Dave Chappelle's Block Party (2005) Movie Script

(CAR ENGINE SPUTTERING)
You fiIming us?
Hey, man, what's happening?
We were riding.
Car just broke down?
Yeah.
Try it one more time.
Try it one more time.
Short bursts.
(ENGINE SPUTTERING)
MAN: Hey, yo, Dave!
What happened?
Oh, I'm sorry.
You're...
We stopped the engine.
We can't get it started again.
MAN: Yo, Dave!
Uh...
You put too much gas in it.
That's what I'm saying.
(MARCHING BAND PLAYING)
I have the butterfIy
wide open.
Try it now. Try it now.
(ENGINE SPUTTERING)
Stop, stop, stop.
How much of this
did you spray in there?
He said, ''How much of that
did you spray in there?''
How much of this
did you spray in?
I don't know
what his answer is.
That's right. Saturday,
coming at you!
The BIock Party of Iife!
With Kanye West,
Mos Def, TaIib KweIi, Common.
Did I mention the Fugees?
Did I mention Dead Prez?
Did I teII you Erykah Badu
was gonna be there?
And JiII Scott's gonna
be there. And The Roots crew
is gonna be there.
And yours truIy,
David ChappeIIe!
That's right!
Once in a Iifetime!
I've got the BrookIyn Steppers
behind me.
And we do a IittIe something
Iike this.
Saturday night,
Saturday afternoon
featuring barbecued chicken
for Iunch.
DAVE: It's a ceIebration,
bitches.
It's a ceIebration.
AII right, I'm gonna go
taIk some stuff
and then we're gonna...
And then,
I'm gonna bring you up, Kanye.
MAN: Hey, yo, BrookIyn,
make some noise for Mos Def,
y'aII.
MOS DEF: BrookIyn.
Bed-Stuy!
BrookIyn!
Let the shouting out begin!
(PERFORMING TWO WORDS)
(RAPPING) Now throw your
hands up, hustIers, busters,
boosters, hoes, everybody
Most High, we thank you just
for being here with us.
We thank you
for this day, God.
The sun is shining.
They said
it was supposed to rain.
But, God,
you Ietting your face show
that you want us here.
You want every souI here,
right now.
We thank you for this message
that you sending
through aII these peopIe.
We thank you for bringing Dave
to bring us together.
We dreamed of this day
and we ask that you
just utiIize our souIs
and our spirits and our voices
to gIorify you
in aII that we do.
We don't forget peopIe
that's poor.
We don't forget
those that's at war right now.
We don't forget our comrades
that's in prison.
We don't forget
our chiIdren, God.
And we praying
that you can just be
through us and Iive through us
so that we can raise
our peopIe up
and raise ourseIves up.
We put you first in aII we do.
And now just bIess
the energy of us
and the peopIe out there.
And aIIow your message
to be through us.
Amen.
Amen.
In the name of Jesus, in the
name of AIIah and the Spirit
of the Ancestors, amen, ashe.
DAVE: AII these peopIe,
what we aII have in common?
I think we aII have
a very personaI message
that they try to get across.
And it's about more
than just making money.
AII these peopIe that have
come here to this concert,
before I ever met them,
I was fans of theirs.
So to work with these peopIe,
in this kind of setting,
it's a dream come true.
This is the concert
I've aIways wanted to see.
(PERFORMING GET 'EM HIGH)
(RAPPING) Keep your hands up,
hustIers, busters, boosters,
hoes, everybody, fuck that
StiII nowhere to go
StiII nowhere to go
BrookIyn
It's your boy, M Def.
Yeah, he back.
FeeIs good to be home, y'aII.
DAVE: This is
my IocaI coffee shop.
The journey starts here.
Preparing for game day,
Saturday.
We got to get some peopIe
to come to this concert.
I don't think
that'II be so hard.
Hey, Bobby,
guess what he offered us?
What?
He said that there's gonna be
a rap concert in BrookIyn
and if we wanna go,
he'II give us tickets.
Man, I can't rap.
Dave, you know better
than that.
You don't have to rap.
But I'II get up there
and try.
AII you gotta do is Iisten.
MAN: What?
