'American Soul' Season 1: How Don Cornelius's 'Soul Train' was reimagined in BET's nostalgic new show
'American Soul' debuts February 5 and excited viewers cannot wait to be transported back in time to the 70s when American households danced and chimed to Don Cornelius' "Souuuuuul Traaain.' Rewinding nearly five decades, BET recreated or perhaps reimagined Don Cornelius along with his 'Soul Train' set, filming mostly in Atlanta.
Sinqua Walls takes on the lead role and channels Cornelius rather precisely with certain hand motions and rhythms, going by what the trailer shows. Taking the help of Cornelius' son, Tony Cornelius, who is also an executive producer of the show, Walls said he studied classic episodes of 'Soul Train,' and conversed with Tony to understand Cornelius' life and the way he elongated certain words like "cool" and "smooth" with ellipses in the speech.
