lessons

Lesson 1

The history of pop music: how it shifted through the decades

From the birth of the pop single in the 1950s to the genre-blending, TikTok-driven sound of today, decade by decade.

Lesson 2 · Coming soon

The sample: how hip-hop rebuilt pop's DNA

A history of sampling, from the Bronx block parties of the 70s to today's interpolation-heavy charts.

Lesson 3 · Coming soon

How the drum machine changed every genre it touched

The 808, the 909, and the machines that quietly became the backbone of pop, hip-hop, and dance music alike.

Lesson 4 · Coming soon

MTV, radio, and streaming: how discovery itself changed pop

Three different eras of how listeners found new music, and how each one reshaped what got made.