Melvin Van Peebles' status as a pioneering African-American filmmaker obscures the fact he also blazed trails as one of the forebears of rap music. If there's anyone who could draw from a large pool of life experiences, it was Van Peebles, a supremely creative individual who could also list Air Force bombardier, cable car driver, postal worker, portrait painter, journalist, novelist, playwright, and actor to his résumé. Most of the attention aimed at Van Peebles over the years came through the films he had written, directed, and scored -- including The Story of a Three-Day Pass (1968), The Watermelon Man (1970), and Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song (1971) -- but he also revolutionized Black music with several albums that combined rapping with out-there jazz and funk, including 1969's Brer Soul and 1974's What The … You Mean I Can't Sing?