Member-only story
That ’90s Type of Fine Was Black Art on Full Display
I’m leaning on the magic of that era to get through 2020 intact
It’s impossible for me to think about the dope vibe of the ’90s and the way it shaped my future without connecting it to Black shows of that era. That era was a blend of Black talent still shining above brokenness. Iconic Black art streaming from our TVs while a broken criminal justice system was ravaging our communities. Yet somehow, the seeds for something larger were planted.
It took most of my adulthood to realize that the seeds for my 2020 #BlackGirlMagic are influenced by TV shows produced in the ’90s. Shows that introduced me to new possibilities coupled with the power of having art that reflected an audience often ignored. I was too young to realize it at the time, but the vibe of the ’90s — or rather that ‘90s type of fine — was on full display, nightly, around “8/7 Central.” From Moesha to New York Undercover to A Different World, the imagery was magnificent. And for this first-generation graduate without a point of reference for college life, no other show had a larger impact on me than A Different World.
Like most appointment TV of the last decades, A Different World created a fictional world at Hillman College that managed to capture the very real essence of ’90s kind of fine. A type of…
