The fact of the matter is that most of the trends started by black people are those trends that are popular among black people and uneducated members of other races. I am not trying to come off as some member of the American Nazi party or anything, but all the people I know that listen to rap are not exactly geniuses. As for rock and roll, it does have its roots in gospel, blues, and jazz, among other things, but it has evolved so much over the past 50 years that you can't really say that black people started rock and roll. Again at the risk of sounding racist, I would have to say that all the most influential rock bands have been white. One must make the distinction between rock music and pop music and you will see what I am talking about. Elvis Presley, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Neil Young, The Who, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, all of them white. Elvis might have sung quote "black music," but it didn't pick up until a white boy from Tennessee started recording it. As for blues, did you ever hear of a guy named Stevie Ray Vaughn? He was one of the coolest SOB's to ever pick up a guitar and play the blues.