How often does a brother
get a chance to chiII out
with the probation officers?
On some sociaI stuff.
Man. And some sociaI...
No probIems.
I ain't even... I ain't
asking you to turn around,
drop me a cup of urine.
None of that. No cups, man.
DAVE: Yeah.
No peeing in the cup.
It might Iook Iike a Iot,
but this is it. These are
the goIden tickets.
Wee WiIIy Wonka
didn't even give out
this many.
This wiII get you guys there.
It'II get you a hoteI
in New York for the night.
AII right.
And it'II get you
into the concert.
And it'II get you a ride back.
Okay. We get
in our CadiIIac Iike we...
My CadiIIac, I shouId say.
Like we aIways do.
And we go drive, go goIfing.
It's this IittIe corner store
that we aIways go to
for snacks.
And the next thing we know,
we see Dave ChappeIIe.
I was Iike, ''Oh!''
ChappeIIe,
he grabbed this ticket.
Out of nowhere.
He puIIed it out his ass.
We was Iike, ''Oh!''
We were Iike,
''Where did that come from?''
After we got done
seeing ChappeIIe,
we went on goIfing.
And we going on
to the hoIe number 1 1 .
Just imagine,
we feeIing Iike this high.
Man, we feeIing
Iike this high.
This high.
Top of the worId right now.
This top of the worId, man.
You can't crush us.
We untouchabIe.
Can't crush
none of our feeIings.
There's a house to the Ieft.
It's deep
over there to the Ieft.
And the tee right here.
He had to take a piss.
So he respected the house.
You know, he respected it.
I was down
into some woods somewhere.
You know,
on some adventure stuff.
And he went on this side.
You know,
he handIed his business,
you know.
Right.
Everybody does it
on the goIf course.
It's nothing.
Man.
But...
Some guy comes out
and just says,
''You nigger.''
I said, ''Oh!'' I said, ''No.''
Man.
It's a new era, though.
I thought it was over.
And this oId guy
was so oId-schooI.
I never thought
somebody wouId say ''nigger.''
I said, ''Oh, my.''
And then,
I'm up here
just hoIding him back.
''No. No.''
If it wasn't for him,
it'd been over.
'Cause you know, that's his
private property. We want to
go to ChappeIIe on Saturday.
(SINGING) ChappeIIe's Show
ChappeIIe's Show
ChappeIIe, ChappeIIe
Yeah, ChappeIIe's Show
So, we gotta go.
So we did it for you, Dave.
Yeah.
We didn't whoop nobody's ass
for you, Dave.
It was for you, Dave.
For you, Dave. For you.
Watch your back.
You aImost bumped into a poIe.
I never steer you wrong.
Anyway, I come here
and get cigarettes.
Nice Iady, Miss HaII, owns
this pIace. I had the pIeasure
of meeting her before.
I wanna see if she'II come
Iisten to some rap music.
Just 'cause she's not a
traditionaI person to
a rap concert. Look out. PoIe.
I'm teIIing you,
I'II never Iie to you.
So, you're ready?
Saturday night?
Bring your TimberIands.
AII right.
And get the dance.
Do you think I wouId
enjoy that at my age,
reaIIy and truIy?
DAVE: And I just wanted
peopIe from around
the area that I Iive in,
that might not normaIIy go
to something Iike this...
That's right.
...to get a chance
to experience something
Iike this.
So, I figure,
I'II go to the store.
I come here,
I buy my cigarettes
sometimes in the morning.
I just wanted you to
be abIe to come in and
do your business and Ieave.
So...
No, that's why I Iive here.
Everybody treats me Iike...
But inside, I was screaming,
''That's Dave ChappeIIe!''
(DAVE LAUGHING)
Hi.
CAMERAMAN: Hi.
CAMERAMAN:
How's it going? Yeah.
Do you wanna come in?
Come on in.
I reaIIy don't know what
to take to a rap party,
BIock Party.
I knew I shouId have
bought a thong.
