The Cast of American Soul talks about the new BET series, which follows the untold perspective of the iconic 35-year running show, Soul Train and its creator Don Cornelius. With narratives about launching the first nationally syndicated Black music show, the fight to win the best talent, and in the heat of the black American experience in the 70s, the show highlights the need for a show created by black people, for black people.
We sat with a few series regulars such as Kelly Price (Grammy-nominated singer), Sinqua Walls (Power), Jason Dirden (Greenleaf), Iantha Richardson (), Katlyn Nichol, Jelani Winston, Christopher Jefferson, and producer Tony Cornelius.
The Knockturnal: How are you feeling now that the show, American Soul, is out and ready for the world to see?
Tony Cornelius: “That’s a very good question, especially as you say, ready for the world to see. You know, I feel extremely excited, I really do because there’s so many learning and teaching moments when you look at it from a cerebral perspective. A lot of times people look at these shows like cotton candy and say oh it’s just another series, but this is based on fact, this is based on someone who blazed the trail and I’m extremely excited and blessed that my father’s name and legacy continues to live.”
Kelly Price: “I’ve been reminding people that they didn’t even know what I looked like when I came out as an artist until the day I performed on Soul Train one Saturday morning. That was intentional. Don Cornelius was apart of helping introduce me to the world. We went with the music because the industry said that nobody was going to buy music from a fat, dark skinned, loud church girl. And so we released the music with no images and we didn’t shoot the video. And we had a number one record, Billboard certified. And then I went on Soul Train and it was the first time everybody got a chance to see what I looked like. And that was Don wanting to be apart of it. He heard the music and he told them my story and he said, ‘I love her voice, she’s going to be a star.’ And so, we gave him the first national appearance where he presented it to us and it was intentional. And I was nominated for a Soul Train Music Award that year for Best New Artist and I won. And he literally was waiting off stage for me when I came off stage with the trophy, and I fell into his chest and I cried. And he said, ‘what, you didn’t think you were going to win?’ So the full circle moment outside of that, but connected to it is that he was the first time people got a chance to see me sing, and this is going to be the first time people will see me act. I’ve done other acting but not like this. So here we go again.”
Sinqua Walls: “I feel relaxed, you know, it’s not in my hands anymore. Now it’s given to the world and we did everything that we could. I always believe that if you give it your all, you’ll have no regrets. And I can honestly say that I stepped in and just tried to deliver the best that I have inside of Sinqua each and every day.”
Jason Dirden: “Proud. You know, as an artist, you want to be associated with projects that have intention behind them and that mean something other than just a form of entertainment. It would have been really easy to make a show about Soul Train and it just be entertaining because it’s Soul Train, it’s music and dancing. But this show has so much purpose and it connects with its audience on many different levels no matter which generation. So that’s what fills me up with so much pride as an artist, and it’s good. It’s really good.”
Jelani Winston: “Exhilarated. Being a newcomer at this, there were a lot of moments where I questioned: what am I doing, am I doing a good job, am I portraying this character truthfully, or in the right way? So it always feels like a blessing after it’s been said and done and to [receive accolades] all around. So yeah, I’m just grateful.”
The Knockturnal: There’s a powerful line from the series: “Black folks the way black folks was meant to be seen. Strong, powerful, and beautiful.” Tell us how that line resonates with you personally.
Kelly Price: “In every way. Because I am black. And even though I’m human first, in America, you’re black first, seriously. But to be black and again because of my connection to the fact that Don felt like what we are and who we are is beautiful, and he wanted to present us bold, inside of our beauty, the different hues of us, and the different shapes of us. As women of color, we’re built like brick houses, not even just plus size, small women in our culture are built like brick houses; we’re stacked and so that’s apart of our beauty as well. And now people are going around and buying booties, but back then they were talking about us and shaming us for how our bodies looked. And people are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to now be what God gave us naturally, and Don saw the beauty in that decades ago and refused to water it down. And he chose to fight to maintain ownership of it so that no one would ever have the opportunity to tell him what he had to do and how he had to present it. So yeah, absolutely.”
