As you may have heard, rap legend Heavy D has died at the surprisingly young age of 44. One day he had a "touch of pneumonia," and the next day he was admitted to the hospital and died. 

 

One of Heavy D's many accomplishments was recording the theme song for In Living Color, a seminal television show of the 1990s. In Living Color aired on Fox on Sunday nights, one of the few successful live-action shows to break up what eventually became a solid block of animated programming.

 

I recently happened across an old episode of In Living Color up in the higher reaches of the cable channels. I smiled at the title cards, which feature the "80s transitioning into 90s" graphic design elements like squiggles and boing shapes, all in bright primary and secondary colors. Aqua! Tangerine! Bright yellow!

 

In Living Color was one of those rare nexus points that served as an incubator for some amazing talent. It might not have been as riotously funny as it obviously meant to be (I remember at least half the skits fell flat in any given episode). But it brought us Jim Carrey, Jennifer Lopez (one of the original Fly Girls), Jamie Foxx, David Alan Grier, and the Wayans family.

 

The high concept behind the show was that it would be like Saturday Night Live, but edgier, for a younger audience, and not quite so white. Many episodes included musical performances which were usually black, including Mary J. Blige, Queen Latifah, Tupac, and others.

 

I seem to recall that the show aired after The Simpsons on Sunday nights, but I could be wrong. I had started my first year of college when the show premiered, and I often watched it on the television in the common area adjacent to the small satellite cafeteria near my dorm. When I think of In Living Color, I think of Fire Marshall Bill and the smell of tabbouleh.

 

A group of white middle-class freshman college students may not have been the show's intended target audience. But seriously, we ate that noise up. No one was sure if the "Men On Film" sketch was offensive or a genre-breaking celebration of openly gay characters (although their schtick was crude and cartoonish, Blaine and Antoine were definitely the stars, not targets of the show's mockery). But we sure loved giving things "two snaps up" whenever we had the chance.

 

Heavy D may be gone, but In Living Color will reportedly be resurrected in 2012. Maybe some things should be left in the past?