Just three months after the release of Sweetback, Blaxploitation entered the mainstream thanks to Shaft, which was financed by MGM and hit cinema screens in July of 1971.
Featuring the iconic wah-wah riff and deep-voiced intonation of Isaac Hayes, the film’s theme tune – eulogising “the black private dick who’s a sex machine to all the chicks” – is arguably the defining moment in Blaxploitation history, its startlingly economical opening lyric including the genre’s key ingredients (crime, sex, Black Power politics) and even a reference to James Brown. (Three years later, Hayes would both score and star in Truck Tuner, taking the title role and becoming the only high-profile musician to land a major acting part in a Blaxploitation flick.)
This is one of the, if not THE coolest moment in Oscar history.
Do Your Thing
Truck Turner theme song
Pursuit of the Pimpmobile