NEW YORK – Texas-born hip-hop duo UGK look confidently into the camera with Stallion in the music video for their fan-favorite song “Wood Wheel.” The visuals reflect the expertise of the renowned Houston-area music act: mixing stories of big-city hustle and bustle with charming Texas cowboy culture.
“It’s not black people trying to assimilate to the Western lifestyle in this country. Black people all over the country – from the East Coast to the West Coast – have been prevalent in this area for years,” said Bun B, who, along with partner Pimp C, became pillars of Southern hip-hop, and scored hits to help it become the current dominant rap genre it is today.
Bunn, ambassador of the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo and the first and only Black male hip-hop headliner in its history, shares his experiences in “High Horse: The Black Cowboy,” a new documentary executive produced by Jordan Peele and his MonkeyPaw Productions. The project highlights who the first American cowboys – black men – are and attempts to refute America’s mythology and pop culture image of the guys in tall boots and Stetson hats.
Bunn told The Associated Press, “Being a black performer in this concert series spanning more than 90 years has been wonderful to me, but it has also given me a deeper perspective of understanding the place of black cowboys in American history.” “It’s really energized me to try to fill this void of confusion, where people who are somewhat aware will usually have a distorted view.”
Directed by Jason Perez and streaming on Peacock, the three-part documentary is an extension of Peele’s 2022 blockbuster film “Nope.” Starring Daniel Kaluuya and Keke Palmer, the film follows siblings who operate the only black-owned horse farm in California, training horses for Hollywood productions.
Edward Muybridge, a pioneer of motion photography in science-fiction horror film, and his groundbreaking “The Horse in Motion” moving image are noted, noting that the horse, Sally Gardner, has always been identified, but the black jockey riding her has been largely unknown.
“We decided to go on this journey to really find out or raise the question of what happened to the black cowboy? Who wiped out the black cowboy?” said Keisha Center, the company’s senior vice president of culture and impact and executive producer of the project. “At Monkeypaw, we really think erasure is a horror story.”
“High Horse” is filled with archival footage and photographs to provide context to the lives of early black cowboys. In addition to creating a more complete synthesis of the Old West, it documents how Black cowboy communities have remained vibrant in different areas across the country, following their struggles and triumphs.
The documentary focuses on the history of the Black Cowboy and abolition, the systemic racism and current battles faced by Black citizens over land ownership in the post-slavery Reconstruction era, and the entertainment influence African Americans have had throughout the country’s western history. This comes amid the country’s current political turmoil. Critics of the Trump administration say its policies disproportionately and negatively affect Black Americans, including eliminating DEI programs, mass layoffs at federal agencies, and cuts to SN benefits, Medicare, and Medicaid.
Peele, Glynn Turman, Pam Grier, Tina Knowles and Rick Ross, all in attendance, talk about their own experiences with cowboy culture. R&B veteran Raphael Saadiq provides the project’s original score.
“This is an important time in history, and I can see the writing on the wall,” said Terman, an actor who grew up in New York City and has lived on a California ranch for decades. “It’s a survival tool that we’ve been entrusted with with this documentary.”
Using entertainment for education is nothing new for Terman, the 78-year-old Emmy winner who received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in July. He starred as retired Army Colonel Bradford Taylor in the hit ’90s sitcom “A Different World,” a spinoff of “The Cosby Show” set on a historically black college campus.
“I’m from a generation where we’ve made great progress — progress at great cost. And to see us in a time where institutions are really trying to negate those progress, it’s disappointing,” Terman said of the current political divide in the country.
The documentary also briefly describes the conversations regarding ownership of cowboy culture and the gatekeeping surrounding it.
The topic reached a pop cultural fever pitch in recent years, thanks to Beyoncé’s “Cowboy Carter” album and her album of the year win at the Grammys in February. It also includes Lil Nas
Bunn says the heart of “High Horse” is examining this neglected – or erased – part of history to learn more about the country as a whole.
“This is not a black story – this is an American story,” said the former distinguished lecturer at Houston’s Rice University. “It will rightly change everything you know about American cowboys, and put these things in their proper historical context. And that will benefit all Americans.”
Follow Associated Press entertainment reporter Gary Gerard Hamilton on all his social media platforms at @GaryGHamilton.
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