Watt's Up at the CAAM

Created and nurtured by numerous luminaries, the dichotomies of Negro/Black music lie in two camps from the latter part of the last century: Motown, representing the Motor City (Detroit, ya’ll) and Stax, representing Memphis; the new Black middle-class, and the change-hungry working-class Negro respectively. Among the many things that both record labels shared was their ability to synthesize the emotions of the Civil Rights generation. You have no idea what we’re talking about? Don’t sweat it; LA's California African American Museum (CAAM) is rolling out Wattstax: I Am Somebody! to commemorate the 35th anniversary of the cultural phenomenon.

First came the Summer of Soul in 1967, and seven years later, Wattstax a 1972 benefit concert in Los Angeles staged by the Stax label. A full twelve years after the Watts riots, the Stax crew rolled into Watts and proceeded to mesmerize. Hosted by none other than Richard Pryor and Jesse Jackson, Isaac Hayes, the Staple Singers, and The Soul Children (I Don’t Know What This World is Coming To, were but a few of the groups that graced the stage.

Aside from providing the template for Dave Chappelle's Block Party, and providing hip-hop producers with a wealth of samples, Wattstax synthesized the new Black America. Not quite country, or Rock & Roll, but somewhere in between "We Shall Overcome" and "Am I Black Enough for You?" one might find the Stax catalog and the energy exemplified by the charged photographs that documented the cultural touchstone. Captured mostly by unknown or unaccredited, photographers these sixty pieces of history not only offer a glimpse into burgeoning pop culture icons, but the sustainability and power of their craft.

W.E.B. DuBois said that "all art is propaganda and ever must be, despite the wailing of the purists... I do not care a damn for any art that is not used for propaganda." And Wattstax took that declaration to heart, putting forth the image of the Newest Negro--Black America. And demonstrating that, in the words of the Godfather of Soul, damn right we are someone. In living color.

Wattstax: I Am Somebody! opens August 9 and closes on October 28, 2007.

1 August 2007