| Ain't Supposed to Die a Natural Death | |
|---|---|
 Original Logo | |
| Music | Melvin Van Peebles |
| Lyrics | Melvin Van Peebles |
| Book | Melvin Van Peebles |
| Basis | Van Peebles' earlier albums |
| Productions | 1971 Broadway |
| Awards | Drama Desk Award for Most Promising Book |
Ain't Supposed to Die a Natural Death (Tunes from Blackness) is a musical with a book, music, and lyrics by Melvin Van Peebles. The musical contains some material also on three of Van Peebles' albums, Brer Soul, Ain't Supposed to Die a Natural Death and As Serious as a Heart-Attack,[1] some of which were yet to come out.
The musical is a series of 19 politically outspoken, darkly comic, and sexually charged musical monologues that explore the negative aspects of African-American street life and the ghetto experience. Each character has a painful story to tell in funk, soul, jazz and blues-inflected songs. The innovative piece, presented in a confrontational, "in your face" style, is a precursor to choreopoem, spoken word, and rap music. It "contributed to the growing black presence on Broadway."[2]
In 1970, Van Peebles decided to transform some of the albums he had recorded between 1968 and 1970 into a musical. According to Van Peebles, "The songs were mirroring the incidents that were happening in the streets."[1] Van Peebles marketed the musical to black audiences in churches "all up and down the fucking East Coast. Ministers have congregations, and the congregations would come with busloads of people."[1]