It goes without saying that Kanye West, who celebrated a birthday yesterday, is one of hip-hop’s greatest producers.

soul (Middle English, from Old English sawol) – 1. the animating and vital principle in human beings, credited with the faculties of thought, actions and emotion and often conceived as an immaterial entity. 2. a sense of ethnic pride among African-Americans, expressed in areas such as language, social customs, religion and music.

With the increasing number of films aimed towards black audiences in the early 1970s, filmmakers realized that they couldn’t turn to Henry Mancini to provide the musical backdrops for these movies.

68 Years ago today the Queen of Soul was born in Memphis Tennessee as Aretha Louis Franklin.  The soul, Jazz and Gospel afficionado was ranked #1 in Rolling Stone magazine’s greatest singers of all time.