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70 free Black 90s trivia questions with answers — pop culture quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
The 1990s were a golden decade for Black film, television and music, and this black 90s trivia quiz covers all of it. Test yourself on the sitcoms that ruled the decade, from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Martin and Living Single to Moesha, A Different World and In Living Color; the films that defined it, from Boyz n the Hood, New Jack City and Menace II Society to Friday, Waiting to Exhale, Set It Off and Soul Food; and the sound of the era, from Dr. Dre, Snoop, Wu-Tang, Nas, Biggie and Tupac to TLC, Mary J. Blige, Whitney Houston, Toni Braxton, Brandy and Monica and Lauryn Hill. There are questions on the culture around it too: Michael Jordan's baseball detour, Tiger Woods at Augusta, Magic Johnson's comeback, the Million Man March, FUBU and Cross Colours, Vibe and The Source, Def Comedy Jam and Yo! MTV Raps. The 70 questions run from easy ones anyone who watched TGIF or bought a cassette single will get, to hard ones about network moves, samples and label deals that will separate the real heads. Every answer is checked against Wikipedia and other documented sources, so this works for a 90s party, a Black History Month round, a game night with the group chat or just settling arguments about who really ran the decade.
30 of 70 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which network aired The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air from 1990 to 1996?
NBC
The theme song was performed by DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince, Will Smith's own rap duo.
Q 02On The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Will grew up in which city before moving to Bel-Air?
Philadelphia
His street-smart West Philly upbringing collides with the wealth of Bel-Air, Los Angeles, which is the whole engine of the show.
Q 03Which actress replaced Janet Hubert as Aunt Vivian on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air?
Daphne Maxwell Reid
The swap became one of the most famous recastings in sitcom history, and the show even joked about it on screen.
Q 04The Fox sitcom Martin was set in which American city?
Detroit
Martin Payne started the series as a radio DJ before moving into local television.
Q 05On Living Single, Queen Latifah's Khadijah James publishes which magazine?
Flavor
The show followed six friends sharing a Brooklyn brownstone, a formula Friends would follow a year later.
Q 06Who created, wrote and starred in the Fox sketch show In Living Color?
Keenen Ivory Wayans
The show ran from 1990 to 1994 and launched Jamie Foxx, Jim Carrey, Tommy Davidson and David Alan Grier.
Q 07Which future superstar joined In Living Color's Fly Girls dance troupe in its third season?
Jennifer Lopez
The Fly Girls opened and closed segments with hip-hop routines, and their alumna went on to Selena and a pop career.
Q 08Family Matters, the sitcom that gave the world Steve Urkel, was a spin-off of which show?
Perfect Strangers
Harriette Winslow started as the elevator operator on the parent show; Urkel was meant to appear only once before becoming the breakout star.
Q 09Brandy's sitcom Moesha, which premiered in January 1996, aired on which network?
UPN
Moesha Mitchell lived with her family in the Leimert Park neighborhood of Los Angeles.
Q 10Which Moesha spin-off followed Kim attending community college alongside her mother, played by Mo'Nique?
The Parkers
Countess Vaughn left Moesha in 1999 to headline the new show, which premiered that August.
Q 11Which presidential candidate played saxophone on The Arsenio Hall Show in June 1992?
Bill Clinton
He played 'Heartbreak Hotel' in sunglasses, a moment credited with boosting his appeal to young voters.
Q 12A Different World's Hillman College was a fictional historically Black college in which state?
Virginia
Many viewers later said the show was the reason they chose to attend an HBCU.
Q 13Which hip-hop mogul produced HBO's Def Comedy Jam, which ran from 1992 to 1997?
Russell Simmons
Martin Lawrence and Joe Torry hosted the first six seasons, and the stage launched Bernie Mac, Dave Chappelle and Chris Tucker.
Q 21What crime do the four friends commit in Set It Off (1996)?
Bank robbery
Each woman has her own reason for the scheme, which is what gives the Los Angeles-set film its emotional weight.
Q 22In Poetic Justice (1993), Janet Jackson's character rides to Oakland in what vehicle?
A mail truck
She rides along with postal workers Lucky, played by Tupac Shakur, and Chicago, with Maya Angelou's poems as her voice.
Q 23Which hip-hop duo starred in the 1990 comedy House Party?
Kid 'n Play
The film premiered at Sundance and won a Filmmakers Trophy for its director, with the late Robin Harris as Kid's father Pop.
Q 14Who was the original host of Yo! MTV Raps?
Fab 5 Freddy
He later moved to weekends while Ed Lover and Doctor Dré took over the weekday show, which ran on MTV until August 1995.
Q 15Which 1994 Fox series starring Malik Yoba and Michael DeLorenzo was the first US cop drama with two leads of colour?
New York Undercover
Dick Wolf co-created it, and its Natalie's nightclub scenes turned the show into a weekly R&B showcase.
Q 16On The Steve Harvey Show, former funk star Steve Hightower earned his living as what?
A high school music teacher
He taught at Booker T. Washington High on Chicago's West Side, with Cedric the Entertainer as the school's coach and his best friend.
Q 17On Sister, Sister, how do Tia and Tamera discover each other after being separated at birth?
Shopping at the same mall store
The show started on ABC's TGIF block in 1994 before finishing its run on The WB in 1999.
Q 18Who became the youngest and first African American Best Director nominee, for Boyz n the Hood?
John Singleton
He was 24 at the time; the script grew out of his years at USC film school and it was his feature debut.
Q 19Which director made both Friday (1995) and Set It Off (1996)?
F. Gary Gray
Friday cost about $3.5 million and grossed more than $27 million in North America, spawning two sequels.
Q 20Waiting to Exhale (1995) follows four women living in which metropolitan area?
Phoenix
Forest Whitaker directed the Terry McMillan adaptation, and its all-female Babyface soundtrack went 7x platinum.
Q 24In New Jack City (1991), what is the name of Nino Brown's drug gang?
Cash Money Brothers
Wesley Snipes's Nino ran the operation as crack hit the streets, and the film became 1991's top-grossing independent release.
Q 25Which sibling filmmakers made their feature debut with Menace II Society (1993)?
The Hughes brothers
Set in Watts, it starred Tyrin Turner as Caine and gave Jada Pinkett her film debut; Tupac was cast but fired before shooting.
Q 26Eddie Murphy's The Nutty Professor (1996) won an Academy Award in which category?
Best Makeup
Rick Baker's fat suits let Murphy play Sherman Klump plus Papa, Mama, Grandma and Ernie Klump around one dinner table.
Q 27Boyz II Men's 1992 hit 'End of the Road' was recorded for which Eddie Murphy film?
Boomerang
Babyface, L.A. Reid and Daryl Simmons wrote it, and it broke a chart record that had stood since Elvis.
Q 28For which 1990 film did Whoopi Goldberg win the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress?
Ghost
Her psychic Oda Mae Brown made her the first Black woman to win the award in nearly 50 years.
Q 29Cuba Gooding Jr. won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for playing a football star in which 1996 film?
Jerry Maguire
His acceptance speech, delivered while the orchestra tried to play him off, is still one of the most replayed Oscar moments.
Q 30R. Kelly's 'I Believe I Can Fly', which won three Grammys, was recorded for which 1996 film?
Space Jam
The film paired Michael Jordan with the Looney Tunes and grossed $250 million, the top basketball movie for over 25 years.