History Music / CurtisMayfield

* Determinator: Mayfield, post-accident. Now a quadriplegic, he recorded his vocals for the ''New World Order'' album line by line, while lying on his back. It was the only way he could get enough air into his lungs to sing.

* Main/Determinator: Mayfield, post-accident. Now a quadriplegic, he recorded his vocals for the ''New World Order'' album line by line, while lying on his back. It was the only way he could get enough air into his lungs to sing.

* Determinator: Mayfield, post-accident. Now a quadriplegic, he recorded his vocals for the ''New World Order'' album line by line, while lying on his back. It was the only way he could get enough air into his lungs to sing.

** With the Impressions: "Mighty Mighty (Spade and Whitey):

* NWordPrivileges: In “Pusherman” and “(Don’t Worry) If There’s a Hell Below, We’re All Gonna Go.” Note that in the former song he sings from the POV of a ghetto drug dealer.

* NWordPrivileges: In “Pusherman” and “(Don’t Worry) If There’s a Hell Below, We’re All Gonna Go.” Note that in the former song he sings from the POV of a ghetto drug dealer.

Singer, songwriter, guitarist, bandleader, producer, and label owner Curtis Mayfield (1942-1999) was a primary exponent of sweetly melodic yet socially conscious soul/funk. He began his career with the Impressions, leading them through a series of upbeat love songs ("It's All Right") and soaring pleas for racial progress ("Keep on Pushing," "This Is My Country," "Choice of Colors"). Mayfield departed the Impressions in the 1970s, to begin a solo career that saw his social conscience deepen. His best known achievement as a solo artist was the soundtrack to SuperFly.

* SoundtrackDissonance: The SuperFly soundtrack, full stop. The movie itself is about a coke dealer (to be fair, a coke dealer hoping to escape the life). Mayfield said that the movie seemed like "a cocaine commercial," when he first saw it, and wrote songs decrying the urban decay and drug abuse that spawned such characters as the film’s antihero.

* ProtestSong: He wrote a whole lot of these.

Mayfield also scored the soundtracks to the movies ''Short Eyes,'' ''Let’s Do It Again,'' and ''Sparkle.'' His popularity waned in the 1980s, and he was paralyzed from the neck down following an accident at an outdoor concert in 1990. Nevertheless, he recorded a final album, ''New World Order,'' in 1996. He died three years later from complications of diabetes.

Tropes associated with Curtis Mayfield include:

Singer, songwriter, guitarist, bandleader, producer, and label owner Curtis Mayfield (1942-1999) was a primary exponent of sweetly melodic yet socially conscious soul/funk. He began his career with the Impressions, leading them through a series of upbeat love songs ("It's All Right") and soaring pleas for racial progress ("Keep on Pushing," "This Is My Country," "Choice of Colors"). Mayfield departed the Impressions in the 1970s, to begin a solo career that saw his social conscience deepen. His best known achievement as a solo artist was the soundtrack to SuperFly. Though he described the movie “a cocaine commercial,” the songs themselves decried drug abuse and the urban decay that spawned such characters as the film’s antihero.

* NWordPrivileges: In “Pusherman” and “(Don’t Worry) If There’s a Hell Below, We’re All Gonna Go.”

Singer, songwriter, guitarist, bandleader, producer, and label owner Curtis Mayfield (1942-1999) was a primary exponent of sweetly melodic yet socially conscious soul/funk. He began his career with the Impressions, leading them through a series of upbeat love songs ("It's All Right") and soaring pleas for racial progress ("Keep on Pushing" "Choice of Colors"). Mayfield departed the Impressions in the 1970s, to begin a solo career that saw his social conscience deepen. His best known achievement as a solo artist was the soundtrack to SuperFly. Though he described the movie “a cocaine commercial,” the songs themselves decried drug abuse and the urban decay that spawned such characters as the film’s antihero.

* Blaxploitation: He was associated with this, thanks to SuperFly.

->''People get ready for the train a-comin'.

Singer, songwriter, guitarist, bandleader, producer, and label owner Curtis Mayfield (1942-1999) was a primary exponent of sweetly melodic yet socially conscious soul/funk. He began his career with the Impressions, leading them through a series of upbeat love songs ("It's All Right") and soaring pleas for racial progress ("Keep on Pushing" "Choice of Colors"). Mayfield departed the Impressions in the 1970s, to begin a solo career that saw his social conscience deepen. His best known achievement as a solo artist was the soundtrack to SuperFly. Though he described the movie “a cocaine commercial,” the songs themselves decried drug abuse and the urban decay that spawned such characters as the film’s antihero.

Mayfield also scored the soundtracks to the movies ''Short Eyes,'' ''Let’s Do It Again,'' and ''Sparkle.'' His popularity waned in the 1980s, and he was paralyzed from the neck down following an accident at an outdoor concert in 1990. Nevertheless, he recorded a final album, ''New World Order,'' in 1996. He died three years later from complications of diabetes.

Tropes associated with Curtis Mayfield include:

* Blaxploitation: He was associated with this, thanks to SuperFly.
* EpicRocking: “Move On Up” and “(Don’t Worry) If There’s a Hell Below, We’re All Gonna Go.”
* NiceHat: Mayfield wore lots of these in the 1970s.
* NWordPrivileges: In “Pusherman” and “(Don’t Worry) If There’s a Hell Below, We’re All Gonna Go.”