dancers

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Affion Crockett Reminisces On His Days As a "Soul Train" Dancer


Affion Crockett is known as a comedic movie star, but in the early stages of his career, he was a “Soul Train” dancer for three years.

Every celebrity had a life before they became household names, and Affion Crockett is taking fans on a stroll down memory lane. The comedic actor is known for his roles in Soul Men, For the Love of Money, A Haunted House (1-3), Baggage Claim, Man & Devin go to High School, Charlie’s Angel’s, and Dance Flick, but not many people know that early on in his career, Affion Crockett was bustin’ a move on Soul Train as a regular dancer from 2000 to 2003.

Affion Crockett Reminisces On His Days As a "Soul Train" Dancer
Arnold Turner / Stringer / Getty Images

The comedian revisited his dancer days in a segment for BET and talked about moving from his home state of North Carolina to Los Angeles back in 1998. He learned how to dance from watching films like Breakin’ and Beat Street, as well as keeping himself glued to music videos that came out in the 1980s. He idolized Michael Jackson, so Affion went on to study ballet, jazz, and even martial arts, fusing everything together to come up with his moves.

“Honestly, if I was old enough, I would have wanted to be on Soul Train back in the ’70s,” Affion Crockett said. “But by the time I got to L.A., I was already a comedian. I wanted to be on Soul Train because it was TV, it was something to do, it was historic. I ended up getting on there and it was fun!” He approached production and let them know that he was a comedian coming from Def Comedy Jam and had no aspirations of being a professional dancer, so Affion told them he wanted to “be a character.” So, he decided not to take things too seriously and became this animated dancer to stand out.

Watch his clip below as he also recalls meeting Fabolous and Lil Mo when the pair of artists performed “Superwoman.”

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Keyshia Cole Returns To Instagram After Deactivation Prompted By O.T. Genasis

Keyshia Cole is readying new music.

It was all fun and games in December when O.T. Genasis remixed Keyshia Cole's classic "Love" into a Crip-themed anthem, dubbed "Never Knew". Actually, it wasn't that fun for Keyshia Cole. She was indignant about her song being repackaged as a joke without her being consulted or compensated. Despite Cole's disapproval and attempts to remove "Never Knew" from the Internet, O.T. Genasis continued to belt out his off-key cover, as it became a fan-favorite. It seemed that Cole couldn't cope with all this trolling because she deactivated her Instagram account amid this feud. 
When Cole addressed the situation on her talk show, One On One With Keyshia Cole, she mentioned that her desire to return to music shortly was a reason that she wanted O.T. Genasis to not tamper with her discography. "I'm smooth sailing, I'm good, I got my family," she said. "Gettin' my mom right, everything like that. I'm okay, but I'm really trying to get back to my music. So I would like my classics to be left alone. Is that wrong as an artist to say?" 
She has now returned to Instagram to prepare her return to music. Her comeback post declares that she is "refreshed" and "ready for this NEW YEAR", but in need of new dancers and bandmates. She details how you could apply for these positions if you're interested. Cole's last full-length release was 2017's 11:11 Reset.