Dave Chapelle's Block Party

On September 18th 2004 Dave Chappelle threw a block party in Brooklyn, NY. Indie film favorite, Michel Gondry, filmed the event and in 2005 Dave Chappelle’s Block Party was released in theaters.

“5,000 black people chilling in the rain, 19 white people peppered into the crowd, trying to find a Mex-i-can,” comedic icon Chappelle faux-spoken-word-like recites to his Clinton Hill audience. Amidst his generous offering of hip-hop legendaries, passionate dissidents and creative polymaths, a common bond was shared, the spirit of the ever-dissipating black revolutionary. Inspired by documentation of the 1972 Wattstax music festival, “the Afro-American answer to Woodstock,” Dave Chappelle stood in the footsteps (and surely not for the first time) of Richard Pryor and gave us a film many of his audience was not expecting, that all of his fans were. 

On the seven-year anniversary of the LA Watts riots, Stax Records put the resources forth to fund the mega congregation of African American cultural enthusiasts, the Wattstax Music Festival. Now that I’ve provided enough information to get through the first five minutes of a Black Arts Movement class, I want to highlight the similarities between these two events, and why it’s so important.  The similarities part is easy, just watch the two trailers.

Both films even had a white director (gasp!)

Dave Chappelle in many regards is a black revolutionary. The logo of his infamous Chappelle Show boasts the distinct colors of Black solidarity. Every episode of the show fades in and out with the immediately recognizable instrumental of the most militant Black Power musicians Gondry will ever film... Dead Prez. Although obviously holding a special place in Dave’s heart, Dead Prez were not the only revolutionaries performing at the block party. Also present: the show stopping Fugees, BlackStar, (named after Marcus Garvey’s Pan-African sea voyage line), The Roots Crew, Common, pre-super nova Kanye West, and Jill Scott -- all aware, proud and very vocal of their black identities.  Dave Chappelle’s Block Party was one Jesse Jackson Black Litany away from Wattstax, until Fred Hampton Jr. took the stage riling the crowd up to chant “hands up, fists clenched, eyes open!” … sounding pretty dashiki-era Jesse Jackson to me.

The question many people found themselves asking after seeing Block Party, is why Chappelle went from ‘I’m Rick James, bitch!’ to ‘I am somebody!’, maybe the better question is, why he went to 'I'm Rick James' in the first place. 2004/5 were rough years for Mr. Chappelle; we all know it, because we all saw it.  It seemed to be with the same amount of force that his own talents as an entertainer catapulted his show to a mega hit that the story of Chappelle’s crack addicted mental breakdown ( which caused him to walk away from a $55 million contract ) spread like wildfire.  These rumors, as the celebrity ones often are, were based on lies created by burned executives, as well as the reaction to, as a professor of mine once said, “the one thing a black celebrity can not do, quit.”

As Chappelle mentions in an Inside the Actors Studio interview, this pressure is not something new to celebrities, black celebrities in particular. Fellow members on the Block Party setlist  also have experienced the media buzz of a mental breakdown. Upon deciding to deviate from the dictations of their ‘suits’ Erykah Badu, Lauryn Hill and every other week, Kanye West fall victim to media spin (though I think in this post-supernova Kanye world, his ‘breakdowns’ have become another one of his selling points). Ms. Hill addressed such rumors in a recent interview with NPR

"Oftentimes," Hill says, "the machine can overlook the need to take care of the people who produce the sounds that have a lot to do with the health and well-being of society...And it's important that people be given the time that they need to go through, to grow, so that the consciousness level of the general public is properly affected."

     Although things aren't exactly peachy for black celebrities in todays world, things are surely not as bad as they were in 1965 . Despite this difference,  Dave Chappelle‘s Block Party, much like Wattstax, successfully provided a necessary outlet for these conscious-minded black celebrities to re-establish the firm bond they hold within the multitude of communities that produced them.  Many people were shocked at the return of The Fugees, in reality The Fugees only left the mainstream eye, they never left Bedstuy. “Old people fucking love me!” Chappelle boasts in the film --Dave, everyone loves you. Fans of Chapelle, of Badu, of Ms. Hill, when faced with tarnishing rumors commonly disregard them, nevertheless it’s an exhausting process watching your idols neglect to receive the amount of respect their talents deserve. It’s refreshing when they do. 

Dave Chappelle’s Block Party is an inspiring documentary following the hilarious and charming David Chappelle on a mission to offer one of greatest congregations of African American culture back to the hands of the African American community. 

If you're cringing in your seat that you didn't get to attend Chappelle's Block Party, check out the Afro-Punk Festival. A free event held annually in Brooklyn that boasts previous performances by Janelle Monae, Cee Lo Green, Bad Brains, Mos Def, Saul Williams and hundreds others. Just a hunch, but i'm fairly certain Lupe will be included on the set list for this year.