Vanessa Williams as Self - Host

Whitney Houston as Self

Ella Fitzgerald as Self (archive footage)

Snoop Dogg as Self

Diana Ross as Self (archive footage)

Spike Lee as Self

Louis Armstrong as Self (archive footage)

Little Richard as Self

Debbie Allen as Self

Carl Anderson as Self

Josephine Baker as Self (archive footage)

James Brown as Self (archive footage)

Tisha Campbell as Self

Nat King Cole as Self (archive footage)

Sean Combs as Self (archive footage)

Dorothy Dandridge as Self (archive footage)

Sammy Davis Jr. as Self (archive footage)

Rah Digga as Self

Suzzanne Douglas as Self

Dr. Dre as Self

Billy Eckstine as Self (archive footage)

Duke Ellington as Self (archive footage)

Jamie Foxx as Self

Aretha Franklin as Mrs. Murphy (archive footage)

Nelson George as Self

Jasmine Guy as Self

Jimi Hendrix as Self (archive footage)

Gregory Hines as Self

Billie Holiday as Self (archive footage)

Lena Horne as Self (archive footage)

Reginald Hudlin as Self

Ice-T as Self

Michael Jackson as Self (archive footage)

Jimmy Jam as Self

Quincy Jones as Self

A.J. Johnson as Self (archive footage)

Eartha Kitt as Self (archive footage)

John Landis as Self

Stan Lathan as Self

Terry Lewis as Self

LL Cool J as Self (archive footage)

Wynton Marsalis as Self

Harold Nicholas as Self (archive footage)

Alan Parker as Self

Otis Redding as Self (archive footage)

Christopher Reid as Self (archive footage)

Busta Rhymes as Self

Smokey Robinson as Self

Russell Simmons as Self

Bessie Smith as Self (archive footage)

Tina Turner as Self (archive footage)

Fats Waller as Self (archive footage)

Billy Dee Williams as Self

Donald Bogle as Self

Kenny Burrell as Self

James Cross as Self (archive footage)

Suzanne de Passe as Self

Berry Gordy as Self

Eddie Hartman as Self (archive footage)

'Crip' Heard as Self (archive footage)

Rubberneck Holmes as Self (archive footage)

Louis Jordan as Self (archive footage)

Camille King as Maddam CJ Walker

Kyme as Rachel Meadows (archive footage)

Velma Middleton as Self (archive footage)

Fayard Nicholas as Self

The Notorious B.I.G. as Self (archive footage)

Earl 'Snake Hips' Tucker as Self (archive footage)

Sister Rosetta Tharpe as Self (archive footage)