Tag Archives: prince

29Oct/19
Dave Chapelle

Dave Chappelle, Social Commentator and Comedic Griot, is Mark Twain Prize Recipient

Mark Twain once said, “Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please.” A quote that is the embodiment of what comedians do in an, of course, humorous and entertaining way. Comedians past, such as Richard Pryor and Red Fox, have perfected this craft, but none today are doing it like Dave Chappelle. He has taken truths of political correctness, social psychology, politics, media, etc., and turned them into thought-provoking topics in joke form.  I would even argue that he could be considered the greatest and most brilliant comic living today.  

Celebration! 

It comes as no surprise that Dave Chappelle is an honoree of the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor Award this year as he is debatably this century’s funniest comic. The ceremony included a variety of celebs that included Erykah Badu, Yasiin bey (Mos Def), Michael Che, Common, Morgan Freeman, Tiffany Haddish, John Legend, Q-Tip, Kenan Thompson, Chance the Rapper, Chris Tucker, Grant Hill, Tamia Hill and Marlon Wayans. All came with stories about the honored guest who always provides memorable moments. 

Dave Chappelle

Duke Ellington School Band.

The Duke Ellington School Band opened the evening with a performance of the Prince song “1999,” the song that Dave Chappelle can be heard singing in his Netflix stand up, Dave Chappelle: Sticks and Stones. Chappelle also played the iconic role of Prince in a story by the late Charlie Murphy. They had the whole place rocking as Morgan Freeman’s voice echoed the Kennedy Center introducing the evening festivities. Morgan Freeman served as the announcer the whole night.

Every story told from the perspective of each featured guest in their experience with Chapelle had one thing in common, Dave Chappelle made sure to make every moment memorable and full of laughter. Tiffany Haddish came out in a green jumpsuit with her last name on the breast of it, mimicking the same jumpsuit that Dave Chapelle wore during his shows and even sung “1999” in Chappelle fashion.

“The hardest thing to do is to be true to yourself, especially when everybody is watching.” – Dave Chappelle

A montage of clips played featuring Dave Chappelle from his movies to his stand up, some that I recalled being so hilarious that I couldn’t breathe. A moment that revealed to be unscripted was the adlib of Dave Chappelle’s character, Clayton Bigbsy, the white supremacist. Then Kenan Thompson and Michael Che both brought jokes about the comedic legend while Common, John Legend, Erykah Badu performed hits from their collections.  They were all important as Dave Chappelle had a deep connection with the group, Soulquarians, he even had them all perform at his Dave Chappelle Block Party that he filmed. 

Q-Tip came out later in the night to discuss Dave Chappelle’s importance to the music community as he was known to incoperate hip-hop/soul acts into his work from the Chappelle Show to his comedy tours. Q-tip then brought out Yasmiin Bey to re-create the hilarious moment when he and Dave Chappelle tried to invite themselves in the White House.

In Closing

Dave Chappelle

Dave Chappelle receiving the Mark Twain Prize Award. Photo by Darrel R. Todd.

The night ended in Dave Chappelle fashion with a cigarette in hand and a bunch of hilarious jokes – including one where he mentioned having ‘leverage’ to smoke in the Kennedy Center. He thanked all who have supported him from family to friends and pointed to the woman responsible for existance, his mom.

He even spoke about how at times comics sometimes don’t see eye to eye, in some cases he found a comic to be racist and even bought them drinks to talk about it. Chappelle mentioned that there’s a protected first amendment but there’s also a second amendment in case the first don’t work out. 

Chappelle expalined how his mother called him a griot from African tribes. Griots were story tellers that were in charge of keeping the oral tradition and his mother made sure that she filled him with a lot of history, which he then later turned into deliverable entertainment. This is what makes Chappelle an amazing talent, being able to provide jokes that are informative and thought provoking. 

He also spoke about the times his mother would work all day, then go watch him perform stand up, at times falling asleep from exhaustion, but she wanted to show support for the up and coming comic. 

Dave Chappelle

Dave Chappelle and wife, Elaine. Photo by Darrel R. Todd

As Chapelle ended his speech, or, as I like to call, an improv short set, he brought out Yasiin Bey and Thundercat to perform “Umi Says”. This award ceremony is another moment that can be cataloged in the memories of everyone as it celebrated the comic icon, who has many more years left of providing laughter and much needed comedy. 

Previous recipients of the Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize are Richard Pryor (1998), Jonathan Winters (1999), Carl Reiner (2000), Whoopi Goldberg (2001), Bob Newhart (2002), Lily Tomlin (2003), Lorne Michaels (2004), Steve Martin (2005), Neil Simon (2006), Billy Crystal (2007), George Carlin (2008), Bill Cosby (2009; rescinded in 2018), Tina Fey (2010), Will Ferrell (2011), Ellen DeGeneres (2012), Carol Burnett (2013), Jay Leno (2014), Eddie Murphy (2015), Bill Murray (2016), David Letterman (2017), and Julia Louis-Dreyfus (2018).

The celebration will be televised on January 7, 2020 on PBS.

23Apr/16
prince

Prince Nelson Rogers: 1958 – Forever

At 1:05p I get a text from my longtime homie Shan that reads “WTF is up with these people saying my original Baby Daddy is dead!?!” I simply replied, “Nas??” half caring about internet rumors, especially when I’ve only been awake for 15 minutes. Awaiting her response I inadvertently check a facebook notification, hit the back button which led to my newsfeed, and lost all air from my body… No, God, Please… Not Prince…

I went to check the singular news source I rely on for death notices and they only confirmed “someone” died. Then, at 1:17p my King messaged me: “Hey baby. Prince died.” He was the first person to actually say it to me. A minute later my best friend called and whispered “Are you ok?” …”No…” We cried. Hung up. My King called, I was still crying, he just listened, only half understanding. I didn’t have the words to explain it to him at the time. I washed, briefly went to the gym, and cancelled the rest of my day.

I was too mentally numb to party like it’s 1999 alongside the rest of the Prince stans at the impromptu Spike Lee block party or with Quest Love at Brooklyn Bowl, so I stayed in bed. When I first realized it was official, I didn’t think being on facebook was a good idea, but I’m glad I hit the window accidentally. It was tough, but the out pour of love for Prince’s artistry has been so fulfilling. I’ve gotten to see a few clips I’ve never seen before and watched the globe bask in why I’ve loved him as far back as my memory travels… Throughout the day I received the messages I needed to use to explain why the loss of this particular icon crippled me.

 

0

@ElusiveJ explained it best!

 

2

It helped to know I wasn’t alone, like I so often felt when I spoke of Prince.

It also helped to laugh in between the blanket-soaking tears.

prince

prince

But of all, my heart was most moved by my King creating this piece for me… the tears burst through like a flood… The black and white version is in his Pan African coloring book, The Little Black Book. The colored piece is available as a print and t-shirt due to popular requests when he posted them.

prince theonewillfocus

prince theonewillfocus

My first facebook post read: “This sh*t is so unreal to me. I decided to go work more on [Taji] Mag to take my mind off of it and forgot I dedicated a page to him (it’s Vol 7, the theme is Afrofuturism, his Bday is June 7th and Vol 7 releases June 7th, etc), but now it has to be in memory of… I’m not ready.
Yesterday my old ipod finally died while I was listening to Insatiable (my fav song) and I was so momentarily pissed. If I only knew…”

I was devastated. I felt betrayed. But now… Now I’m listening to HITNRUN Phase One & Two imagining how his concerts would’ve been performing these songs so different from his 80s hits, yet still SO him.

prince

How I will remember him. Afro. Smiling. Protecting his 3rd eye. <3