(RAPPING)
I'm trying to catch the beat
I need to catch the beat
I need to catch the beat
I need to catch the beat
Now, throw your
motherfucking hands,
get them high
Throw them high, get them high
And aII the girIs
pass the weed
to your motherfucking man
Get them high, get them high
Come on, get
Now I ain't never teII you
to put down your hands
Keep them high,
keep them high, yeah
And if you're Iosing your high
then smoke again
Keep them high
Now, my fIow is in the pocket
Iike waIIets
I got the bounce
Iike hydrauIics
I can't caII it,
I got the swerve
Iike aIcohoIics
My freshman year,
I was going through
heIIa probIems
TiII I buiIt up the nerve
to drop my ass up
out of coIIege
My teacher said I'm a Ioser,
I toId her
why don't you kiII me
I give a fuck if you feeI me
I'm gonna foIIow my heart
And if you foIIow the charts
or the pIaques or the stacks
You ain't gotta
guess who's back, you see
I'm so shy
you thought I was bashfuI
but this bastard's fIow
wiII bash your skuII
And I wiII cut your girI
Iike Pastor Troy
And I don't usuaIIy smoke,
but pass the 'dro
And I won't give you
that money that you asking for
Why you think me
and Dame cooI?
We asshoIes
That's why we hear your music
in fast-forward
'Cause we don't wanna hear
that weak shit no more
Now everybody
throw their hands
Get them high,
get them high, yeah
And aII the girIs
pass the weed
to your motherfucking man
Get them high, get them high
Get them high, yeah
Now I ain't never teII you
to put down your hands
So, keep them high,
keep them high,
keep them high, keep them high
And if you're Iosing your high
then smoke again
Hey, yo, Kwe, I need you
to spit that shit right now.
(RAPPING) Yo, yo, yo
I can't beIieve this nigga
use my name
for picking up dimes
But never mind,
I need some tracks
He trying to puII tracks out
And my rhymes
is fitting to bIow,
he about to bIow back South
WeII, okay,
you twisted my arm,
I'II assist with the charm
Hey, yo, ain't you
meet that chick at the
conference with your mom?
Her sister's the bomb,
but she got
the bougie behavior
AIways got something to say
Iike a Okay PIayer hater
Anyway, I don't usuaIIy
fuck with the Internet
Or chicks with birth controI
stuck to their arm
Iike Nicorette
You reaIIy fucking that much
or trying to get off
cigarettes?
And she think it's fIy
She ain't met a reaI nigga yet
I apoIogize if I come off
a IittIe inconsiderate
I got the Bubba Kush
and a sister
couId get a hit of it
Get them high,
get them high, yeah
AII the girIs pass the weed
to your motherfucking man
Get them high, get them high
Come on, yeah
Now I ain't never teII you
to put down your hands
Get them high, get them high
OId peopIe
fucking Iove me, man.
They Iove me.
You know you must be doing
something right
if oId peopIe Iike you.
Hi, miss.
WOMAN: Hi.
Do you Iike rap music?
I Iike you, man, I teII you.
I'II take that. You want
to come see a rap concert
I'm throwing?
When?
It's in BrookIyn
on Saturday.
Sorry, I can't do that.
I'II get you on the bus.
I'm going to Canada
on a bus.
Canada? You trying to
dodge the war?
I don't know if you Iike
rap music, but...
No, it's not a question
of Iiking.
I don't hear weII enough
to catch the words.
You know, I got
the concert jump-off
this weekend.
Oh, do you?
I can get you there.
HeII, yeah.
If you get me there, I'II go.
On a bus.
It don't make
no difference to me.
You'II go?
Yeah.
No matter how
we get you there? I ain't
gonna send you on a donkey.
MAN: He'II hurt the donkey.
I'm a footbaII pIayer.
I'm 320 pounds.
You pIay footbaII?
Where? At CentraI?
No. HeII, no.
Oh, excuse me,
I shouIdn't be cursing.
Oh, that's aII right. Look.
Pussy hoIe. You see?
You can say anything.
This is a movie.
You got
a big hat for me?
Yeah.
And the mirror's
right here?
Yeah.
That's the one.
AII right,
I'm gonna surprise myseIf.
Here I go. Damn! Oh, snap!
PimpaIicious.
This a bad coat.
Yeah.
You think I can wear this
to a rap concert?
You sure couId.
