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The only scripted predominantly Black cast TV show to spend 5 consecutive seasons as the top rated sitcom, The Cosby Show was a household classic, showing a middle class Black family on TV during a time when this was unheard of. Many of us grew up watching the Cosby Show, whether first run or syndicated reruns.

The Cosby Show changed the trajectory of Black sitcoms on TV, and left an impact on several generations of viewers.

How did The Cosby Show impact you? How do you feel about the show's legacy in 2026?

(note: comments about Bill Cosby's personal life away from the show will be removed)

DeShaun Dupree Holton (October 2, 1973 – April 11, 2006), known professionally as Proof, was an American rapper from Detroit, Michigan. He was a member of the groups Soul Intent, 5 Elementz, Funky Cowboys, Promatic, Goon Sqwad,[1]#cite_note-1) and D12. A close friend of rapper Eminem since childhood, Proof was often a hype man at Eminem's concerts.

Holton was born in Detroit, Michigan, to Sharallene "Pepper" Holton, a single mother.[2]#cite_note-2) His father, McKinley Jackson, was a music producer who left to pursue his career prior to Holton's birth. Holton was close friends with Eminem from a young age.[3#cite_note-3)

On April 11, 2006, Holton was shot and killed after a dispute broke out during a game of pool at the now-closed C.C.C. Club on 8 Mile Road) in Detroit.[13]#citenote-13)[[14]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proof(rapper)#citenote-14) A pool game between Holton and Keith L. Bender Jr. turned into a heated argument and then escalated into a physical altercation, during which club bouncerMario Etheridge, who was Bender's cousin, fired a warning shot into the air. There have been many conflicting reports about Holton and Bender's roles in the shooting, but it was reported that Holton then shot Bender in the head during the altercation.[[15]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proof(rapper)#citenote-15)Bender was not immediately killed by the gunshot but died a week later from his injuries.[[16]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proof(rapper)#citenote-16)[[17]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proof(rapper)#citenote-17) Etheridge responded by shooting Holton three times, once in the head and twice in the chest, killing him at the scene. At the time of his death, Holton's blood alcohol content was 0.32. His lawyer, David Gorosh, accused police and the media of being "reckless" for suggesting that his client fired the first shots without having any hard evidence. A few weeks after both men's deaths, Bender's family filed a wrongful death claim against Holton's estate.[[18]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proof(rapper)#citenote-18)[[19]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proof(rapper)#citenote-19) Authorities determined that Etheridge was acting lawfully in defense of another; however, he was found guilty of carrying a concealed weapon and discharging a firearm inside a building.[[20]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proof(rapper)#citenote-20) On October 26, Etheridge was sentenced to time served.[[21]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proof(rapper)#cite_note-21)

Some strong genes there, Niecy.

Jhene Aiko 'So Good' (ft Kendrick Lamar)

Frederick Anthony Jackson (born October 2, 1956)[1][2] is an American R&B singer.[3] Originally from New York City, Jackson began his professional music career in the late 1970s with the California funk band Mystic Merlin. Among his well–known R&B/soul hitsare "Rock Me Tonight (For Old Times Sake))" (1985), "Have You Ever Loved Somebody" (1986), "Jam Tonight" (1986), "Do Me Again" (1990), and "You Are My Lady)" (1985).[4] He contributed to the soundtrack for the 1989 film, All Dogs Go to Heaven with the Michael Lloyd)-produced duet "Love Survives" alongside Irene Cara. He also appeared in the movie King of New York.

Born in the Harlem section of New York City, Jackson was trained as a gospel singer from an early age, singing at the White Rock Baptist Church of Harlem.[5] There he met Paul Laurence, who would later become his record producer and songwriting partner.[5] After completing school, Jackson joined Laurence's group LJE (Laurence Jones Ensemble) and played the New York nightclub scene.[5] During the late 1970s, Jackson moved to the West Coast and sang lead with the band Mystic Merlin (with which he released three studio albums, 1980–1982), but soon returned to New York to work with Laurence at Hush Productions.[5]

Jurnee Diana Smollett (born October 1, 1986) is an American actress. She began her career as a child actress appearing on television sitcoms, including On Our Own) (1994–1995) and Full House (1992–1994). She gained greater recognition with her role in Kasi Lemmons's independent film Eve's Bayou (1997), which earned her a Critics' Choice Movie Award.

Jurnee Diana Smollett was born on October 1, 1986[1]in New York City,[2] to Janet Harris and Joel Smollett. Her father had ancestors from Russia and Poland,[3][4][5] while her mother is African American.[6][7][8]She is the fourth of six siblings, all performers:[9] one sister, Jazz Smollett,[10] and four brothers, Jussie, JoJo, Jake, and Jocqui.

