2 Tribute: A digital tribute to Blaxploitation

Blaxploitation

In the 1970s a film genre emerged in America in which African Americans played the leading role. In most cases this concerned crime films that took place in the subculture of black America and were made for the black and especially urban audience at the time. The films were often supported by soul and funk music that was much better than the film themselves. Made by famous soul musicians such as James Brown, Quincy Jones, Marvin Gaye, Earth Wind and Fire, etc. Although the genre has produced a number of cult classics and has also inspired directors such as Quentin Tarantino, the music has in most cases made a greater impression than the film, with a few exceptions. The highlight of the Blaxploitation film was in the years 1972 until 1976.

My childhood experience

Experiencing childhood in a house with a mother who was conceived in 1955 music had a major influence in our family household. The music shifted from Motown, calypso, gospel, soul, funk and her undisputed top choice country music. Truly, miss gold old Dolly Parton. Even after such a significant number of years my sisters and I, still know each word to the melodies my mom used to play in the house and we frequently joke about this. Something my mom also liked to do, was to bring home many tapes and books for me to read and watch. I never knew where my mother really got them from (my speculation, the second-hand shop). As a younger version of myself, I remember watching the movie Shaft on VHS. When the inappropriate parts came on, I was advised to look away and I covered my face in my eldest sister's lap until she told me that it was alright to look again. 

One the thing I generally recalled when watching these films was the astonishing soundtracks and particularly how woman of color were portrayed. By watching them, it demonstrated to me that dark females especially and people of color in general on film could be strong, tenacious and beautiful particularly when roles were practically invisible, or sometimes painfully stereotypical.

The Mash-up 

As a tribute, I made a mash-up of my preferred blaxploitation soundtracks on www.rave.dj. RaveDj is an AI software that makes a blend/mash-up from songs. I believe good mash-ups are an art as much as science and require that musical keys and song structures play off off each other in any number of ways. In other words, it'd be an intelligent software indeed that could create a nice mash-up with selected songs, which I personally think is very cool. 

I like the way my "old skool" playlist is somewhat mashed by an AI. I get the feeling that I'm combining the old with the new technology. This was in a way an egotistical assignment, I got the opportunity to remember my best memories by tuning in to this music and furthermore paying tribute to the great blaxploitation era.