Ragtime, a popular style that featured syncopated. It is mostly known today as a style of piano music, but in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the term also encompassed the ensemble music and songs. African American musicians and performers moved beyond minstrelsy and made artistic innovations, starting with ragtime. White audiences around the country responded enthusiastically. Ragtime became popular culture during the 1890s. By the early 1900s ragtime flooded the music publishing industry.
Ernest Hogan, who is the first African American to produce and star in a Broadway show, “The Oyster Man” (1907). He is best known for his innovations in music helping popularize Ragtime. Hogan made an 1896 hit named, “All Coons Look Alike to Me.” He then lifted the cakewalk rhythm from unknown backroom musicians and lifted the title from a line he heard sung, “All pimps look alike to me.” His variation tapped into the strong currents of racism in the U.S. and gave rise to a whole new sub-genre of ragtime called “coon songs.” A glut of coon-themed songs flooded the market after his smash hit.