The groundbreaking director ushered in the “Blaxploitation” wave of the 1970s and influenced many filmmakers.
Melvin Van Peebles, the groundbreaking playwright, musician and movie director whose work ushered in the “Blaxploitation” wave of the 1970s and influenced filmmakers long after, has died. He was 89.
Sometimes called the “godfather of modern Black cinema,” the multitalented Van Peebles wrote numerous books and plays, and recorded several albums — playing multiple instruments and delivering rap-style lyrics. He later became a successful options trader on the stock market. “I could have called it “The Ballad of the Indomitable Sweetback.” But I wanted the core audience, the target audience, to know it’s for them,” he told The Associated Press in 2003. “So I said `Ba-ad Asssss,′ like you really say it.”
Many of Hollywood’s versions were exaggerated crime dramas, replete with pimps and drug dealers, which drew heavy criticism in both the white and Black press. “I’ll only work with them on my terms,” he said. “I’ve whipped the man’s ass on his own turf. I’m number one at the box office — which is the way America measures things — and I did it on my own. Now they want me, but I’m in no hurry.”
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