Black people of the 80s

I think Mr T's image on The A Team was the most powerful, in that he continued the image of black people as threatening and badass. Before Cosby came to show people a more wholesome image, Mr T reigned supreme on prime time TV. He even had his own Saturday Morning Cartoon!

MJ was the most known black man on the whole planet in the 80s. Everybody had a Thriller album. His jacket and glove were staples of the whole decade! His image was cool, and this was long before the disheveled, confused MJ he would later become. Not to say he wasn't that way before, but the way he did that moonwalk, you would never know!

In contrast to Mr T, you had Gary Coleman, a big boy who, due to a medical condition, seemed to look forever young. This was one of the most unique aspects of the 80s, the success of this actor who played the perpetual child but could never find his place in society. A metaphor for black people as a whole? Interesting thought....

Eddie's movies made for some fun Saturday afternoons in the 80s. Later on, I would always approach situations but I figured if I couldn't do it like Eddie, I was falling short. Whereas Mr T was badass, Eddie was the smart ass. Fast talking, witty, and mischievous.

Debbie was that master dancer, who epitomized the craft on all levels. She dominated movies and TV being the face of the Fame television show. One of the greatest choreographers of all time.

Prince's Purple Rain and his discography was synonymous with the 80s. In my opinion, his 80s swagger just could not go past the 80s. He's still one of the greatest musicians ever, though.

Much like NBC's Gary Coleman, ABC's Emmanuel was another perpetual man child who just could not grow up. When I found out how old he really was, I was shocked!

He was Gary Coleman's sidekick, but he was way better in Friday the 13th Part 5 as the charismatic little man who you just knew he was going to be a star someday.

Back in the 80s, basketball players had class. Magic was one of the greatest ever. I'd take Magic today over the knuckleheads in the game now.

Rae Dawn Chong may have been "mixed" but back then she was the black female actress who was pretty much the only one! She played the part with dignity and class, without taking off her clothes or being a slut.

Even though I was into TV hard in the 80s, I wasn't really a Miami Vice fan. The show was on every Friday night in the 80s and should have been a weekly ritual, but for me, it wasn't. I got bored with it everytime I watched it. Even the new updated movie bored me! But, I give Phillip props for being the cool black character on the show who was more than a "sidekick".

Now, when I first saw Breakin I was amazed at this man's skills at pop locking. Hours were spent in front of the mirror trying to movie like this guy. Never got it, though.

He was pretty obscure back in the 80s, but his earlier late 80s material with NWA put the Mr T scowl up a notch, complete with guns, misogyny, and ultra violence all to a funky beat.

Though Tina Turner's career spanned decades up until the 80s, it was in the 80s when, even though she was old enough to be our mothers, me and every young boy in America would have still tried to date her!

Man, Ola Ray left me speechless every time I saw her. Her role in the Michael Jackson video for "Thriller" was classic. Plus, her role as Eddie Murphy's chick in 48 Hrs was great. I would have loved to see much more of her, literally.

He was right there from the beginning, going from the set of Breakin to the recording booth, telling everybody about the gang culture of Los Angeles, which then led to a whole new genre of rap.

While Ice T was breaking down violent gang culture and Mr T was beating guys down on the A-Team, Blair Underwood was the pretty boy. Whereas Eddie was a smart ass, Blair was, well, charming, I guess.

Alfonso brought his dance steps and his black guy coolness to the lily white set of Ricky Shroeder's Silver Spoons. Unlike the badass Mr T, or the perpetual children on other shows, Alfonso and his character were, well, normal; the type of guy you would be cool with, without thinking he would kick your ass and without thinking he was 10 years younger than he looked.

LL started out in the 80s, bringing more of the Mr T talk to early Def Jam records, but he was a pretty boy on the other hand. He was badass but didn't force you to cross the street, and charming but not a softie!

There has been much debate as to Jennifer's ethnicity. However, for me, given the lack of prevalent black women in film in the 80s, and the fact that she was a star, makes her black to me!

Though he was a 70s black exploitation movie icon, his role in the classic 80s flick "Revenge of the Nerds" showed a different kind of "brother"; which was the black fraternity brother who was serious, strong and silent.

Russell is like so up there now, partying with Obama, but back then, he was a hustler! Charming, fast talking and manipulative, he was the subject of one of the only movies (besides Breakin) of the early 80s all black people came out to see, Krush Groove.

If you saw Friday the 13th A New Beginning, you would have seen him in all his 80s glory, looking like a cross between Cooly Jackson (the 80s dancer from Solid Gold and the Breakin' Movies) and Prince. He played a wannabe black rock star who didn't live past 15 minutes of the movie.

Before there was Diddy, Russell Simons, Eazy E, Master P or Andre Harrell, there was Fab 5 Freddy, the first hip hop hustler/businessman.

The ideal cute well spoken sista with the most beautiful smile you would marry if you had the chance, just like the African prince in Coming To America!

Much like Shari Headley from Coming To America, Allison was that ideal sista; a really hot beautiful chocolate skinned cutie who I would have taken to the prom if Jennifer Beals wasn't available!

The ideal father figure of the 80s, Bill took the whole image of blacks on TV up until then and flipped the script. Black people no longer were "different", they were just like everybody else.

I really wished this guy had more than 15 minutes, but his image of a kung fu master carried with it too much baggage as it was. It was rough in the 80s taking an interest in the martial arts. Even if all you did was take a few classes, people thought that if you weren't catching bullets in your teeth, you were wasting your time.

The black slacker son long before slackers was popular in the 90s. His character on Cosby was real because all of us at one time or another needed a kick in the pants to aspire to greater things and to correct us when we talked foolishly.

Who knew Will would become as big as he did. As The Fresh Prince he served up cartoonish rap which was prominent on many High School Dance Floors!

Everything was cool up until Angel Heart, but she was that sister we all wanted to take to the prom....

Long before New Jack City, he was in some low budget exploitation flicks like Rappin' and Delivery Boys. Chances are if you rented VHS tapes in the 80s and the movie had black people in it, he was in it!

That "other brother" who got outshined by Janet Jackson but he was the nice guy, normal, cool and a bit down to Earth, aside from his crack smoking incident later on after Different Strokes.

The ultimate black bad girl whose career stopped short due to drugs and crazy behavior. Wished I saw more of her, there was alot of potential lost doing bad stuff.

Before all the drugs and drama, Bobby Brown took his funky new jack swagger to the mainstream, and he did it so well back then everybody was hooked.

Another of the founding fathers of "gangsta rap" an 80s phenomenon (all that Death Row stuff was G-Funk, not gangsta rap technically) In the late 80s when I first heard NWA and the posse, and I had been listening to rap heavy since '82, I was like, "what is this?" When gangsta rap slowly evolved to G-Funk I was hooked!

The iconic DJ behind the style and image of RUN DMC. His style choices of Adidas shoes and track suits defined 80s urban fashion. A true hip hop icon and pioneer.

The cool B Boy in the movie Beat Street. Watching him you would think his persona was so easy to emulate, but it wasn't. In the movie he was just being himself. As real as they come.

The cool quiet guy who could do all the latest moves. Man, he should have been the star of Breakin'! Lucky guy got to be around all the hot Solid Gold dancers and was in every season of the show, even when the show started to suck.

Not one of my favorites, and if you saw that "Girls Are More Fun" video you would know what I mean. Then there was "Enemy Territory". And how could anybody from the 80s forget that stupid "Ghostbusters" video. The only thing I think he got right was his jheri curl.