Maya is the daughter of Minnie and her husband/music producer, Richard Rudolph. Maya’s biracial- her mother is African American and her father is Jewish. Although Maya always had the general understanding that we all have about slavery -that our ancestors were slaves in America just a few hundred years ago, she never really got to dig into the cruel details of her family’s history in slavery.

Maya was raised by her Dad after Minnie sadly passed away from breast cancer at the age of 31, just 15 days before Maya’s 7th birthday.

Maya and her brother, Marc, grew up within a loving household and were raised by their Dad, who did the best that he could as a single parent. But they were obviously mostly familiar with their father’s heritage and culture, since that is with whom they lived in the house.

That could have contributed to Maya feeling “orphaned,” as she explained it to People.com, when it came to her biracial heritage. She confessed she didn’t always feel like she belonged with one particular group. So when she appeared on Finding Your Roots, the ancestry TV show that is hosted by Henry Louis Gates Jr., Maya was finally able to learn a huge chunk of her African American history.

The show traced her roots back to 1827, when Maya learned of two ancestors on her Mother’s side who were born into slavery: her great-great-great grandparents, Manuel Grigsby and Mary Thurman. It wasn’t until Maya read the details about how slave owner, James Warren Grigsby, owned her ancestors, that she truly began to break down. What really broke her heart was seeing the actual slave census listing her great-great-great grandfather, Manuel Grigsby (the given surname of his ‘owner’), as enslaved when he was just 5 years old. Manuel was only listed by gender and age on a list of 32 slaves that his slave master owned.

Maya just couldn’t believe what she was seeing and here is what she said after seeing her relatives listed on the slave census:

“Oh my god, I cannot believe I’m looking at this. That breaks my hear. I just think of my kids. That’s really hard to see. Wow, I just can’t believe what I’m looking at. That poor little boy. That’s insane…you just don’t think of details, because you don’t have them. And then I see five and I think of my daughter. How can you imagine anything like that?”

Below are two video clips of Maya tearing up after she learned of her family’s history and more…
Part 1:

Part 2:

This experience is probably an eye opener for Maya. For a little girl who was left motherless at such a young age and growing up in a society that forced her to choose a side – Black or White, this window into the slavery of her ancestors can bring her clarity into who half of herself actually is. She came from a line of strong relatives, who endured some of the greatest pain imaginable. But yet, today she is here and now building upon their legacies with her four children, Pearl (15), Lucille (11), Jack (9) and Minnie (7) who is named after Maya’s mother, Minnie Riperton.

Props to Maya for sharing her quest for knowledge about her heritage with the world. I’m sure her mama Minnie, would be beaming with pride…just as much as her Pops already is.

Old School Fun Fact:
Minnie Riperton wrote “Loving You” in 1974 (it was released in ’79) for Maya, who was only two years old at the time. If you listen to the song closely, at the end you can hear Minnie singing “Maya, Maya, Maya, Maya, Maya, Maya, Maya, Maya.”

The post Minnie Riperton’s Daughter Maya Rudolph Broke Down After Learning Facts About Her Family appeared first on I Love Old School Music.

Via LAWeekly: “It was like the gates of heaven opening,” Rudolph says. “Gretchen and I got to meet him the last time he played in town. And he gave us both these big, nice hugs, and he said that he had our performance on Jimmy Fallon recorded on his DVR.”

That was then, but this is now, and more than a year after the Purple One passed away in 2016, Maya and her Princess band paid homage to their idol on what would have been his 59th birthday (which was June 7th). Princess, along with Maya’s SNL co-star, Fred Armisen, performed a collage of “Purple Rain,” “Darling Nikki,” and “Nasty Girl.” Check out a clip of it below…

https://www.instagram.com/p/BVHHCRXFK_W/

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Armisen assisted on drums as Princess did their thing. Although the original basis of the Prince tribute band, Princess, was to pay a somewhat comical homage of Prince through musical expression, as their name grew, so did their level of seriousness. As more and more fans caught on to Princess, Maya and Gretchen decided to take the gigs they booked far more seriously, and Princess is now gaining a strong underground following.

Minnie Riperton and her husband, Richard Rudolph performing “Loving You”

It’s interesting when you think about it. Maya Rudolph once state that because she grew up in such a musical household, with such a legendary soul singing mother and songwriter/producer dad, music was the norm’ for her.

So although she’d made her biggest mark as a comedic actress, her life seems to be coming full circle now, as she incorporated the groundwork her Momma Minnie and Pops Richard Rudolph gave her. She’s managed to have long ago found her own identity as well, something many children of such legends cannot do.

Anywho, I’m looking forward to seeing Princess continue to pay homage to one of the greatest icons in music. Long live Prince and Minnie Riperton.

The post Minnie Riperton’s Daughter MayaRudolph Gets Emotional Singing PurpleRain Tribute appeared first on I Love Old School Music.

Maya was raised by her Dad after Minnie sadly passed away from breast cancer at the age of 31, just 15 days before Maya’s 7th birthday.

Maya and her brother, Marc, grew up within a loving household, and were raised by their Dad, who did the best that he could as a single parent. But they were obviously mostly familiar with their father’s heritage and culture, since that is who they lived in the house with.

That could have contributed to Maya feeling “orphaned,” as she explained it to People.com, when it came to her biracial heritage. She admitted that she didn’t always feel like she belonged with one particular group. So when she appeared on Finding Your Roots, the ancestry TV show that is hosted by Henry Louis Gates Jr., Maya was finally able to learn a huge chunk of her African American history.

The show traced her roots back to 1827, when she was introduced, on paper, to two of her ancestors on her mother’s side who were born into slavery: her great-great-great grandparents, Manuel Grigsby and Mary Thurman. It wasn’t until Maya learned of some of the details about how the slave owner, James Warren Grigsby, owned her ancestors, that she truly began to break down. The thing that really broke her heart was seeing the actual slave census, which listed her great-great-great grandfather, Manuel Grigsby (the slaves oftentimes had the same last name as their owners), as one of the enslaved when he was just 5 years old. Manuel was only listed by gender and age on a list of 32 slaves that his slave master owned.

Maya just couldn’t believe what she was seeing and here is what she said after seeing her relatives on the slave census:

“Oh my god, I cannot believe I’m looking at this. That breaks my hear. I just think of my kids. That’s really hard to see. Wow, I just can’t believe what I’m looking at. That poor little boy. That’s insane…you just don’t think of details, because you don’t have them. And then I see five and I think of my daughter. How can you imagine anything like that?”

Below is the video clip of Maya tearing up after she learned of her family’s history…

The clarity Maya received, by getting some factual data about her ancestors, is something that we wish all African Americans were able to experience, just to get a true understanding of where we all come from and what our ancestors fought through, so that we no longer have to.

Much respect to Maya for sharing her quest for knowledge about her heritage with the world. I’m sure her mother, Minnie, would be beaming with pride right about now, just as much as her Pops already is.
Old School Fun Fact:
Minnie Riperton wrote “Loving You” in 1974 (it was released in ’79) for Maya, who was only two years old at the time. If you listen to the song closely, at the end you can hear Minnie singing “Maya, Maya, Maya, Maya, Maya, Maya, Maya, Maya.”

The post Amazing, See What Made Minnie Riperton’s Daughter Cry After She Saw THIS appeared first on I Love Old School Music.