A lot of American black pop culture in the 1970s was about boring kitchen sink realism (e.g. Good Times) or else this-is-definitely-the-black version stuff (Shaft, Foxy Brown, Blacula). It was either "feel bad for blacks" or "this is a black thing". Disco might have been an exception, but that was more homosexual than black, and the back…
A lot of American black pop culture in the 1970s was about boring kitchen sink realism (e.g. Good Times) or else this-is-definitely-the-black version stuff (Shaft, Foxy Brown, Blacula). It was either "feel bad for blacks" or "this is a black thing". Disco might have been an exception, but that was more homosexual than black, and the backlash against it by people who weren't into clubbing, sleeping around, doing drugs, and partying was so intense it wiped disco off the map.
By the 1980s, the black middle class kids who became entertainers wanted a pop culture that mirrored their own childhood and not some misery or ghetto stuff. Prince, for example, grew up as a wannabe rocker with white guitar heroes from nice Minnesota, not in some New York slum. Michael Jackson was part of a showbiz family that did very well for itself and he was the star. Cosby's entire schtick was family-friendly and he hated the negative messaging. Heck, we even saw half-blac Rae Dong Chong become an above-the-title star and love interest for Arnold Schwartzenegger and C. Thomas Howell.
A lot of American black pop culture in the 1970s was about boring kitchen sink realism (e.g. Good Times) or else this-is-definitely-the-black version stuff (Shaft, Foxy Brown, Blacula). It was either "feel bad for blacks" or "this is a black thing". Disco might have been an exception, but that was more homosexual than black, and the backlash against it by people who weren't into clubbing, sleeping around, doing drugs, and partying was so intense it wiped disco off the map.
By the 1980s, the black middle class kids who became entertainers wanted a pop culture that mirrored their own childhood and not some misery or ghetto stuff. Prince, for example, grew up as a wannabe rocker with white guitar heroes from nice Minnesota, not in some New York slum. Michael Jackson was part of a showbiz family that did very well for itself and he was the star. Cosby's entire schtick was family-friendly and he hated the negative messaging. Heck, we even saw half-blac Rae Dong Chong become an above-the-title star and love interest for Arnold Schwartzenegger and C. Thomas Howell.