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

LONESTYLE at aol.com LONESTYLE at aol.com
Tue Oct 21 15:15:00 EDT 2008



I saw this in the obituary section of the LA Times.

RIP

~LB


In a message dated 10/21/2008 5:57:35 AM Pacific Daylight Time,
wessidetempest at hotmail.com writes:


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


_Email Picture_
(http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/california/lat-moore_k91xl0nc20081020223100,0,7500770,email.photo)

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.





* (http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/california
/la-me-moore21-2008oct21-link,0,650858.storylink)

_When antiheroes and pimp suits ruled_
(http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/california/la-me-moore21-2008oct21-link,0,650858.storylink)







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,_ (http://www.shockingimages.com/dolemite/main.php)
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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