I do not mean to take anything away from black musicians, but the music people say started with blacks was massively changed by the music-executive types before it went mainstream.
The people who enjoyed the modified music would not recognize the pre-music-executive versions.
EDIT: I like the Lead Belly interpretation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fii6PX0-VXs because it sounds like you start to swing the hammer on the beat, but it has enough inertia to land on the spike off the beat.
I'd argue that despite the change in pace and instrumentation the original form and song can still be recognised and appreciated, the first version of this I heard was Lead Belly in about 1982 or so .. not a lot of TV in my part of the world growing up and not much time for that in the 'big' smoke at uni.
Going back to the GP assertion I still argue that people that enjoy modern modified forms of music can still recognise and appreciate the earlier forms.
I am saying that there are formulas that make music widely popular, and the Hollyweird types knew those formulas before we started recording music. Everything you will ever hear is heavily influenced by them.
The people who enjoyed the modified music would not recognize the pre-music-executive versions.