I've found that to be true, as well. Even well bathed negroes have a distinctive odor. It doesn't help when they pile on the cocoa butter and liters of the latest fragrance*
Yes it's a natural odor. The strange thing is some of them don't seem to smell as strong as others. There's this one black lady up there I work with all the time that doesn't have the "black" smell to her very much even though she's dark. I can hand the phone back and forth with her, no problem.
Another one leaves the very distinctive "black" odor everywhere she goes. I don't like using the computer after her because there's a musky stink in the air after she walks way for a few minutes, and she looks clean. I feel kind of bad about being able to smell that because she actually does have a nice personality and we help each other get work done, but this is still something unpleasant for me to deal with.
This guy who stinked up the phone doesn't smell much just standing around but wow when that phone made contact with his skin it left the "black" smell all over it. That's why it surprised me so much I guess. Since I didn't notice much of a smell working around him I didn't expect the phone to be quite that stinky.