Where is my money, bitch?
Now, this is
the popuIar stuff?
Yeah.
AII right.
This is current styIes.
(IMITATING PIMP)
Look here, bitch.
I'm gonna teII you this
and I'm gonna
teII you this once.
I want my goddamn money.
TeII your wife I said hi.
I can't wait to meet her.
What's she Iike?
She's the shit.
Red hair, big tits.
Red hair and big titties?
AII right,
I'II keep an eye out.
Get her drunk,
she'II show them.
ReaIIy?
AII right, make sure
we have beer at the concert.
This pIace is caIIed
HaHa's Pizza, right?
Back in the day,
it was started
by some hippies.
And they had certain
pizza toppings that made you
Iaugh. Get my drift?
You ordered a mushroom pizza
at this pIace back in '7 1,
chances were
you were gonna haIIucinate.
(RAPPING) Keep them high
BrookIyn, make some noise.
I roIIed up on you guys
compIeteIy by chance.
What are the odds
that I'd be shooting
the beginning?
It's God.
I'm shooting a concert movie.
That's God.
That's God, man.
I'm trying to think,
how am I gonna get
peopIe to come?
And aII of a sudden,
a marching band
crosses the street.
How perfect is that?
Now, Iadies and gentIemen,
I'm standing here
with a piece of bIack history.
The first bIack man
named MiIsapp, right here,
Iadies and gentIemen.
And not onIy
is his name MiIsapp,
but he's aIso the director
of CentraI State University's
band we got here.
This is not any oId band
though, is it?
No, it isn't.
This the drum Iine.
Mr. MiIsapp?
Yes.
AII right, how do y'aII traveI
when you traveI?
Very carefuIIy.
We traveI by charter bus.
By charter bus?
We gotta have a huddIe, guys.
Come on, Iet's huddIe up
reaI quick.
Look, man. AII right,
say I chartered y'aII
a bus, right?
WouId you aII come pIay
at my concert, BIock Party,
in New York?
I don't have a probIem
with it.
The whoIe band?
Yeah, yeah,
with two buses, right?
Yeah.
It's not gonna be more
than two buses, is it?
No, it won't be more
than two buses.
Yeah, man, come on,
rep southwest Ohio, man.
Yes, we wouId.
You'II do it?
Yes, we wouId.
Is there a compensation,
or what?
Compensation?
It comes with a sandwich.
WiII there be snacks?
Oh, there'II be snacks.
We got...
Don't we got snacks
in the budget?
This is a Iow-budget movie.
You know how Steven SpieIberg
have aII them trucks
and stuff?
Got the hookup.
DAVE: This is it.
We puIIed up
in a minivan, baby.
We're working
on a tight budget.
You have to go through the
channeIs, right? Run it up the
fIagpoIe, that type of thing.
Yeah, and that wouId
be done expedientIy.
That couId be done.
And now we're just caught up
in a IittIe bureaucracy.
Now, how hot wouId it be
if these kids got a chance
to come through Bed-Stuy,
beating them drums,
pIaying them horns?
The whoIe neighborhood
is amped, screaming.
They're saying ''It's CSU!''
That's what we're hoping for.
The anticipation
is kiIIing me.
(PERFORMING DEFINITION)
(RAPPING) One
Two
Three
Four
Lord have mercy
Hey, yo, from the first
to the Iast of it
deIivery is passionate
WhoIe and not the haIf of it,
vocab and not the math of it
ProjectiIe and I'II bIast away
Accurate assassin shit
Me and KweIi cIose Iike
BethIehem and Nazareth
After this
you be pressing rewind
on top your master disk
Shining Iike an asterisk
for aII those
that be gathering
Connecting Iike a roundhouse
from the townhouse
to the tenements
AII my BrookIyn residents,
aII the heavy regiments
Don't beIieve,
here the evidence
BrookIyn!
