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  • 6 weeks ago
American Soul is a new BET series that chronicles the rise and fall of Soul Train mastermind, Don Cornelius. ESSENCE caught up with the cast at the New York City premiere to talk about the legacy of Soul Train and more.
Transcript
00:00Guys, it's Danielle Young wishing you love, peace, and soul right here on the American
00:08Soul Red Carpet.
00:17So stay tuned as we talk to all of your faves about American Soul, baby, right here.
00:23Wow, the legacy of Soul Train means so much to me because it was the first time that we
00:26ever had a nationally syndicated TV show for black people to come on the air.
00:30This man did something as a cavalier for black people.
00:32He did something as a cavalier for all ethnicities because you had never seen that before and
00:36he did it well and ran for 35 years.
00:38It's power, it's excellence, it's success.
00:41The legacy of Soul Train will be felt for generations and I feel like doing this show has sealed that.
00:48We are, I've been telling everyone, we have the great privilege of edutaining the world.
00:54We're educating them while we entertain them and we're doing it with permission of the
00:58Cornelius family.
00:59They've given us real, raw, good, bad, ugly, indifferent of their lives and said, tell the
01:06world about our dad.
01:08Tell the world about my former husband and what a privilege, what an honor to have someone
01:13trust you with their life like that because we dig deep.
01:17Actually, when I was in 3LW, I performed on Soul Train and Don Cornelius was still living
01:21and it's just interesting to see how what he created and the legacy of creating a space
01:27for black music, dancers, musicians to perform and to express themselves freely.
01:32At that time, he really changed the culture and catapulted something that has, I think,
01:39helped black musicians and artists to be heard.
01:43There was more than just entertainment.
01:45You know, it was an acceptance of our culture, of who we are.
01:49It put us on display.
01:50It allowed the country to see who we are in our various colors and not just clothing.
01:55You know what I mean?
01:56Knowing that we can still create a show around something so iconic like Soul Train is inspiring
02:02and I'm just so grateful that I could be a part of it.
02:06Being able to openly and honestly project our blackness onto the world unapologetically.
02:12It's passion, you know, that thing that makes you get up in the morning to chase your dreams
02:17even when you don't know what's going to happen, what's going to come of it.
02:20My father created a dynasty, you know, it's part of American fabric
02:24and I'm very excited and very thankful that he was able to create something that continues to move on.
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