It’s true, after a few viewings Black Dynamite’s lines start seeming less jokey and more just sort of…awesome.
It took a lot for Mike to develop that character. That character is a mix of Blaxploitation characters. For instance, you watch [Blaxploitation star] Jim Brown, Jim Brown is always being super hard. He’s always trying to be hard, and at the same time he has trouble with women. There’s an awkwardness he has when he’s around females. Some of those characteristics Mike drew on to build the Black Dynamite character. Then you have Fred Williamson from Black Caesar and Boss Nigger, all that. In a lot of these movies he was super cool and suave, kind of like a Billy Dee. He had to mix some of that into Black Dynamite. So he had to exude these alpha male characteristics, as well as earnestly deliver comedy. It’s amazing that he could pull it off, I don’t know anybody else who could do that. Anybody else who played that character would have messed up the movie.
Any truth to the ongoing rumors about a sequel?
I can tell you this: there will be a sequel. The issue is when. There’s the cartoon coming out on Adult Swim, that’s going to debut August 8 on Cartoon Network. That’s been the primary focus this last year. I can say I’m sure [Black Dynamite 2] will happen, but there’s no plan as far as when it’ll start and when it’ll be released.
Back you were first putting together ‘Venice Dawn,’ what appealed to you about making a soundtrack for a movie that didn’t exist?
People are more directed to try to see the story. To me it just worked out better because I feel as though people realize the depth a little more. They take it a little more seriously. I collect a lot of old soundtrack records. I love them. I don’t know, there’s just something about those stories, because those composers had to enhance the visuals. They were free to do a lot of things they couldn’t necessarily do if they were hired to do a pop album.
How real was the “film” to you while you were doing the music?
When I was writing the album, I wasn’t necessarily seeing scenes. I was seeing life. It’s kind of like reading a book. When you’re reading a book, you’re seeing these scenes in your head, you don’t necessarily see it from a film perspective. You see it from a life perspective as if you’re that person. That’s what I was thinking about when I was doing the album
The art for ‘Something About April’ makes it seem even more like it could be a real movie.
A lot of people think the white chick on there, her name is April. That’s not what it is. Something About April represents the season when things spring back again. She represents April; the male represents the winter, when it’s cold. The whole album is about their story, the ups and downs of their relationship, whether they should be together or they shouldn’t.
Adrian Younge plays at Pagoda Lounge in San Jose on Saturday, March 31, 9pm; $12.
.Interview: Adrian Younge Brings ‘Black Dynamite,’ ‘Venice Dawn’ to Pagoda