From where
they seIIing tree at
to where the poIice be at
TaIib KweIi e-KweIi-ty
Yo, teII them where we be at
(RAPPING) We be in BrookIyn,
New York City
Where they paint muraIs
of Biggie
In cash we trust
'Cause it's ghettofabuIous,
Life Iook pretty
What a pity
BIunts is stiII 50 cents,
it's intense
Tree scent is dominant
can't be covered with incense
My presence feIt,
my name is KweIi
from the EternaI RefIection
PeopIe thinking MC
is shorthand for misconception
I meditate, set it straight
Came to the concIusion
that most of these cats
is featherweight
Let me demonstrate
WaIking the streets
is Iike battIing
Be carefuI with your body
You know karate
or think your souI
is buIIetproof Iike Sade
Stop acting
Iike a bitch aIready,
be a visionary
And maybe you can see
your name
in the coIumn of obituary
That's where it's aII
going down, baby.
Stage wiII be right there
where you guys are standing.
I'm gonna be running up
and down from here.
AII this is gonna be peopIe.
I can see it now!
Like a vision. Don't Iook
at me Iike I'm crazy.
It's going down!
This is reaI.
I'm sorry
for screaming Iike this.
(SINGING) One, two, three
Mos Def and TaIib KweIi
We came to rock it on
to the tip-top
Best aIIiance in
Sing it up!
Singing one, two, three
It's kind of dangerous
to be a MC
They shot 2Pac and Biggie
God bIess the day
and this hip-hop
Whose house is this anyway?
This your house?
You know, we're having
a concert in front of your
house Saturday. You excited?
Yes, and you're weIcome
to come and rest your Ioins
at any point.
I can come rest my Ioins
in the crib, you heard that?
With a gIass of champagne.
Ladies and gentIemen,
today is their fortieth...
Sixth.
Forty-sixth
wedding anniversary.
Good God AImighty.
Thank you.
HoId your appIause to the end.
We took a trip
on the Staten IsIand Ferry,
a IittIe ocean voyage.
Okay.
On the Staten IsIand...
AII right.
To Staten IsIand.
And, as we waIked
in the streets
of Staten IsIand,
what did we discover
in the gutter, but an angeI
broken in seven pieces.
When we both discovered this,
I turned to him,
who was not my husband
at the time,
and I said,
''It's an omen. It's a sign.
''I'm to marry you,
of aII peopIe.''
ReaIIy?
And I did. I married him.
And Sunday is our 46th
wedding anniversary.
I put that angeI
back together again.
But after I did, we found
the originaI, of which there
may be thousands of them.
The originaI's rather stiff.
Mine is kind of gracefuI.
So, that's why we caII this
Broken AngeI.
Because this buiIding
was wrecked and vandaIized
and Iying in the street.
And I'm putting it
back together again,
better than it was.
CHAPPELLE: On
the actuaI bIock,
it's Iike a warehouse
where they make chairs.
There's, Iike,
a SaIvation Army,
a nursery schooI.
Then there's this iII house
caIIed the Broken AngeI House
that these two peopIe Iive in.
They've been Iiving there
for 40 years.
Now you guys buiIt
this house yourseIves?
We did. We buiIt...
What you see,
that's unusuaI.
It is quite the unusuaI home.
It's a monument to
BrookIyn, my dear.
He's my spouse.
It's our anniversary
of marriage on Sunday.
I moved in three months
before we cIosed.
We had five wiId dogs
Iiving in the buiIding
at the time.
(DOG BARKING)
That's not one of them.
Her name is Cat,
the one barking.
Cat.
When I say
it's a iII house, Iike,
this is the craziest shit
I've ever seen in my Iife.
(ALL LAUGH)
You just...
I couIdn't even describe.
You just have to...
And if you get a chance,
go in there as far as you...
Can.
Yeah, exactIy.
They're reaI
hospitabIe peopIe, Iike,
''Come on in. ''
That was my fauIt. AII right.
I onIy have seven dogs,
1 4 cats, two doves
and a parakeet.
Good God.
And a cheetah.
Oh, good God aImighty.
Oh, yes.
A cheetah?
A cheetah, honey.
AII right,
Iet's see that Iast.
Okay, Iast, of course.
AII right.
CHAPPELLE: Keep the cheetah
Iocked up.
That up ahead is caIIed
the Great Expectation Room.
In there.
Notice the door says Quincy,
because it came from
Quincy Street.
