"Seriously though, my father was the first African American to sign a contract with the Metropolitan Opera so I grew up with classical music and jazz in the home all the time"
About this Quote
The flex is quiet but unmistakable. His father being the first African American to sign a contract with the Met isn’t just a family brag; it’s a compressed story about institutional gatekeeping and the cost of entry into “high culture.” McFerrin drops it as background, not a speech, which is the point: his authority isn’t borrowed from crossover cool or feel-good charisma. It’s inherited labor, earned access, and a household where excellence wasn’t an aesthetic, it was air.
Then he pairs “classical music and jazz” as if they naturally belong together. That’s a subtle rebuke to the cultural sorting hat that treats classical as prestige and jazz as rebellion, one white-coded and the other Black-coded. In his home, those categories collapsed into a single soundscape. The subtext is that his boundary-smashing career - using the voice as percussion, melody, orchestra, joke, prayer - isn’t a quirky reinvention. It’s the logical outcome of growing up at the seam between institutions and improvisation, respectability and freedom.
He’s also reminding you that “serious” and “playful” aren’t opposites. They’re the same skill set, sharpened in different rooms.
Quote Details
| Topic | Father |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
McFerrin, Bobby. (2026, January 17). Seriously though, my father was the first African American to sign a contract with the Metropolitan Opera so I grew up with classical music and jazz in the home all the time. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/seriously-though-my-father-was-the-first-african-45524/
Chicago Style
McFerrin, Bobby. "Seriously though, my father was the first African American to sign a contract with the Metropolitan Opera so I grew up with classical music and jazz in the home all the time." FixQuotes. January 17, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/seriously-though-my-father-was-the-first-african-45524/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"Seriously though, my father was the first African American to sign a contract with the Metropolitan Opera so I grew up with classical music and jazz in the home all the time." FixQuotes, 17 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/seriously-though-my-father-was-the-first-african-45524/. Accessed 9 Feb. 2026.
