Such a great genre, Shawn! I’ve got my share of Blaxploitation releases. There’s always amazing talent on them. Thanks for sharing those classics with us. Great stuff.
You showed so many essentials Shawn. I have most of them. I bought the GSH 'Rev Will Not Be Tele' reissue from a few years back. Most of these were early staples in the VC. Thanks for doing a whole video on them~ Rob/Boston
How is the reissue of Revolution? I’ve wanted an original for ages but never found one that was in good condition. I’ll try to do some more obscure soundtracks next time around. Thing like Shaft in Africa or Blackula are a lot of fun and the music is still really good. Cheers. Shawn
@@Paneeks1960 I don’t know. I don’t see his name attached to the film - but you never know. But Blackula and it’s follow-up, Scream Blackula Scream are both really fun films.
I love the down and dirty funk that came from these films, they really set the stage and kept the movies interesting. I hope to find a copy of Coffey someday. These type of albums have really jumped up in price
They are moving up in price fast. Blackula was a $10 record before Covid. I saw a nice copy at a little shop in East Detroit area for $100. I offered the guy $50 - and he would even compromise. Of course, I did get Shaft in Africa for $15. So I was still happy. Coffy is really one of the best blaxploitation film / soundtrack. Pam Grier is so beautiful and talented. I think she was nearly 60 when she made Jackie Brown (Quentin Tarintino) and she is still a beautiful woman. She’s lived an interesting life. I wonder if she has ever written a book. I’m going to look into that. Cheers 🍻 Shawn
Blaxploitation was my favorite film genre in college, though the genre does push some stereotypes that aren't so desirable. I love funk and soul in the mid-70s, went so well with the movies. My favorites were The Mack, Across 110th Street, and of course anything with Pam Grier (very cool to see her in Jackie Brown later in life...). You may want to seek out "The Brotherman" Soundtrack released by Numero Group around 15 years ago, it's a soundtrack to a Blaxploitation movie never released.
I’m familiar with the Brotherman soundtrack. There are a few examples of modern artists trying recreate the sound of blaxploitation films. As far as stereotypes being used; no more so than mainstream Hollywood films like Dirty Harry or Death Wish or The French Connection. The difference was that black actors were allowed to take the role of the hero. Often fighting a corrupt white establishment. Where as, mainstream films rarely allowed black actors to be portrayed in this way. The situation has improved slightly but many, many stereotypes still exist in Hollywood.
Hey Rob. Thanks for watching. I think you’ll find some great music on the albums in this video. The Coffy soundtrack is a real gem. I’m looking at an original of the Blackula soundtrack. Seller wants a bit more than I want to pay. So negotiations are heavy right now. Lol. Sadly, I had the album previously but traded it off during one of my purges. Back then it was a $20 record. Well…now everyone wants a copy. Cheers! Shawn.
That's not my musical area neither my cinema type of election, but yet another honest and sincere video. Always learning from you Shawn. Gil Scott's "i'm new here" It's such a touching record that i always get so emotional when I listen to it. Cheers.
I can understand that these films aren’t for everyone but I could make a strong case that this sub-genre of American films are among the most important to emerge from American cinema. These films went a long way toward empowering black directors, actors and (most importantly) black audiences. It’s just unfortunate that the system developed didn’t maintain its independence from Hollywood money. They eventually corrupted the radical, independent voices of these films. Once they figured out there was a huge audience for these films, Hollywood wanted into the marketplace. I also think there was a political motivation in destroying this particular genre of film; having powerful voices in American culture that advocated for economic equality, reparations and an economic system that would give poor and working class communities a chance for success. Silencing Martin Luther King and Malcolm X was only one part of the overall picture imo. But sorry to get caught up into the politics. I can’t help myself. Lol. There are many wonderful films to discover and even more amazing albums that are the equal of Shaft and Super Fly. Hey…thank you for watching and sharing. You always leave insightful remarks and I appreciate that very much. Have a great week. Cheers, Shawn.
Hey Shawn, fun video. I’m hoping the Criterion channel will do a feature on blaxploitation films so I can see some of these you mentioned. I did get the Rhino 2-LP Curtis reissue because I love “Move On Up” so much. Cheers!