You can peek through there
if you wish to
photograph
the wonderfuI jumbIe
of chaotic Iiving.
(CHUCKLING)
And in here,
we have an angeI scuIpture
that my husband did
on the back
inside and outside
of the buiIding.
The buiIding is onIy
a third compIeted.
One-third.
We have two-thirds to go.
With a Sea King heIicopter
on a cIimbing crane
that goes through
the entire buiIding,
doesn't touch the buiIding,
the cIimbing crane.
The Sea King heIicopter
is five more stories
above what's there now.
And it is transformed
into a whaIe.
There's drawings of that
where we're going
on the next IeveI.
You just cIimb up
this charming, IittIe Iadder.
Now we're getting to
the Titanic version.
OnIy it doesn't sink.
(GRUNTS)
It's sIippery for me.
CHAPPELLE: It's an oId
white coupIe.
They've been married for,
Iike, 40 years,
and they found this house
which they took as a sign.
So they said,
''We wiII piece
this house together
''better than it was before.''
Now I don't know
how it Iooked before,
(ALL LAUGHING)
but I'II teII you this.
They pieced it together,
and that shit IiteraIIy
is Iike chutes and Iadders
and Iike the steps are,
Iike, just, Iike cat way.
Like it reaIIy Iooks Iike
some shit that they made.
From where you're standing up,
I buiIt personaIIy...
With me.
...with my wife,
who's a very good
construction worker.
And in the earIy stages,
I had a coupIe of men
working for me
that were criminaIs.
Out of jaiI.
But they enjoyed
working with me
because I did what they did.
AII I toId them was,
''Keep up with me,
and I'm twice your age.
''If you can keep up to me,
you can work here.''
You know,
I don't Iike rap music,
because rap music
composes a Iot of
fouI Ianguage,
and I don't think
it's proper for chiIdren.
I don't even think it's proper
for aduIts, either,
to be using
that type of Ianguage.
And that's
what's incorporated.
I grew up in show business.
My father was
a director in HoIIywood.
His name was...
MAN: It's not hip-hop.
That's rap.
His name was...
Rap music, yeah.
His name was RusseII Mack.
He was a vaudeviIIian
song-and-dance man.
And I was born in...
They took me home
from the hospitaI.
I was born in Los AngeIes,
and my father buiIt his home
in BeverIy HiIIs.
He wanted to negotiate fiIms
with the Germans.
But when he reaIized,
when he saw that
they were, ''HeiI, HitIer, ''
and aII of that,
of course, that was a no-go.
They got shit in there,
Iike, there's a hoIe
that they Iook through,
Iike a pipe,
and the pipe is pointing
directIy at a cIock tower.
So, Iike, if it's Iike,
''What time is it?''
(ALL LAUGHING)
There's some wiId shit
in there.
This is caIIed
the AirpIane Room,
what you're in now.
My son named this room
the AirpIane Room.
He had a tent.
He Iived in a tent. He was 15.
And aII the airpIanes
fIying over to LaGuardia
fIy over this buiIding.
What is painted bIack here
appears to be the bottom.
MAN: Yeah.
So this whoIe thing fIoats
over these mirrors.
Whoa!
So from that corner,
it's a very good iIIusion
in the morning,
because you'II see
cIouds underneath it.
Oh, yeah, yeah,
I see what you mean.
And there's nothing up here
to give scaIe,
so when peopIe waIk by,
they ask me
if this is about this big.
You know, from the street,
they don't know how big it is
untiI I'm up there.
Then they accuse me
of witchcraft.
I want to give
and donate myseIf
to two endeavors in Iife.
One is cancer, one is animaIs.
I intend to take a course
at LaGuardia CoIIege
as a veterinary technician.
And between that and my Iife
isn't as young
as perhaps I may Iook.
But I intend to Iive
to probabIy about 400,
as I am aIso a witch,
but a good witch.
And I onIy want happiness
for mankind,
not to create chaos
and to be angry at everyone,
but to be happy around them.
That is my aim in Iife.
To give happiness
to the worId.
Because they bought it,
it kind of had
some sort of meaning.
But if I was a Iocation scout,
and we needed a crack house,
I might refer that pIace.
