Got to say that I can't see that black pop culture is having any significant effect on pop music these days. I think more than ever before really that the two sides of the pop coin are as far apart as they've ever been in my lifetime. If the UK pop kids are primarily digging bands like Arctic Monkeys, Franz Ferdinand, Coldplay etc I would have an extremely difficult time limning the "black" influence in these bands. Likewise on this side of the pond with Green Day ruling the roost with the likes of Nickelback, System of a Down and Fall Out Boy.

We only have to look back to "big" bands of the day like the Clash, Talking Heads and a bit later the Chili Peppers to see that there were smart creative ways to incorporate black beats (be they reggae, african rythms or funk) without co-opting the source as had been the case in much of the music of the 50's and 60's. Even lesser light indie bands like Durutti Column, Orange Juice and A Certain Ratio put their own special twee white indie-kid spin on some of the black music they'd listened to growing up. Who's doing anything in a similar vein these days?

I just took a quick glance over at the Billboard Pop 100 and I can honestly say that I don't recognize a single tune until we get to Kanye's "Gold Digger" still on the charts at #19 after 26 weeks. So if we're talking popular music Brian you're going to have to be more specific because I am so out of the loop where that's concerned and ain't I glad.