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Tomorrow HBO will air the Dee Rees’directed Bessie, starring Queen Latifah as the late blues queen Bessie Smith. In this short video Nelson George narrates the lineage of Bessie Smith’s influence on popular music. Bessie airs tomorrow night on HBO at 8PM EST.

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Queen Latifah stars as the late Bessie Smith in the HBO movie Bessie that comes out May 16th. This is the trailer and you can see Michael K. Williams, Monique, Mike Epps and Khandi Alexander in various roles supporting the story about Smith’s life. Bessie Smith was called the Empress of The Blues and was the highest paid and one of the most influential singers of the ’20’s and ’30’s.

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