About

IncenseNashtrays documents the present, restores the past through rigorous historical analysis, and reports on the music and the culture that surrounds it.

We preserve and elevate true musicianship — centering the artistry, lineage, and cultural impact that define American music. This is preservation. Not nostalgia.

Who writes this

IncenseNashtrays is written and edited by Dwann Brown, a music historian and cultural analyst based in Los Angeles. A former gospel drummer, he writes from decades of study and from firsthand conversations with the musicians who built the tradition — among them DJ Battlecat, Bobby Rush, and the car club founders who shaped Los Angeles lowrider culture.

That background matters to the work. Much of what appears here is an argument about rhythm, ensemble playing, and how musical knowledge actually passes from one generation to the next — the kind of claim that is easier to make honestly when you have sat behind a kit.

The Foundation

IncenseNashtrays is the editorial arm of the Black American Music Family Tree Historical Foundation, a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded and led by Dwann Brown.

The Foundation exists because this history deserves to be preserved with the same seriousness given to every other great cultural tradition. Its work is to document the origins, evolution, and global impact of Black American music through research, education, interviews, and historical preservation.

The publication and the Foundation share a single premise: that Black American music is not a series of disconnected genres but one continuous tradition — and that when innovations are separated from the communities that produced them, we lose more than historical accuracy. We lose our understanding of how human creativity actually works.

Support the work

The Foundation is a registered 501(c)(3), which means contributions are tax-deductible. If this work has expanded your understanding of music history, you can support the mission at bamfamilytree.org.

Deeper research, primary sources, and expanded analysis live on the paid Substack. Interviews and documentary work are published on YouTube.

“Music is a sonic interpretation of our environment.” — Dwann B.