This is a project that explores the network like relationship between race, music cognition, and genre formation. Drawing from methods of race theory, music cognition, and genre theory, this project highlights how deeply connected these concepts are, and their reliance on each other to function in society. It can be observed that race mediates empathy and music perception/cognition by audiences. This mediation gives rise to the subjective formation of boundaries between music styles-hence the formation of genres. In turn, certain genres can become linked to stereotypes and even criminalized.