Melvin "Block" Van Peebles is an American actor, filmmaker, playwright, novelist and composer.
Earl T. Stevens, better known by his stage name E-40, is an American rapper and actor. He is a founding member of the rap group The Click, and the founder of Sick Wid It Records. He has released twenty-eight studio albums to date, appeared on numerous movie soundtracks, and has also done guest appearances on a host of other rap albums. Initially an underground artist, his 1995 solo album In a Major Way opened him up to a wider audience. Beginning in 1998, he began collaborating with more mainstream rappers outside the Bay Area. He rose to even higher mainstream popularity in 2006 with his single "Tell Me When to Go" which was produced by Lil Jon.
Baadasssss! is a 2003 American biopic, written, produced, directed by, and starring Mario Van Peebles. The film is based on the struggles of Van Peebles' father Melvin Van Peebles, as he attempts to film and distribute Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song, a film that was widely credited with showing Hollywood that a viable African-American audience existed, and thus influencing the creation of the Blaxploitation genre. The film also stars Joy Bryant, Nia Long, Ossie Davis, Paul Rodriguez, Rainn Wilson, and Terry Crews.
Watermelon Man is a 1970 American comedy film directed by Melvin Van Peebles and starring Godfrey Cambridge, Estelle Parsons, Howard Caine, D'Urville Martin, Kay Kimberley, Mantan Moreland, and Erin Moran. Written by Herman Raucher, it tells the story of an extremely bigoted 1960s-era white insurance salesman named Jeff Gerber, who wakes up one morning to find that he has become black. The premise for the film was inspired by Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis, and by John Howard Griffin's autobiographical Black Like Me.
Ghetto Gothic is the fifth studio album by Melvin Van Peebles. Released in 1995, this album marks the second traditional music effort by Van Peebles, after What the....You Mean I Can't Sing?! Previously, Van Peebles released the experimental spoken word albums Brer Soul, Ain't Supposed To Die a Natural Death and As Serious as a Heart-Attack.
Brer Soul is the debut studio album of Melvin Van Peebles. Released in 1968, the album introduced Van Peebles as a recording artist, following his work as an independent filmmaker, playwright and novelist. It is notable for its use of sprechgesang, a vocal style which lies between speaking and singing.
Ain't Supposed to Die a Natural Death is a musical with a book, music, and lyrics by Melvin Van Peebles. The musical contains some material also on three of Van Peebles' albums, Brer Soul, Ain't Supposed to Die a Natural Death and As Serious as a Heart-Attack, some of which were yet to come out.
American singer and actress Mýa began her career in the late 1990s. Her discography includes eight studio albums, one mixtape, three extended plays, twenty-eight singles, including ten as a featured artist, seventeen soundtrack appearances and thirty music videos on her former record labels Interscope, Universal Motown, Manhattan Recordings and Young Empire Music Group. Harrison has charted twelve entries on Billboard's Hot 100 and attained one number-one single, three top ten hits, six top twenty hits, and eight top forty hits altogether. According to Billboard magazine and Nielsen SoundScan, Mýa has sold over 3.2 million albums in the United States alone. As of October 2009, she has sold seven million albums worldwide. In December 2009, Billboard listed her at the 97th position on their Hot 100 Artists of 2000s.
"The Apple Stretching" is a song by American recording artist Grace Jones, released as a single in 1982.
Confessionsofa Ex-Doofus-ItchyFooted Mutha is a 2008 film by Melvin Van Peebles. It is based on Van Peebles' 1982 Broadway musical Waltz of the Stork and his graphic novel of the same name. The film was screened at the Tribeca Film Festival in April 2008 and was the Closing Night feature in the Maryland Film Festival in May 2008. Van Peebles plays the film's main character from boyhood to age 47.
Jermaine Anthony Preyan, better known by his stage name Mack Maine, is an American rapper and songwriter from New Orleans, Louisiana. Mack Maine currently is signed to and the president of Young Money Entertainment, which was formerly an imprint of Birdman's Cash Money Records. He is the co-founder of Kush Entertainment and has also founded his own label, Soothe Your Soul Records. In addition, Preyan has also ghostwritten songs for other artists, including singles "How to Love" and "Got Money" by Lil Wayne and "So Sophisticated" by Rick Ross.
Waltz of the Stork is a semi-autobiographical play written and originally performed by Melvin Van Peebles. It also featured his son Mario Van Peebles. The play originally ran for four months in 1982. It ran from January 5, 1982 to May 23, 1982.
"How to Love" is a song by American rapper Lil Wayne, released as the third single from his ninth studio album, Tha Carter IV. The song features production from Drum Up for Drum Up Digital with Noel "Detail" Fisher and was released as a digital download on June 13, 2011. It was later released to urban contemporary radio stations on June 24, 2011. The song also makes it his first entry on hot adult contemporary stations, as CJFM-FM Montreal began playing it a month later after the single's release. It peaked at number 5 on the Billboard Hot 100, making it his third highest peak on the chart as the primary artist. Lil Wayne performed the song at the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards, and it received a nomination for "Best Video with a Message" at the 2012 MTV Video Music Awards.
"Moist" Paula Henderson is a baritone saxophone player. She is a member of Greg Tate's Burnt Sugar Arkestra. She is performing with Melvin Van Peebles' group Wid Laxative. She has also played with The Roots, Gogol Bordello, Amanda Palmer, and TV On The Radio, with whom she appeared on the David Letterman show.
"Love, That's America" is a song written by Melvin Van Peebles in 1970 for his film Watermelon Man. He re-recorded it for his 1971 album As Serious as a Heart-Attack. In 2011, the song became associated with the Occupy Wall Street movement due to being used on videos featuring footage from the movement.
Zebulon Cafe Concert is a music venue, bar and restaurant in Los Angeles. Originally, it was a cafe/bar in Brooklyn that hosted live music shows, before it closed in December 2012. It was considered a critic's pick by New York magazine.
Champeen was a 1983 musical by Melvin Van Peebles. It looked at the careers of Bessie Smith and Joe Louis, and had a cast of 18. It won 7 awards at the 11th Audelco Recognition Awards for Black theater, including best actress, best choreography, and best director. Although it covered Bessie Smith's life, it was not a biographical play. The New York Times reviewed it positively, although it was stated that Miss Reaves-Phillips was not given enough singing time.
Alex Lozupone is a New York City–based jazz and rock musician and film director. As a musician, he is a member of Marc Edwards & Slipstream Time Travel, and has played with Percy Jones and Stephen Moses. As a director and cinematographer, he shoots mainly music shows in New York City, and has put up videos for artists such as Pet Bottle Ningen, Weasel Walter, Gato Loco, 24-7 Spyz, and Melvin Van Peebles, as well as readings by Samuel Delany. He has also received airplay on WFMU.
"Rich As Fuck" is a song by American hip hop recording artist Lil Wayne, sent to urban radio on April 9, 2013, as the third and final single from his tenth studio album, I Am Not a Human Being II (2013). The song, produced by T-Minus and Nikhil Seetharam, features a guest appearance from fellow rapper 2 Chainz. The song has since peaked at number 38 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and at number 11 on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs.
Anderson Henderson White is a New York City-based trio featuring Reverend Vince Anderson, Paula Henderson of Burnt Sugar and Melvin Van Peebles wid Laxative, and Jim White of the Dirty Three. Formed in June 2013, their debut performance was described as "an electrifying, psychedelic debut". They described their music as 'free country'. They have performed at shows with Burnt Sugar.
