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Tag: blaxploitation

The Sound of Shaft

  By Finn Odum July 30, 2023 July 31, 2023 Uncategorized
Shaft stands in front of two outdoor signs.

|Azra Thakur| It’s hard to believe Gordon Parks’s Shaft (1971) was released over fifty years ago. Its iconic first scene is still exciting to watch today: from far above, we see John Shaft emerging from a New York City subway staircase to the cold winter outside, set to Isaac Hayes’s… Continue reading

Tagged   action films, blaxploitation, gordon parks, Richard Roundtree

What’s Iconic About Shaft?

  By Finn Odum July 28, 2023 July 30, 2023 Uncategorized
Shaft reads a magazine shirtless on the couch, with a roaring fire in the background.

|Chelli Riddiough| What’s iconic about Shaft? The theme song. The beige turtleneck and brown pleather trench coat. The sideburns and afro. The $50-an-hour detective fee. The fact that detectives are called “dicks.” The terrible one-liners lauded as wisecracks. The unnecessary sexual Continue reading

Tagged   blaxploitation, musings on film, Richard Roundtree, Shaft

I’ll Let You Trip for Awhile: Curtis Mayfield’s Super Fly

  By Finn Odum July 7, 2023 July 16, 2023 Uncategorized
Actor Carl Lee, a Black man wearing sunglasses and a fur coat, and actor Ron O'Neal, a Black man with long hair, a mustache, a white turtleneck and a gray and white peacoat are seen in still from the film Super Fly that depicts a nightclub scene with numerous extras in the background.

|Jay Ditzer| Where would movies be without music? Even in the silent era, movie theaters had a pianist on hand to provide accompaniment. Since the advent of “talking pictures,” music of some sort—whether it be a full score or contemporary tracks either licensed or custom-written… Continue reading

Tagged   blaxploitation, Curtis Mayfield, music, soundtrack review

Five Super Fly Hip-Hop Samples

  By Finn Odum July 7, 2023 July 6, 2023 Uncategorized
A band of men are playing a song in a well-lit room. The photo is in black and white. At the bottom of the image is text that reads "Warner Bros presents the Sig Shore production "SUPER FLY" starring RON O'NEAL

|Matthew Tchepikova-Treon| Blaxploitation cinema and hip-hop developed in tandem throughout the 1970s. From Harlem to the Bronx, music technicians like Kool Herc, Grandmaster Flash, and others developed vinyl scratching and sampling techniques… Continue reading

Tagged   blaxploitation, music, soundtrack review, Super Fly
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