I love the Criterion channel. And yes - a blaxploitation overview would be ideal. These are important films in my assessment. But if you have Amazon Prime (I hate Amazon btw) there is a channel called Honey Brown (rightfully, I think they changed the name) It’s almost an entire channel dedicated to Blaxploitation cinema. It’s been about two years since I had a subscription but (I think) the it was $5 per month. There are watched dozens of great films if you enjoy this under appreciated sub-genre of films. The best part was they have some of the more obscure films. For example, Black Gestapo, Velvet Smooth and Force Four are all good, fun films I remember watching. Move on up is a great song and, although I like the full length version of the album, it’s really the single edit that has the magic. Thanks for watching and commenting. Cheers! Shawn.
I've seen some cool blaxploitation doco's but have not seen many films except for the obvious ones. I have Superfly, Shaft & Black Caesar on vinyl. I have a lot of the non soundtrack albums that you showed. I haven't got the funk/soul out for a while. That might be a plan for this weekend.
A soul / funk weekend is a good idea. I’ll do the same. I grew up with a lot of funk and r&b around. Saturday mornings had a television show called Soul Train. Lol. Great show. Regarding the blaxploitation sub-genre; I think it’s really important that people in the United States remember that even into the 70s, African Americans didn’t have a place in mainstream culture. I’m not saying some progress hadn’t been made. It’s just that some people want to pretend that racism is/ was a thing of the distant past. The films are a reminder that black actors had to look toward independent films to find their place. Equally important, the films are great; raw, violent and entertaining. I loved seeing these in late night television as a kid. Till later. Shawn.
@@the-vinyl-dreamscape5084 From an outsiders perspective it seems it's still pretty rare to have African Americans in any positions of prominence. Just like in Australia for our First Nations people, although their on going treatment is probably more akin to Native Americans as far as lack of welfare and living in extreme poverty goes.
@@benrankins4446 I think that perspective is accurate. However, Corporations have gotten smart or…more manipulative in a certain sense; they will promote a minority CEO or Vice Chairman and then use them to announce a 5% wage cut for their workforce that is 75% Black and Brown. So we see two things happening at once: there is a tiny percentage of the minority population moving into upper management. (That has happened to a small degree). But the vast majority of the minority population is actually losing ground economically. So while it looks like there is some actual progress happening; the reality is that more black people are in poverty. It’s late-period capitalism. Very small percentages of people are earning amazing amounts of money. While real wages are actually declining in most sectors of the economy. The US has the image of a wealthy nation. In reality, a majority of the population doesn’t have $500 dollars in the bank. Life expectancy is declining in the United States because many people don’t have healthcare. In Detroit, 83% of the high school graduates will not be able to read at a 3rd grade level. There is no money to fix the roads and bridges because we spend a trillion dollar per year on the military. (That’s three times more than China and Russia combined). It’s a sad state of affairs. 🫣So many people are employed in the military contractors field that they have enormous influence in government. So…war and conflict have become the primary export industry of the United States. Look around the globe and you can see our bombs and missiles on every continent. All of this has resulted in an increasingly unstable political system domestically. We have monsters (like Trump) or old men that can barely speak (like Biden). Where are the John Kennedys? Where are the leaders who talk about peace and justice and prosperity? Instead, Americans want to build walls and blame “outsiders” and minorities. It’s very sad what I’ve seen my country doing. Hey…Sorry for the long rant. Be well. Shawn
@@the-vinyl-dreamscape5084 Australia is very much turning into a mini America in respect to a lot of the points you made. At the moment our right wing party is in opposition and we have a more liberal minded Labour Party in power (but they are still too close to the middle for my liking) than we've had in years,. Unfortunately like usual they'll probably get voted out after their first term because they inherited so many problems from the previous right wing government which are only now coming to light because those bastards swept it under the carpet when they were in government. Then they have the gall to say the current government is doing an appalling job economically because they are spending money to fix all of these shortfalls. On a side note I was called a communist the other day because I said that the rich should be taxed more and that money should be put into welfare and community minded projects. Then the person I was talking to was even more amazed when I said I don't want the conservatives back in power because every time they get in they try to dismantle our National Medicare health system a bit more, they are trying to put more and more laws in that disadvantage employees and want to bust union activity. On top of that I said they're fundamentally racist because they had huge no campaign during the referendum for putting a First Australians Voice into parliament so that they could be more involved in the decision making for their communities. If that makes me a communist I'm happy with that.
