Slept on Soul: Paul Mooney's Race

AS A CHILD of the 1970s, I grew-up as a fan of racy Black comedy albums. My "summer mother" Aunt Ricky had a stash of Wildman Steve, Redd Foxx and other "blue" records. These albums were marketed towards "Adults Only," with the comedians using coarse language to rap about real life issues (especially sex) while liberally dropping f-bombs and the n-word. Meanwhile, my real mom dukes was the one who turned me on to genius Richard Pryor, the man whose classic albums and concert films inspired a generation of comics, writers, visual artists and others.