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It isn’t a surprise that many people look at the mid/late 1990s through the early 2000s as a golden age for Black actors/comedians and Black television overall. Whether it was Will Smith fleeing trouble in Philadelphia by moving to live with his wealthy family members in California on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air or the late great Bernie Mac taking in his nieces and nephew because his sister was on drugs, we were never without a great Black sitcom during this era.

What made these shows so great and memorable, though? The stars that carried the shows. Most of the shows during the time were named after the main characters (i.e., The Steve Harvey Show), so that goes without saying. The networks obviously saw something special enough in these actors and actresses that they thought giving them their own shows was the right decision. They, too, deserve credit for their contributions. The writers behind some of our favorite scenes (and the cast members who brought them to life) also can’t go without being mentioned.

A successful TV show is built like a machine where every little part plays a key component in making it run smoothly. One of the most overlooked aspects of most of the legendary shows we loved watching growing up were the theme songs. Before we were able to listen to Brandy’s diary entries, we knew that we would hear “Mo to the…E to the.” When we heard the ad-lib “Oh that is cayute” from another room, we all knew that it was time to watch The Parkers. Some of the stars of the shows showed their dual talents by recording the theme songs themselves (Queen Latifah, Countess Vaughn), and in some other cases, legit superstars (Lil Romeo, Coolio) were tapped to handle the task. Regardless of who graced the theme songs, we were blessed with a lot of very classic opening tracks.

In a time when shows had to be top-notch, the music that accompanied them had to be on the same level. To celebrate Black History Month and some of our favorite Black sitcoms, we put together a gallery of our favorite theme songs from the shows we grew up loving. Let us know which ones are your favorites and if you think we missed any!

Bonafide Bops: Celebrating Black History Month With Our Favorite Black Sitcom Theme Songs was originally published on ioneglobalgrind.staging.go.ione.nyc