Hey Mariusz! Good to hear from you. I had to leave the Stunty live stream early on Friday to attend a work related charitable fundraiser. So I didn’t get to hang out with the gang. How are you? Yea, I’ve got a soft spot for these great films. In college we would watch them for the wild action but eventually I started to see something a bit deeper in the films. And it doesn’t hurt that Pam Grier is a knockout. 😅 I’m not a fan of the garbage that Hollywood pumps out every year. Where have all the great films gone? Instead, we get Iron Man 6 or whatever. Anyway…Hope you are doing well. Cheers! Shawn
@@the-vinyl-dreamscape5084 Thanks for asking Shawn. Doing great. It’s one of those days when you’re reminded how old you are if you know what I mean. But won’t be getting any younger that’s for sure. 😉 I know you had to leave Stunty’ stream but there’s always the next one. And those streams kinda motives me to seek out some interesting records which I’ll hopefully have a chance to share with you soon. And some of them can be had for cheap, which is always nice. As to Hollywood, I think that side of film industry is dead. And I kind of welcome that idea of Hollywood extinction. It’s mostly mega$$$ garbage. Seems like the art of film, the message and storytelling is dead but who knows. Maybe it needs to crumble to ruins first in order to rebuild it from scratch?? But than again, I’m not a big TV/movie guy. I would rather watch live trial than Netflix mini-series. Hope yo see ya soon at Stunty’ Shawn and keep making these amazing vids. 👏🏻👏🏻👍🏻
![ARGENTINA vs. BOLIVIA [6-0] | RESUMEN | ELIMINATORIAS SUDAMERICANAS | FECHA 10](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/C3wPtKNbAOA/mqdefault.jpg)
Such a great genre, Shawn! I’ve got my share of Blaxploitation releases. There’s always amazing talent on them. Thanks for sharing those classics with us. Great stuff.
You showed so many essentials Shawn. I have most of them. I bought the GSH 'Rev Will Not Be Tele' reissue from a few years back. Most of these were early staples in the VC. Thanks for doing a whole video on them~
Rob/Boston
How is the reissue of Revolution? I’ve wanted an original for ages but never found one that was in good condition. I’ll try to do some more obscure soundtracks next time around. Thing like Shaft in Africa or Blackula are a lot of fun and the music is still really good. Cheers. Shawn
@@the-vinyl-dreamscape5084 The reissue sounds good Shawn. Is the Blacula the movie soundtrack written by a guy named Gene Page?
@@Paneeks1960 I don’t know. I don’t see his name attached to the film - but you never know. But Blackula and it’s follow-up, Scream Blackula Scream are both really fun films.
I love the down and dirty funk that came from these films, they really set the stage and kept the movies interesting. I hope to find a copy of Coffey someday. These type of albums have really jumped up in price
They are moving up in price fast. Blackula was a $10 record before Covid. I saw a nice copy at a little shop in East Detroit area for $100. I offered the guy $50 - and he would even compromise. Of course, I did get Shaft in Africa for $15. So I was still happy. Coffy is really one of the best blaxploitation film / soundtrack. Pam Grier is so beautiful and talented. I think she was nearly 60 when she made Jackie Brown (Quentin Tarintino) and she is still a beautiful woman. She’s lived an interesting life. I wonder if she has ever written a book. I’m going to look into that. Cheers 🍻 Shawn
Blaxploitation was my favorite film genre in college, though the genre does push some stereotypes that aren't so desirable. I love funk and soul in the mid-70s, went so well with the movies. My favorites were The Mack, Across 110th Street, and of course anything with Pam Grier (very cool to see her in Jackie Brown later in life...). You may want to seek out "The Brotherman" Soundtrack released by Numero Group around 15 years ago, it's a soundtrack to a Blaxploitation movie never released.
