Post your Blaxploitation soundtracks here.

As with other topics try not to post too many pics or vids in the the same post for faster load times...

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“Lesser artists borrow... great artists steal.” - Igor Stravinsky
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I'll start with the one that started it all for me...

Various Artists - Baaddasssss! (Vinyl Sampler) (BBE Records)



^This soundtrack exists only in sampler on vinyl otherwise the CD is the full length release. This is frankly more than good enough for me. It has the best songs from the movie and the ones it doesn't have are really just dialogs. So I saw the movie when it came out which sparked my interest in collecting the music in the Blaxploitation films. I knew about the film genre of course and the various soundtracks existing, but this movie was so well done and the music grabbed me so it can be credited for starting this new collection addiction I have.

If you haven't seen the film, watch it. It's Mario Van Peebles playing his father Melvin who is solely responsible for starting the Blaxploitation film genre. It's a nice tribute to his dad, and like his' dad's OST "Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song" his movie is filled with that funky soulful sound I eat up.

Funkiest song on this soundtrack IMHO is War's - Get Down.





^Starts off kinda chill, kinda mellow, then it slams on the funk in a way that made me appreciate this once criminally slept on band. If you are short on time slide it to 1:30 and dig that sweet, sweet, funk "Early in the morning! Before you eat your breakfast! You gotta get down!"




Melvin Van Peebles - Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song LP (Stax) 1971



^This was the first Blaxploitation soundtrack that was made and it started the ball rolling for the entire film genre. Besides Melvin's own band it was also graced with early Earth, Wind & Fire production. His stuff is cool, EW&F's stuff is fire. It took me a long time to find this on vinyl but the search was worth it, I got this probably in 2005. Upon listening I spotted a lot of samples including Madlib used "Come On Feet" in his debut of his Quasimoto alias.








James Brown ‎- Black Caesar LP (Polydor) 1973



^So much James Brown touched is fire and this is no exception. How does one begin reviewing a classic James Brown album that is timeless and that was sampled infinitely by Hip Hop? One doesn't, instead he just plays this...

The Boss








James Brown - Slaughter's Big Rip Off LP (Polydor) 1973



^Yet another reason they called him the hardest working man in show business. 2 killer soundtracks in the same year, and honestly, I can't tell you which is better. They are both fantastic. For the sake of diversity, I'll post one of James' rare funky blues moments which he easily masters.

King Slaughter








Isaac Hayes - Shaft LP (Enterprise) 1971



^Everybody and their mom covered the theme song to Shaft (Teachers Lounge Link), but did you know that this entire album is fire? And much of it while primarily disco funky style is actually nice and chill soul music. This is an easy album to find, but often it's "over loved" so finding a nice clean copy can be a bit of a pain. Regardless don't hesitate to work and make this happy, it is a bonafide quintessential blaxploitation soundtrack.

Bumpy's Lament





^Nice loungey after work soul.


More to come... I'm going to try to do at least 5 a day till I post all of mine in this niche.

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“Lesser artists borrow... great artists steal.” - Igor Stravinsky
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This is great stuff! I've never heard that King Slaughter jam from James Brown that you posted there. Definitely gonna have to check that out one day. I have a copy of the Black Caesar soundtrack on CD. It's one of my favorite albums by him. Every single track is fantastic.

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Definitely not my area of expertise but I can dig this stuff. Of those posted I only have Shaft, and my copy could use an upgrade (a bit beat, crappy pressing).

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Isaac Hayes - Tough Guys LP (Enterprise) 1974



^Another must have soundtrack from Isaac Hayes if for no other reason than buying it for Hung Up On My Baby and it's famous association with the Geto Boys.

Quote
DJ Ready Red of the Geto Boys
...we started working on the “We Can’t Be Stopped” album.

So Scarface come over and we was digging thru my crates, and I been trying to work with a song from the Tough Guys soundtrack, and I only bought it cuz it was Tony Williams on the cover and it was Isaac Hayes.

So I was like, Ok, so we played around, we found the joint called the jam. So we started putting it together and during the time of that, and I was telling Face, “Yo, if you hear something, I can put it together.” So on that song we we did it.

FULL INTERVIEW at BeatJunkies.com

So this was sampled...






...on one of Hip Hop's best songs ever made...








Johnny Pate - Brother on the Run LP (Perception Records) 1973



^Unassuming cover but there's actually a lot of great songs on this album. Much of it is like a funky big band sound, lots of brass throughout.








Johnny Pate - Bucktown LP (American International Pictures) 1975



^Johnny Pate made a lot of these soundtracks and this one is probably my second favorite. Great urban funk throughout, lots of dialog and a generally feel good flow on this. Your girl will shake her ass to this 100% guaranteed.


So good in fact, I used this on my Dumpster Funk volume 1 mix back in the day.





^Can anyone name that old synth on that? Curious about that sound and I can't visually place the piano.




Johnny Pate - Shaft In Africa LP (ABC) 1973



^After Isaac Hayes got the shaft on the second soundtrack deal (not really, dad joke) Johnny Pate picked it up nicely where Isaac set it down. Super funky all the way thru and no this is not afro-funk this is straight up funk.

Shaft In Africa





...And just for fun, check out this recent killer cover by the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble (a straight brass group)








Quincy Jones - The Lost Man LP (UNI Records) 1969



^Wait 1969? I thought Melvin's was the first Blaxploitation Soundtrack!?

Although Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song was technically the first Blaxploitation movie other movies like the Lost Man were not full on in your face "black power" movies, they were more subtle, with fewer black actors and more about inequality moral dilemmas that were very real in the late 60s. There were precursor movies like this one that tested the waters.

The theme music is more soul than funk, more jazz than any other to follow, but undoubtedly this falls into that pre blaxploitation chase theme style that all blaxploitation soundtracks to follow had. This is almost like a James Bond soundtrack only less dramatic and more Quincy Jones' introspective style.


Listen to what I mean by the James Bondish mention... (and who can spot samples?)






...more soon

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“Lesser artists borrow... great artists steal.” - Igor Stravinsky
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