Sinqua Walls: “When we walk out this door and when we choose to live in a public form as I have as an actor, you have to say that you are a role model. You can’t fight it, you have to accept it. It’s an is. I always go through life saying there are was’s and is’s — if you choose to be in a public form, if you’re fortunate enough to find a career in visibility and notoriety, you have a responsibility at the same time, to be a role model. So having black people be seen strong, powerful and beautiful, is a responsibility of my own to make sure that I’m carrying myself in a way that carries on that legacy with something that is created.”
Jason Dirden: “I’m a fan of the playwright August Wilson, and he was asked a question, why are all of your plays about African Americans, he said, ‘because I’m tired of white folks looking at us with a glancing eye, not really seeing the fullness of who we are.’ And that’s what I think Don Cornelius meant by seeing black folks the way we’re meant to be seen. In all of our colors and not just the shade of color. In all of who we are as people. It’s a very powerful statement.”
Katlyn Nichol: “So many times when we see ourselves [on screen], it is reflected in the story that is similar to what some people experience in life but it isn’t the only story. And that’s why I mentioned before that representation is important and it’s important to have different versions of what you could possibly be in the media, which is where we spend most of our time.”
Iantha Richardson: “I think it’s really important that for people of color, our stories are told and that it’s not just a monolithic view of what someone of color can be like in life. We’re not just one thing. [The similarity] is just the skin color; that does not make our experiences shared or the same. And at the same time thinking about the beginning of America and where African American lineage started, we started with stereotypes, caricatures, and with people telling our stories for us such as the Mammy, the Jezebel, and that’s who we were. And now that we are allowed to tell our own stories and what really happened, I think it’s so awesome to be able to come out and share actualities, not just false stories made by media.”
Christopher Jefferson: “Overall, society often [presents] us with a negative type of look, so when you see projects like Black Panther, you see kings, you see melanin, you see beauty, you see gold, you see high up in rank.”
Jelani Winston: “When you look at what’s going on in our world–people being killed, gunned down and brutalized, attacked on the streets while walking home, it’s very easy for that to be the only picture/idea you have when it comes to [portraying black people]. It’s the first thing that comes to mind. So that’s why I think that Soul Train was one of the first shows to portray in a positive way. People think that in 1971, when the show aired, or after the Civil Rights Movement, that everything was sunshine and rainbows, but in 1971, the Civil Rights Movement was fragmented, Martin Luther King had just been shot. We didn’t know where we were headed. There was still racism. People were mad. People that were keeping this power were mad and they didn’t magically get over that. So for me, that line really just represents a certain level of truth to be who we were meant to be which is strong, powerful, and beautiful as Don so beautifully says it.”
The Knockturnal: What is your earliest memory of watching Soul Train?
Iantha Richardson: “I remember when I was younger I saw it playing on Saturday mornings. It wasn’t like a ritual in my household, which I know is normal for most people. But it was my first exposure to artists singing and dancing live in concert. Because I was so young when it aired, I didn’t go to any concerts, so that was what I got in terms of a concert and to see black people to be able to show themselves loudly, not just through CD’s or like through music but actually performing. I’m a dancer, first and foremost anyway, so to see music combined with dancing and performing was like a wow factor.”
Jason Dirden: “Cleaning up. We were playing Saturday mornings and cleaning the kitchen. The earliest memories when I would watch Soul Train was the freedom people had. And when I was a kid, when I was 11 years old, I didn’t really understand how important it was to have that kind of platform that free. The older I get, the more I understand. In the 70s and 80s, you’re talking about black people who were going to 9-5 [jobs] in an environment where they couldn’t be free, they couldn’t be themselves, they couldn’t maneuver in America in the same way they would maneuver in their own culture, in their own environments. And to have the outlet of Soul Train, freedom in the way they dress, in the way they move, sing, and then to give the audience at home watching that hour of freedom. We’re actually being showcased as being free. Do you know what that does to your psyche? It’s just a wonderful thing and I’m not sure that even Don Cornelius understood the gravity of what he was doing.”
The Knockturnal: Tell us how you connected with your character and how you prepared for the role.