I’m familiar with the Brotherman soundtrack. There are a few examples of modern artists trying recreate the sound of blaxploitation films. As far as stereotypes being used; no more so than mainstream Hollywood films like Dirty Harry or Death Wish or The French Connection. The difference was that black actors were allowed to take the role of the hero. Often fighting a corrupt white establishment. Where as, mainstream films rarely allowed black actors to be portrayed in this way. The situation has improved slightly but many, many stereotypes still exist in Hollywood.
Good evening Shawn. I am looking forward to this theme. Will review in a few~
Rob/Boston
Hey Rob. Thanks for watching. I think you’ll find some great music on the albums in this video. The Coffy soundtrack is a real gem. I’m looking at an original of the Blackula soundtrack. Seller wants a bit more than I want to pay. So negotiations are heavy right now. Lol. Sadly, I had the album previously but traded it off during one of my purges. Back then it was a $20 record. Well…now everyone wants a copy. Cheers! Shawn.
That's not my musical area neither my cinema type of election, but yet another honest and sincere video.
Always learning from you Shawn.
Gil Scott's "i'm new here" It's such a touching record that i always get so emotional when I listen to it.
Cheers.
I can understand that these films aren’t for everyone but I could make a strong case that this sub-genre of American films are among the most important to emerge from American cinema. These films went a long way toward empowering black directors, actors and (most importantly) black audiences. It’s just unfortunate that the system developed didn’t maintain its independence from Hollywood money. They eventually corrupted the radical, independent voices of these films. Once they figured out there was a huge audience for these films, Hollywood wanted into the marketplace. I also think there was a political motivation in destroying this particular genre of film; having powerful voices in American culture that advocated for economic equality, reparations and an economic system that would give poor and working class communities a chance for success. Silencing Martin Luther King and Malcolm X was only one part of the overall picture imo. But sorry to get caught up into the politics. I can’t help myself. Lol. There are many wonderful films to discover and even more amazing albums that are the equal of Shaft and Super Fly. Hey…thank you for watching and sharing. You always leave insightful remarks and I appreciate that very much. Have a great week. Cheers, Shawn.
Hey Shawn, fun video. I’m hoping the Criterion channel will do a feature on blaxploitation films so I can see some of these you mentioned. I did get the Rhino 2-LP Curtis reissue because I love “Move On Up” so much. Cheers!
I love the Criterion channel. And yes - a blaxploitation overview would be ideal. These are important films in my assessment. But if you have Amazon Prime (I hate Amazon btw) there is a channel called Honey Brown (rightfully, I think they changed the name) It’s almost an entire channel dedicated to Blaxploitation cinema. It’s been about two years since I had a subscription but (I think) the it was $5 per month. There are watched dozens of great films if you enjoy this under appreciated sub-genre of films. The best part was they have some of the more obscure films. For example, Black Gestapo, Velvet Smooth and Force Four are all good, fun films I remember watching. Move on up is a great song and, although I like the full length version of the album, it’s really the single edit that has the magic. Thanks for watching and commenting. Cheers! Shawn.
I've seen some cool blaxploitation doco's but have not seen many films except for the obvious ones. I have Superfly, Shaft & Black Caesar on vinyl. I have a lot of the non soundtrack albums that you showed. I haven't got the funk/soul out for a while. That might be a plan for this weekend.
A soul / funk weekend is a good idea. I’ll do the same. I grew up with a lot of funk and r&b around. Saturday mornings had a television show called Soul Train. Lol. Great show. Regarding the blaxploitation sub-genre; I think it’s really important that people in the United States remember that even into the 70s, African Americans didn’t have a place in mainstream culture. I’m not saying some progress hadn’t been made. It’s just that some people want to pretend that racism is/ was a thing of the distant past. The films are a reminder that black actors had to look toward independent films to find their place. Equally important, the films are great; raw, violent and entertaining. I loved seeing these in late night television as a kid. Till later. Shawn.
@@the-vinyl-dreamscape5084 From an outsiders perspective it seems it's still pretty rare to have African Americans in any positions of prominence. Just like in Australia for our First Nations people, although their on going treatment is probably more akin to Native Americans as far as lack of welfare and living in extreme poverty goes.
