|
| |
Ghetto Expression - Rudy Ray Moore Dies
21-Oct-2008
Written by: Mic Mell
Rudy Ray Moore, who influenced several generations of hip-hop, rap and comedy, has died.
Dolemite: The classic low budget film is a cult classic of the cinema. The star, Rudy Ray Moore, did several low budget flicks in the '70s, most of which did not get rediscovered until decades later.
As Luther Campbell (2 Live Crew) told the Miami Herald in 1997, "People think of black comedy and think of Eddie Murphy . . . they don't realize [Moore] was the first, the biggest underground comedian of them all."
Moore's brash, rhyming, and profane bits became a foundation for black culture over the years. For decades before he was on the big screen, his standup and comedy albums were sometimes considered too provocative for display. While his contemporaries, Redd Foxx and Richard Pryor, found mainstream success, Moore's success was mostly constrained within poorer African-American communities.
Though Moore often used stereotypes, profanity, and ghetto humor in his routines, he could not stand the term "blaxploitation," a term coined for a genre of '70s films. Moore told the Cleveland Scene in 2002, "When I was a boy and went to the movies, I watched Roy Rogers and Tim Holt and those singing cowboys killing Indians, but they never called those movies 'Indian exploitation' -- and I never heard 'The Godfather' called 'I-talian exploitation.'"
In his later years, Moore found that Dolemite had become a part of popular culture, and he became a spokesperson for several major products. While his onstage persona was filled with what Moore called "ghetto expression," in his personal life he was a devoted Christian.
Moore was 81 years old, and died in a nursing home in Akron, Ohio.
Talk to other readers about this story.
|
|
|
|
|