Sinqua Walls: “Every now and then you’ll get characters where you have to do more research, some more than others. For this one I had to. I had to look at the history of Chicago, I had to look at the history of the high school he went to, the relationship he had with Delores, his wife, who was a big champion in him creating something special. Even amidst how their relationship was descending, she still was a person who lifted him up. I had to look at his radio history and his journalism history. How he was as a father to his son. How he was as a boss and how people knew him and interacted with him. I had to fuel so much history into this man to make sure that when I lived in those moments as this man, that it was true and that it was present.”
Jason Dirden: “The first thing was physically seeing the difference between myself and Sinqua. I knew I had to play opposite him. I knew I had to be just as much of a type A, Alpha dog as he was. Well physically, I can’t match, so I asked, how will I capture that alpha dog, alpha male personality, combined with the hustler, the gangster, but also having the intelligence. Not the scholastic intelligence, but also the emotional and human intelligence to read people and to manipulate situations and so, that’s what I really had to explore first and luckily I had a father who was about my height and my size and he was the fixer for all his friends. He used to tell me stories about the things that he would have to do. And he stopped short of telling me all the details, but watching him and how he was always the calmest in every situation, and he always made the right decision and if the decision wasn’t right, he made it right. And so, taking his mannerisms and the way he processed things and then kind of filtering in what was on the paper was how I created this character, Gerald.”
Katlyn Nichol: “I really had to learn how to be 16 again. Simone is the 16 year old star on the rise. She has that vision and goal to be a famous superstar. That goal and that dream is sparked by her dad when she was younger. She really didn’t have a voice. She couldn’t sing, it was painful she had respiratory problems. So her dad really pushed her to pursue it and he helped her find her voice. Literally. And now [she’s finding it] metaphorically.”
The Knockturnal: Kelly Price on her first role in a TV series…
Kelly Price: “The day they called me and offered me the role of Breanne Clarke, I cried so hard that I could barely say thank you. Because I knew what that moment was more so than anyone else. And when we started doing the promos and I told the story for the very first time, there was not a dry eye in the room. Like, you gotta know that there’s a hand in this that’s otherworldly. How is Don Cornelius apart of introducing me to the world as a singer and then apart of introducing me to the world as a full time actress? You just have to know that God sends some people for you in this life. And Don Cornelius is one of those people that had he not done what he did, maybe the story of my life would be very different. Not just from a cultural standpoint and what he did for the culture, obviously, but for me personally, the journey I’ve taken and for me being able to just be me. And give what God gave me unapologetically, just like he wanted to present unapologetic black. I was able to present unapologetic big girl, but I had a voice.”
The Knockturnal: What are you hoping people will take away or learn about Don Cornelius that wasn’t accessible before?
Sinqua Walls: “I want people to know that Don was a nuanced individual. We knew the host on Soul Train and we thought he lived a great life, which he did, he reached a lot of really high accomplishments and unfortunately we found out that at a time he took his own life, and we don’t have a lot in between that, so I want people to understand that this man was nuanced. He had his ups, he had his downs, he was a husband, he was a father, he was a friend, he was an innovator, he was a creator. All that makes up a person, and not to judge that but to see the nuances of a man.”
Tony Cornelius: “I’m hoping that it spawns other Don Cornelius’s to get out there and to understand, first of all, how good you have to be, in other words, it takes practice. You can’t do this as well as you do it without practice. Some people think they can go from 0-100, but it takes time. I mean, my father was probably fired off of every job he had but he used to tell me, ‘well, I got fired because I never wanted to do it anyway.’ I always looked at it as an excuse but he could see himself doing this, it was always something he could see himself doing. And he just took that to the next level. He kept doing it until he got better. So that’s what I want people to take from this, that you, too can be a Don Cornelius.”
The Knockturnal: What do you think your father would say watching the series?
Tony Cornelius: “I think he’d be happy on the inside, but he probably would show that he didn’t like it on the outside [laughter] because that’s how he was. He never showed his face, he always kind of gave you a feeling that you could do better, but he liked it inside. He was very different in that way. But overall, I think he’d be happy that this was happening. I think he’d be pleased.”
American Soul airs on February 5 at 9/8c only on BET.
