Lonnie Liston Smith

The early 1970s Blacksploitation movies were usually god-awful and are approached better as kitschy fun. That said, the soundtracks to these crime flicks were more than just good -- they've only improved over the decades. The documentary Baadasssss Cinema offers a revealing and entertaining look at the short-lived Blacksploitation film fad and collects many key tracks (ironically, two of the best, Gil-Scott Heron's "The Bottle" and William DeVaughn's "Be Thankful for What You Got," aren't from the movies). You can't go wrong with classics by Curtis Mayfield, Roy Ayers, James Brown and Isaac Hayes.