[kj] Rudy Ray Moore R.I.P.

Christof hamille wessidetempest at hotmail.com
Tue Oct 21 08:57:17 EDT 2008



Yesterday Raven today the Human Tornado

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Rudy Ray Moore dies at 81; comedian and filmmaker influenced rap and hip-hop






Email Picture


National Screen Service Corp.

Comedian and filmmaker-actor Rudy Ray Moore appears in a scene from his 1975 movie "Dolemite."






By Jocelyn Y. Stewart

October 21, 2008














Rudy
Ray Moore, the self-proclaimed "Godfather of Rap" who influenced
generations of rappers and comedians with his rhyming style,
braggadocio and profanity-laced routines, has died. He was 81.



Moore, whose low-budget films were panned by critics in the 1970s but
became cult classics decades later, died Sunday night in Toledo, Ohio,
of complications from diabetes, his brother Gerald told the Associated
Press.


























When antiheroes and pimp suits ruled






































Though he was little known to mainstream audiences, Moore had a significant effect on comedians and hip-hop artists.


"People think of black comedy and think of Eddie Murphy," rap
artist Luther Campbell of 2 Live Crew told the Miami Herald in 1997.
"They don't realize [Moore] was the first, the biggest underground
comedian of them all. I listened to him and patterned myself after him."



And in the liner notes to the 2006 release of the soundtrack to Moore's
1975 motion picture "Dolemite," hip-hop artist Snoop Dogg said:







"Without Rudy Ray Moore, there would be no Snoop Dogg, and that's for real."



When it came to his own sense of his accomplishments, Moore was never burdened by immodesty.



"These guys Steve Harvey and Cedric the Entertainer and Bernie Mac
claim they're the Kings of Comedy," Moore told the Cleveland Plain
Dealer in 2003. "They may be funny, but they ain't no kings. That title
is reserved for Rudy Ray Moore and Redd Foxx."



The heyday of his fame was in the 1970s, with the release of "Dolemite"
followed by "The Human Tornado," "Petey Wheatstraw: The Devil's
Son-in-Law" and "Money Hustler."


The way Moore told it, his introduction to Dolemite came from an
old wino named Rico, who frequented a record shop Moore managed in Los
Angeles. Rico told foul-mouthed stories about Dolemite, a
tough-talking, super-bad brother, whose exploits had customers at the
record shop falling down with laughter.



One day Moore recorded Rico telling his stories. Later Moore assumed
the role of Dolemite, a character who became the cornerstone of his
decades-long career as a raunchy comedian, filmmaker and blues singer.



"What you call dirty words," he often said, "I call ghetto expression."


But long before "Dolemite" debuted on theater screens, Moore had
found fame -- and fans -- through stand-up routines and a series of
sexually explicit comedy albums.



Not only were the album contents raunchy, the album covers featured
women and Moore nude and were too racy for display. So store clerks
kept the albums under the counter. Without airplay or big-studio
promotion, the so-called party records were underground hits.



"I put records in my car and traveled and walked across the U.S. I
walked to the ghetto communities and told people to take the record
home and let their friends hear it. And before I left the city, my
record would be a hit. This is how it started for me," he told the St.
Louis Post Dispatch in 2001.



Although contemporaries such as Foxx and Richard Pryor found success
with a broader audience, Moore's stardom was bounded by the geography
of race and class: He was a hit largely in economically disadvantaged
African American communities.



According to his website, Moore was born in Fort Smith, Ark., on March 17, 1927.



In his youth Moore worked as a dancer and fortune teller and he
entertained while serving in the U.S. Army. But his big break came with
the recording of his Dolemite routine:







Dolemite is my name

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