Perhaps the style of soul most rooted in the first half of the 1970s, and a lyrical progenitor of gangsta rap in its romantic portrayal of street bravado and violence, blaxploitation provided cinematic scoring opportunities for some of the genre's most talented composers. Touchstone albums from the blaxploitation era include the soundtracks to such racial stereotype-flooded B-movies as Shaft and Truck Turner (by Isaac Hayes, who also starred in the latter), Superfly (Curtis Mayfield), Black Caesar (James Brown), and Trouble Man (Marvin Gaye). Often melodramatically laden with chunkafunk, wah-wah guitar, staccato horns, and bouncy clavinet, blaxploitation film soundtracks were influenced by the confrontational, heavy funk of Sly & the Family Stone and the soulful jazz of Jack McDuff and Grant Green; in turn, blaxploitation music exerted a certain impact on funk jazz in the mid-'70s, most notably on Herbie Hancock's landmark LPs Headhunters and Man-Child.

Notable Artists: Isaac Hayes; Curtis Mayfield; James Brown; Marvin Gaye