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Melvin Van Peebles

Brer Soul, New York, USA

No obstacle is too high for the Van who can. When Melvin gets an idea in his head, it's doesn't just become an artistic endeavour - it becomes a statement about social politics and enterprise, crowbarring some slack for the voices of the minority. After making some short films that got some short shrift from Hollywood, Melvin was embraced by the French school of cinema, and so, like any aspiring film-maker, Melvin learnt the language, and began writing plays in French. By developing a style of talking over the songs, Melvin's album Brer Soul from 1969 is a strong contender for original hip hop blueprint. With some European cred to his name, Melvin returned to Hollywood and dropped his film Watermelon Man, a surreal fantasy about race and fickle friendships. His most acclaimed film Sweet Sweetback's Badasss Song - for which he pretty much broke all the rules, and wrote, produced, scored, directed and starred in - laid several huge footprints that an eager Hollywood quickly jumped in, turning the brother man into an American national icon, and inspiring artists like Spike Lee, Gil-Scott Heron, and The Last Poets. 

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