September 18th, 2005- imagine a backside block in Brooklyn, New York, where over 5,000 people of differing ethnicities gather together to see various artists and musicians “keep black music alive.” Kids in maroon and gold uniforms stride in towards the stage; they are supercharged, overflowing with the babble and commotion of rudely alive inspirational music spewing out of their instruments. And leading this whole ensemble is the one, and only, Dave Chappelle. The Central State University’s Drum Line Marching Band is leading into a legacy of historical performances set up by the unfazed, newfound Chappelle. Where Kanye West’s performance leads up to the reunited Fugees, this is “Dave Chappelle’s Block Party.”
Yet, a year prior to this sensational show Dave painted a picture of someone struggling to come to terms with his position and power as well as with the people around him. Not knowing if his satiric take on race, sex and pop culture was getting too profane, or offensive.
Back in 2004, Dave Chappelle was holding the reins on “The Chappelle’s Show,” a sketch comedy program that received huge ratings. But on April 28th, 2005, he walked away from his program and vanished into speculation. Going on his third season for Comedy Central, the show worth a $50 million deal, was put on hold. Not even his publicist, agent, or writing partner knew where he had gone. Christopher John Farley of TIME Magazine asked, “ Why did you take a break?” Dave responded, “My personal feeling is I didn't like the direction of the show. I was trying to explain it to people, and no one was feeling me. There's a lot of resistance to my opinions, so I decided, Let me remove myself from this situation. You hear so many voices jockeying for position in your mind that you want to make sure that you hear your own voice. So I figured, let me just cut myself off from everybody, take a minute and pull a Flintstone—stop a speeding car by using my bare feet as the brakes.”
By fleeing to Durban, South Africa, Chappelle may have found some peace of mind, but he threatened a career for which he has long yearned. Yet, that same year, he held an old school block party in Brooklyn, inviting some of the most intelligent, and classiest hip-hop acts to perform. Having his newfound total and creative freedom, he invited Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Common, The Roots, Jill Scott, Erykah Badu, Kanye West, Dead Prez, and the reunited Fugees, for a knock out performance. So “Dave Chappelle’s Block Party” is a chronicling of the party and events prior to it.
Three days before the blowout, Dave went to his old hometown of Dayton, Ohio to give out free “golden” tickets, accommodation, and travel to people in his ’hood. Yet some of them still refused this amazing opportunity, claming that, “ rap music composes a lot of foul music which is not proper for children or adults.” But I find this to be a generalization that is completely untrue. Sure, many “gangster rappers” may dive into vulgarity and glorification of violence more than necessary, but this isn’t all rap and hip-hop musicians. Michael Eric Dyson states, “For many black and white Americans, hip hop culture crudely symbolizes the problems of urban black youth.” And within the context of mainstream media and pop culture, hip-hop/ rap carries a message of anger, vulgarity, sexism, misogyny, sexual promiscuity, domestic abuse, parental disrespect, rejection of authority, glorification of violence, as well as drug use, rape and murder. Yet, it is not a racial divide, because as Dyson states this is thought among blacks and white Americans. Although, In Block Party, the performers are presented as average people, not all “blinged” and “iced out,” covered in diamonds and designer gear. They are only there to appeal to the audience by what they possess, their outstanding skill in music, art, and performance.
In one of the interviews, The Roots describes how, before any of them had record deals, they and many of the other artists used to run in the same circles in Brooklyn and jam together at hip hop clubs. It shows on stage. These are seasoned performers and they like each other. They’re not trying to outsell each other, they are just joking around with Dave, as he pretends to sing, prank, and go off with his hilarious antics on stage.
After seeing Dave Chappelle like this, on stage killing this performance, it makes me wonder why did he went on his hasty hiatus? Was it all due to the pressure of execs and contracts? Or was he losing faith in his jokes? Chappelle say’s in TIME Magazine, "If you don't have the right people around you, and you're moving at a million miles an hour, you can lose yourself." So it sounds to me like he was surrounded by “yes-men” saying, 'you're a genius!’ 'You're great!’ 'You’re killing it!' But among those close colleagues, I’m sure Chappelle's growing distrust set off no small amount of anxiety.
The Chappelle’s Show works because it talks about what America finds difficult to talk about: race. In our current day racial divisions are becoming more and more complex, harder to understand, and increasingly more challenging to discuss. That's where Chappelle comes in. He takes all those stereotypes about race and puts them in our face. He makes us deal with it. Laugh at it. But not ignore it.
The buzz in Block Party comes from the music, which has a loose, burning joy that’s rare to behold in a live rap performance, and also from Chappelle’s wicked prankster glee, which spreads throughout the movie. This movie is a testament to the power of unity and celebration of black music. The CSU drum line keeps up the moral of the party as the exhilarating performances provide a snapshot into a certain historical musical moment. Like one chapter leading into another. But just as we won’t be hearing the last of the Fugees for they will live on forever as the pinnacle of mid-1990’s hip-hop; same goes for Dave Chappelle’s comedy who proclaims, “You haven’t seen the last of me!”
Released on March 3rd 2006, Dave Chappelle’s Block Party was produced by Michel Gondry, written by Dave Chappelle, and produced by Bob Yari and Roge Productions.
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I wiould give you three star. You have a bunch of over all info about the topic but you really dont give a strong idea of how you feel. You really connect the outside what other people are trying to say but where is what you have to say? Why did you like it or for that matter did you like? Or did you not like it? I think that you could have add a more personal touch to the over arc of the review.
ReplyDeleteOver all very good. I would give you 4 out of 5 stars. You had good over all information, you had details ofrm the film, loved your use of outside information plus your display of your links!. I felt like you needed to work more on your border cultral context and making it all work. But all in all well done.
ReplyDeleteI would give you 3.5 stars. There was a great deal of good information here from a variety of sources but the review doesn't really seem to flow together well. You don't seem to be able to concretely tie how you feel about the film and what it means to outside information. However, you did do an excellent job of including a good overall picture of the film.
ReplyDeleteAshley, I think I'm more-or-less in agreement with both the praise and the criticism your commenters offer here. I think when, for example, Adam says things don't "flow together well," he's sensing that the essayist part of this piece, about the backdrop to the film and the bigger cultural conflict over the meaning of hip-hop that it's part of, kind of takes over, at the expense of really reviewing the film.
ReplyDeleteI feel almost a little mean-spirited saying that, though, because this post works really well as a piece of concise cultural criticism. You use Dyson and the Chappelle interviews really effectively, and as usual you have some terrific turns of phrase: "loose, burning joy"--wow, that's great. Really great. And it captures something very specific about the film. But, it's also buried in the last real paragraph of the review. If you trimmed down the earlier paragraphs and expanded the last paragraph with some more detailed examples from the film itself and maybe even some responses to other critics (!), this would be full-on five stars.
PS: Links at last! Now can you embed them in the text itself, so that they're fully a part of the review and not an add-on?