Dave Chappelle does it again. In his new movie, Dave Chappelle’s Block Party, the audience is reminded why we fell in love with his comedic sense of humor in the first place.
The movie, released March 3, 2006, is a documentary of Chappelle as he puts together one of the biggest hip-hop-and-soul concerts of the year-also known as The Block Party.
The movie consists of an all-star cast of artists such as Erykah Badu, Common, Mos Def, who was surprisingly funny, Jill Scott, Kanye West, John Legend, Talib Kweli, Big Daddy Kane and, the one and only, The Fugees-as well as Ohio State University’s marching band and random ordinary people.
In the film, Chappelle goes to several places-Ohio, Fort Greene, Brooklyn and New York City-and randomly gives the people he meets “golden tickets” to The Block Party, the location of which is kept secret right up until the time of the big show.
The film is hilarious. The people that Chappelle meets in his quest to create the ultimate party are comedians in their own right, which proves that humor can always be found in common, ordinary, everyday things. The real reactions and comments made by these individuals are priceless. Chappelle allows others the chance at the spotlight, but of course, it wouldn’t be a Dave Chappelle feature without featuring the man himself.
Chappelle definitely keeps the audience laughing with his various performances throughout the movie. The camera followed Chappelle on the streets, in restaurants, where he met a poetic waiter who rapped a surprisingly thought-provoking yet hilarious piece, and in clothing stores, where he tried on various “pimp suits,” saying, “Where’s my money, bitch?” Whether you’ve watched his show or not, you can definitely see why some call him the Richard Pryor of his time.
Director Michel Gondry brilliantly splits up the movie in sections, keeping the audience’s attention continually moving from Chappelle’s acts to interviews with performers, to the performances themselves, to interviews with random people and back again to Chappelle.
By the day of The Block Party, the already chaotic New York is in even more of an uproar while people try to find the location of The Block Party, which happened to be on the corner of the Quincy and Downing streets of Bed Sty in Brooklyn, N.Y. By the start of The Block Party, many had found their way to Bed Sty to hear the best of the best that hip-hop and soul has to offer.
The wide range of talent that performed made you wish that you could be in Bed-Sty at that particular moment, to listen to “real” hip-hop. The show opened with Ohio Central State University’s marching band, along with Kanye West and Common, and closed with the hip-hop group The Fugees, whose reunion brought tears to group member Lauryn Hill-whose mere presence awed everyone.
The performances had movie watchers singing along and clapping as though they were actually at The Block Party themselves. The choice of performers was genius. Rarely do you get to see or hear in one sitting so many talented individuals who have made a mark in their genre of music. Although you don’t get to see each performance in its entirety, the bit that you do see is enough to make you fall in love with the essence of music-hip-hop, rhythm and blues, jazz, soul-all over again. The performance with Jill Scott and Mrs. Badu alone will have you leaving the theater with a new appreciation for music.
I have to say, as a person who has never watched an episode of The Dave Chappelle Show, just from watching this low-budget, hip-hop concert documentary, I have become a fan of Mr. Dave Chappelle. Anybody who can should go see this movie, because, just like it says, “You’re invited to the party of the decade!”
