Five Before Chaos

I live for this shit. Seriously. I don’ t know how I only managed to find out about this a few days ago, but last year, a blaxploitation spoof came out, Scott Sanders’ Black Dynamite, starring Michael Jai White. If you know and love these films like I do, you have to check this out, as it has just about every convention and cliche from the films, and it’s funnier than hell, too. It’s a lot funnier than that Wayans Brothers spoof, I’m Gonna Git You, Sucka. No review… just see it, already.

Hmm, I just found out that comedian Rudy Ray Moore passed away a few weeks ago. If you’re either a blaxploitation fan or a hip-hop historian, you know who I’m talking about:

Rudy Ray Moore, the self-proclaimed “Godfather of Rap” who influenced generations of rappers and comedians with his rhyming style, braggadocio and profanity-laced routines, has died. He was 81.

Moore, whose low-budget films were panned by critics in the 1970s but became cult classics decades later, died Sunday night in Toledo, Ohio, of complications from diabetes, his brother Gerald told the Associated Press.

Though he was little known to mainstream audiences, Moore had a significant effect on comedians and hip-hop artists.

“People think of black comedy and think of Eddie Murphy,” rap artist Luther Campbell of 2 Live Crew told the Miami Herald in 1997. “They don’t realize [Moore] was the first, the biggest underground comedian of them all. I listened to him and patterned myself after him.”

And in the liner notes to the 2006 release of the soundtrack to Moore’s 1975 motion picture “Dolemite,” hip-hop artist Snoop Dogg said:

“Without Rudy Ray Moore, there would be no Snoop Dogg, and that’s for real.”

Moore’s movies were barely-to-non-watchable crass blaxploitation comedies, replete with lots of T&A and profanity, the best known being Dolemite, which is one of those that are so horrendous, you can’t help but laugh. He’s the second important blaxploitation figure to go to the great ghetto in the sky this year, ‘cuz Isaac Hayes left the mortal coil a few months ago.

Now this one here is classic blaxploitation fare, starring Fred Williamson (who’s probably starred in more craptacular films than any other living person) as a gangster who takes on (who else?) the Italians. It’s always the Italians in these films. James Brown did a fantastic soundtrack for this film, although you don’t hear it in the trailer. What you do hear, a bit in the beginning and moreso about halfway through, is an amazingly blatant ripoff of Hendrix’s Purple Haze. They just moved a few notes around or something. Unlike a lot of others, this film is easy to find, it’s even on Netflix. Highly recommended (note that I say that in regards to these kinds of films – don’t come bitching to me when you find it’s not The English Patient or Raiders of the Lost Ark).

Well, this one caught me off guard. R&B legend Isaac Hayes passed away today, at the age of 65. AS the linked to article explains, he was much more than just the guy who wrote the theme from the blaxploitation classic Shaft:

He penned soul classics like “Hold On I’m Comin’” for Sam & Dave, helped usher in the era of disco and was a goldmine for countless hip-hop and R&B artists who used his illustrious arrangements as the focal point for their songs decades later.

“Isaac Hayes embodies everything that’s soul music,” Collin Stanback, an A&R executive at Stax, told The Associated Press on Sunday. “When you think of soul music you think of Isaac Hayes — the expression … the sound and the creativity that goes along with it.”

His influence also extended beyond music. His trademarked bald head, full beard and muscular frame, often adorned with a multitude of gold chains, made him a fashion trendsetter at a time when most of his contemporaries were sporting blowout Afros. He was also a symbol of black pride, and an activist for civil rights.

I’ve always dug Isaac Hayes, and I’m bummed that he’s no longer with us. So, what else, but the live version of Shaft from the Wattstax concert from ’73, introduced by Jesse Jackson with a fro:

But I’d be remiss if I failed to mention his 1974  film, Truck Turner, in which he plays a smooth talking bounty hunter. Classic blaxploitaion with everything you’d expect: jive-ass music, horrible acting, lotsa action and Lt. Uhura looking pretty hot as a madam, too. I really wish I could get the guy who did the voice-over for these trailers to record my answering machine message – how cool would that be?

The music world lost another great today.

A subcategory of one of my favorite exploitation genres, the blaxploitation genre, was the horror blaxploitation genre. It gave us such gems as Blacula, Blackenstein, and this one: Sugar Hill, a blaxploitation voodoo zombie flick. I watched this one last week, and lemme tell ya’ folks, it was a real hoot. Only thing that would have made it better was an R rating, as there was no gratuitous violence or T&A to be seen anywhere, and important aspect of the genre. Enjoy.

Ok, gonna have a new feature here at FBC called From the Grindhouse. In the late 60′s and early 70′s, there were many filmhouses in the shadier parts of town (and a lot on 42nd st in NYC) that would show double and triple features of Z-grade exploitation films chock full of sex, violence and most importantly, horrible acting and they were known as grindhouses. I recently got a hold of some DVD compilations of some grindhouse trailers (some 8 hours worth) and I’d be a terrible host if I were not to share with you. So sit back, get the popcorn and some cheap wine in a paper bag and enjoy. By and large, most of these are probably NSFW, so you’ve been warned. Let’s kick it of with a two-fer:

Blaxploitation horror madness with the legendary Bernie Casey with “Dr. Black and Mr. Hyde”:

And the undisputed (probably because hardly anyone’s ever seen it) horror classic, “I Drink Your Blood and I Eat Your Skin”. Yummy.