It is perpetually people wHO are locked out wHO create cultural trends � from the opera, to the ballet, to rose hip hop now. It is always people who ar locked out that do something different because they are non participating in the mainstream.
Like idle words, blues and rock'n'roll, that expression, that cultural phenomenon, is a form of rebellion. The difference is, the rising that was jazz or blues or rock'n'roll turned white. The white artists did what the black artists did.
Like pelvic girdle hop, comedy has the ability to relay a message and share intellect. They ar both expressions of a community in which to the highest degree people don't have a voice; an expression of a locked-out group, a group that comes from poverty in America.
Hip hop hasn't changed. It is mainstream, but though it has crossed over to the buyers, it has not crossed over to the producers. The stars are the same. They come from the same places. Most of hip hop still comes out of poverty. That's an important distinction.
It hasn't changed a chip. It whitethorn be a little wagerer: the poets are punter, the comedians are bettor. This is because there's more exposure, which inspires more people to join and in reality quit their jobs to become rappers or comedians. It's about expression. "We want serenity" or "We want the American dream".
Now it's the same with French rappers, British rappers and Palestinian rappers. They all echo that sentiment: "We're locked out. We feel poorness." It's the expression of those that are oppressed. Lots of things people are cerebration aren't soft, but our live read Def Comedy Jam embraced open manifestation, much as hip hop did.
When we put it on the US TV channel HBO in 1991, the honest speech and the no-boundaries attitude was a big deal. The comedians could say things that they might not normally say on television and, more importantly, people whose expression would never get on television set were heard. There was no Bernie Mac or Cedric ("The Entertainer") or Chris Tucker or Martin Lawrence. Very few comedians' voices were heard, simply through this, suddenly these people were thrust into the mainstream.
Most talent scouts wouldn't acknowledge of these comedians, but Def Comedy Jam exposed to the mainstream this very authoritative phenomenon. It exposed the expression of the poor and what was occurrent culturally in America. And it caught on immediately. Now we're bringing Def Comedy Jam to Britain. Before, budding comedians victimized to observe their day job. Now, someone like Kojo (Def Comedy Jam's UK answer to Chris Rock) goes to act upon and says, "I'm gonna let go of everything else and focus on my life history," making him more successful.
Comedy, like hip hop-skip, is irreverent. The things that ar said by rappers ingest an ability to shock but they're real. When Kanye West said George Bush doesn't like black people or when NWA said "Fuck the constabulary" years ago, that's real sentiment. They're expressing what a band of people are expression.
It's disgraceful to the mainstream to hear of people world Health Organization feel the police ar an occupying force, wHO feel the police are not on that point to facilitate them but to stamp down them, only that's their reality. That "no-snitch" reality is so sad � the fact that Italians and Irish and black neighbourhoods simply never told on criminals in the community because they didn't feel connected to the police. Everybody is so shocked about that only, again, that's the reality. And so hip hop and funniness give us a chance to explore the thought process of millions and millions of Americans wHO ordinarily wouldn't have a voice.
In the same way, a lot of Def Comedy Jam is racially provocative. It's a reality we live in that people make fun of stuff they can't really see or things they can't get a handle on, but comedy makes hoi polloi loosen up about it. I'm never offended by racial stereotypes; I think they are funny. They make me think. We hope that is what Def Comedy Jam does for most people. We hope masses don't hear jokes more or less each other and someway separate themselves. Hopefully, it will bring them unitedly.
Rap music impresario Russell Simmons presents Def Comedy Jam adjacent month at the Manchester Apollo, the Alexandra Theatre, Birmingham, and Brixton Academy, London. The show features Kojo, Patrice O'Neil, Capone and DJ Kid Capri
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