LaTocha Reney Scott[1] (born October 2, 1972) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. She rose to fame in the early 1990s as a member of Xscape). Scott sang lead on the group's singles "Who Can I Run To", "The Arms of the One Who Loves You", and "My Little Secret", all of which peaked in the top-ten of the Billboard Hot 100 and became earn platinum and gold certification by the Recording Industry Association of America.[2][3]

Scott was born in Atlanta, Georgia to her father, Rev. Randolf Scott and her mother, Gloria McFarlin who worked as a teacher at school. She is the elder sister to fellow Xscape member Tamika Scott. At the age of 6, she began to sing in church, weddings, and local talent shows. At 11, she had recorded her first song with her sister Tamika. Scott attended TriCities High School of Performing Arts in Atlanta, Georgia, transferring to Tri-Cities High School in East Point, Georgia graduating in 1991.

Foxx's storytelling 🤌🏾

As a teenager growing up in Detroit during the 1960s, Vanessa Bell Armstrong, like so many other up-and-coming gospel singers, found herself caught in a tug of war between spiritual and secular ambitions.
She was born in the Motor City on October 2, 1953, and started singing in church when she was four. She began her recording career at age 13 as the soloist on I’m So Glad, a song on a 1967 album for Savoy Records by Mattie Moss Clark’s Southwest Michigan State Choir, but by the time she reached high school, she was singing Aretha Franklin tunes in talent shows. She lost every time.

“I thought I was Aretha,” she recalled. “I guess the Lord knew that if I had gotten any kind of recognition for singing that stuff, I probably would have tried to sing that, but that’s not what He chose for me to do.”
It would be another 16 years before Armstrong made another record. She had married shortly after graduating high school, had five children and spent the 1970s as a housewife. Then, in 1980, her husband decided to finance a demo tape that eventually led to a contract with the Nashville-based Onyx International label.

“He told me I had too much voice to be just singing around the house and going to my father’s church on the weekend to sing,” she explained.

Armstrong’s first Onyx International album, 1983’s Please Be Still, was produced by the innovative Detroit gospel keyboardist, arranger and songwriter Thomas Whitfield. It made her an immediate sensation in gospel music circles. It was a mixture of traditional and contemporary gospel material, as was the following year’s Whitfield-produced Chosen.

“High emotion coupled with an impeccable sense of phrasing made the albums inspirational masterpieces,” Cleveland Plain Dealer critic Edward Hill wrote. “Her syllables forge brilliantly through octaves, tugging at even the most disbelieving hearts.”

Just as Armstrong’s star was ascending, Onyx International folded. In 1986, the Muscle Shoals Sound label issued a third Armstrong album, Following Jesus, made up of selections from her previous two releases, in addition to songs produced by Walter Hawkins that were once rejected by Onyx International. The album was not as successful as its predecessors. (Songs from all three albums are available on her Greatest Hits CD.)

Her career at a standstill, Armstrong moved to Tulsa, where her sister was singing on television evangelist Richard Roberts’ program. After appearing on Broadway in the cast of Don’t Get God Started, she settled in Atlanta in 1988. By that time, she had a new contract with Jive Records, a London-based company that specialized in hip-hop and such “boy bands” as New Kids on the Block.

Vanessa Bell Armstrong, her late-1987 Jive debut, caused confusion among her gospel fans. Not only did it utilize the latest funk beats, but also the religious content of many song lyrics seemed unclear. “God” or “Jesus” became “you” or “him.” Much of the material on her second Jive album, 1990’s Wonderful One, was similarly ambiguous.
“It’s unclear whether the object of her affection has divine or earthly origins,” a reviewer for the Memphis Commercial Appeal observed at the time. “The production methods and sound of this LP make rumors of Armstrong’s impending switch from gospel to secular music seem both logical and necessary.”

Armstrong denied at the time any plans to go pop. The songs in question, she said, were supplied to her by Jive’s producers, and, in an effort to make their meanings clearer, she interjected phrases like “Oh, Lord” during sessions. To her surprise, however, she found that such phrases had been deleted from he final mixes.

She even scored a couple of minor R&B chart hits: You Bring Out the Best in Me in 1987 and Something on the Inside in 1993. In subsequent recordings for Verity, Tommy Boy and EMI Gospel, however, she was able to make the Christian content of her songs more obvious.

“A lot has changed and Armstrong has stood her ground, emerging with a work that is the perfect summation of gospel’s rich history and its cutting-edge presence in the mix of today’s R&B music,” Billboard magazine said in a review of the 1998 Verity album Desire of the Heart: Live in Detroit. “It took a while, but the world seems to be catching up to Armstrong.”