The Proud Family

You and me will always be tight
Family every single day and night
Even when you starts acting like a fool
You know I'm loving every single thing you do

I know I can always be myself
Around you more then anybody else
And every day as I'm heading off to school
You know there no one
I love as much as you

Family, a family
Proud Family
They'll make you scream
They'll make you wanna sing
Its a family thing a family
A proud proud family
Proud Family
They'll push your buttons
They'll make you wanna hug 'em
A family
A family
A proud proud family

When this cartoon premiered on Disney with the catchy theme song sung by Destiny's Child and little sis Solange Knowles, it got my attention.

Not long after I moved to Louisville Dawn and I were parked in front of the TV watching the antics of Oscar, Trudy, Penny, Suga Mama, the infant twins Bebe and Cece and Penny's friends Zoe, Dijonay, Sticky and 'frenemy' Lacienega.



Toss in Wizard Kelly owning everythang, Oscar's humorous attempts to sell the town his barf inducing Proud Snacks, The Gross Sisters jacking 'errbody' in the school for their money, Dr. Payne, rapper Sir Paid A Lot, the Boulevardez clan, Suga Mama's romantic pursuit of Papi Boulevardez, little Peabo's crush on Penny, and Penny navigating the waters of a teenager growing up, and life in Wizville, CA and at Willy T. Ribbs Jr/Sr.High was never boring

It was also cool because this was not only written as a slice of teen life from an African-American middle class perspective, it's rare that you had a cartoon that focused on African American life and our perspectives, period.

Okay, so now we have The Boondocks, but this preceded it, people.

I also loved the fact that during its four year run from September 15, 2001 to August 19, 2005 it had a long list of African-American and other entertainers doing guest appearances that ranged from Vanessa L. Williams to Samuel L. Jackson and Kobe Bryant.

But the one thing that irritated me during the show's run and since was how Kim Possible, a show that started at roughly the same time and even though I love that cartoon as well, was relentlessly pushed marketing wise with merchandise in their Disney stores and on the Disney website and The Proud Family wasn't.

I';m also mildy irritated that Kim Possible is still on the air and the Proud Family isn't as well.

Thanks to Bruce W. Smith and his Jambalaya Studios, we'll have the Proud Family around (as soon as they put all four seasons on DVD) to treasure forever.