@@benrankins4446 I think that perspective is accurate. However, Corporations have gotten smart or…more manipulative in a certain sense; they will promote a minority CEO or Vice Chairman and then use them to announce a 5% wage cut for their workforce that is 75% Black and Brown. So we see two things happening at once: there is a tiny percentage of the minority population moving into upper management. (That has happened to a small degree). But the vast majority of the minority population is actually losing ground economically. So while it looks like there is some actual progress happening; the reality is that more black people are in poverty. It’s late-period capitalism. Very small percentages of people are earning amazing amounts of money. While real wages are actually declining in most sectors of the economy. The US has the image of a wealthy nation. In reality, a majority of the population doesn’t have $500 dollars in the bank. Life expectancy is declining in the United States because many people don’t have healthcare. In Detroit, 83% of the high school graduates will not be able to read at a 3rd grade level. There is no money to fix the roads and bridges because we spend a trillion dollar per year on the military. (That’s three times more than China and Russia combined). It’s a sad state of affairs. 🫣So many people are employed in the military contractors field that they have enormous influence in government. So…war and conflict have become the primary export industry of the United States. Look around the globe and you can see our bombs and missiles on every continent. All of this has resulted in an increasingly unstable political system domestically. We have monsters (like Trump) or old men that can barely speak (like Biden). Where are the John Kennedys? Where are the leaders who talk about peace and justice and prosperity? Instead, Americans want to build walls and blame “outsiders” and minorities. It’s very sad what I’ve seen my country doing. Hey…Sorry for the long rant. Be well. Shawn
@@the-vinyl-dreamscape5084 Australia is very much turning into a mini America in respect to a lot of the points you made. At the moment our right wing party is in opposition and we have a more liberal minded Labour Party in power (but they are still too close to the middle for my liking) than we've had in years,. Unfortunately like usual they'll probably get voted out after their first term because they inherited so many problems from the previous right wing government which are only now coming to light because those bastards swept it under the carpet when they were in government. Then they have the gall to say the current government is doing an appalling job economically because they are spending money to fix all of these shortfalls.
On a side note I was called a communist the other day because I said that the rich should be taxed more and that money should be put into welfare and community minded projects. Then the person I was talking to was even more amazed when I said I don't want the conservatives back in power because every time they get in they try to dismantle our National Medicare health system a bit more, they are trying to put more and more laws in that disadvantage employees and want to bust union activity. On top of that I said they're fundamentally racist because they had huge no campaign during the referendum for putting a First Australians Voice into parliament so that they could be more involved in the decision making for their communities. If that makes me a communist I'm happy with that.
Pam did indeed carry those films in a way. Great movies.
And I agree a 100% most films out of Hollywood these days is trash.
Hey Mariusz! Good to hear from you. I had to leave the Stunty live stream early on Friday to attend a work related charitable fundraiser. So I didn’t get to hang out with the gang. How are you? Yea, I’ve got a soft spot for these great films. In college we would watch them for the wild action but eventually I started to see something a bit deeper in the films. And it doesn’t hurt that Pam Grier is a knockout. 😅 I’m not a fan of the garbage that Hollywood pumps out every year. Where have all the great films gone? Instead, we get Iron Man 6 or whatever. Anyway…Hope you are doing well. Cheers! Shawn
@@the-vinyl-dreamscape5084 Thanks for asking Shawn. Doing great. It’s one of those days when you’re reminded how old you are if you know what I mean. But won’t be getting any younger that’s for sure. 😉
I know you had to leave Stunty’ stream but there’s always the next one. And those streams kinda motives me to seek out some interesting records which I’ll hopefully have a chance to share with you soon.
And some of them can be had for cheap, which is always nice.
As to Hollywood, I think that side of film industry is dead. And I kind of welcome that idea of Hollywood extinction.
It’s mostly mega$$$ garbage.
Seems like the art of film, the message and storytelling is dead but who knows. Maybe it needs to crumble to ruins first in order to rebuild it from scratch??
But than again, I’m not a big TV/movie guy. I would rather watch live trial than Netflix mini-series.
Hope yo see ya soon at Stunty’ Shawn and keep making these amazing vids. 👏🏻👏🏻👍🏻