Notorious Phd's Guide to the Super Fly '70s A Connoisseur's Journey Through the Fabulous Flix, Hip Sounds, And Cool Vibes That Defined a Decade

AN INTRODUCTION TO THE SUPER FLY '70S PAID THE COST TO BE THE BOSS! I am a child of the Super Fly '70s. Being born in the sixfour, the Year of the Dragon and Muhammad Ali's historic ass whuppin' of Sonny Liston, meant that I would be coming of age, or comin' up, as it were, in the decade that lay ahead. I can't imagine comin' up at a better time. The '70sI'll get into the "Super Fly" part laterwould coincide with my own tenth anniversary on the planet, and this meant that my experience would evolve right along with everything else. As the Black nation came to life, so would I. I would be growing up during the richest, most fertile period of Black culture ever. The '70s would be the decade that set the tone for all the decades to follow. Imagine a long, "money green" Cadillac Eldorado, the Biarritz version, a vinyl top of a contrasting color, let's say gold or champagne, you know, "green for the money and gold for the honey," some gangsta whitewalls, with the covered spare tire on the trunk. In my dreams, I'm wearing a great suit (a "slick vine") topped off by a pimpedout Borsalino hat, which covers my smooth perm, also known as the "Lord Jesus." As I'm driving, leaning to the side, my eyes level with the steering wheel, an aerosol can of "Money House Blessing" with the Native American head on the side ready to zap any lingering weed smells out of existence, I drive by a powder blue "deuceandaquarter." My eighttrack tape player oozes out something laidback, mellow, and chill. Curtis Mayfield comes to mind. Out of the tinted window, I see people wearing platform shoes, glass heels with dice inside, wildass butterfly collars, coke spoons around their necks, the whole nine, straight out of Flagg Brothers or Eleganza, the Black haute couture of the day. This is my fantasy of the era, not one I lived, mind youback then I was just a li'l shortie myselfbut one that I certainly wanted to live, because this was what was around me every day. When I think about the Super Fly '70s, what always comes to mind is the culture itself: the flix, television shows, fashion, sports, and overall attitude that grows from all of these things. I grew up surrounded by this at every turn. It seeped through every aspect of my life, every pore of my being. I lived it, I ate it, I drank it, I smoked it, and I snorted it. The music was like the sound track, the movies and TV shows provided the visuals, and sports offered the opportunity to see greatness and the neverending quest to reach a higher level constantly on display. As a kid, surrounded by all these images of Black culture in the first full decade of a free Black nation, I simply took for granted that it would be this way forever. Things started to change in the late '70s/early '80s; I watched the TV showDiff'rent Strokes, heard disco music, and watched Richard Pryor inThe Toy, and I was suddenly slapped into the reality that all good things unfortunately come to an end. The early to mid'70s was the era when Black popular culture exploded in America, a watershed moment when the culture moved from the segregated spaces that it had been forced into, out into the open, now available for a full public viewing. Black popular culture is no longer confined or segregated as it was back then, but rather it's very much an integral part of mainstream culture in America. There was a time when Jet magazine used to list every appearance of evBoyd, Todd is the author of 'Notorious Phd's Guide to the Super Fly '70s A Connoisseur's Journey Through the Fabulous Flix, Hip Sounds, And Cool Vibes That Defined a Decade', published 2007 under ISBN 9780767921879 and ISBN 0767921879.