MILSAPP: Can I see
the whoIe band
for a moment, pIease?
BOY: Quiet.
GIRL: Be quiet.
AII right.
Upon a discussion
I had with our president
and Mr. David ChappeIIe,
the performances on Saturday
have been canceIed.
Are you serious?
I'm serious.
However, there has been
a change in pIans.
We wiII be traveIing
to New York.
(PERFORMING KING OF THE GAME)
CODY CHESNUTT: (SINGING)
I've stood here
in these streets of men
Dying a IittIe
That I might comprehend
A concept Iike purpose
or worry there
The earth is mine
by divine prophecy I'm toId
I am free if I'm meek
Greetings. Cody Chesnutt,
The Headphone Masterpiece.
By the grace of AImighty God,
here for the ceIebration.
Miss, I'm having a BIock Party
on Saturday around the corner.
AII you need to do
is bring yourseIf.
Bring yourseIf! Bring yourseIf
to the BIock Party, won't you?
Attention, HuxtabIes.
There is
a BIock Party jump-off
right around the corner.
Downing and Quincy.
Downing and Quincy.
Bring Rudy, Theo, Denise...
On the actuaI bIock?
It's Iike a warehouse
where they make chairs.
No human ass
has touched these seats yet.
Some Iucky person
is gonna get a chair.
DAVE: There's Iike
a nursery schooI.
There's this iII house caIIed
the Broken AngeI house.
Then there's
the SaIvation Army.
These guys have been
kind enough to Ioan us
furniture for the party.
And now we're just kind
of Iooking around
at furniture,
so that we can be comfortabIe
on the rooftop
during the concert.
I'm aIso just taking some time
to Iook at aII this good stuff
that peopIe just throw out.
If I went to a white person's
house and saw this,
I'd be furious.
Think I can pIay this,
even though it says
''Do not pIay''?
(PLAYING 'ROUND MIDNIGHT)
(SINGING)
Midnight, 'round midnight
QUESTLOVE: I think,
right now, man, Dave has
two songs in his repertoire.
He has Round About Midnight
and Misty.
And he... Once he has...
(PLAYING MISTY ON ORGAN)
(HUMMING)
Wait, get...
Go back to Round Midnight.
He aIways gets to the bridge
and then he does
these reaI
immacuIate arpeggios,
which trips me out.
The fact that
he's not a trained musician,
but he's dedicated
his whoIe Iife
to Round About Midnight.
BOTH: We're dating.
It's caIIed...
Courtship.
Christian courtship.
That's what it's caIIed.
We're dating.
It's caIIed dating.
We've been friends
for how Iong? A year.
Best friends for a year.
A month.
And a month.
And a day.
And a day.
And a day, a day.
It's a year,
a month and a day.
So, how many hours
and how many minutes
and how many seconds?
Can I breathe your air?
Breathe mine.
(GIRLS LAUGHING)
That was Round Midnight
I was pIaying.
That's a TheIonious Monk song.
One of my favorite musicians
because his timing was so iII.
Every comedian
is a stickIer for timing.
And TheIonious Monk
was off time,
yet perfectIy on time.
You shouId study it
if you're an aspiring comedian
or an aspiring musician,
you shouId study it.
Which brings me
to my next point.
Comedians and musicians,
we're Iike this.
Every comic
wants to be a musician.
Every musician
thinks they're funny.
It's a very strange
reIationship that we have.
Some musicians are funny,
some comedians can pIay.
I'II give you an exampIe.
Mos Def, funny guy.
Jamie Foxx,
good singer and piano pIayer.
So you never know.
You never know what kind
of taIents a person has.
I'm mediocre at both,
but have managed
to taIk my way into a fortune.
Life is a funny,
unpredictabIe thing.
DAVE: So, you do
the drums, right?
And then do
Iike the straight...
Like, if I say,
''I saw this Iady
who was so fat. ''
You'd be Iike, ''ReaIIy, Dave?''
Like, ''How fat was... ''
You do the straight man
and then I'II do...
AII right, you ready?
But this is how it works.
That you gotta stop
when I say stop. It's gotta
be, Iike, on a dime.
Okay.
And then keep going again.
Stop, keep going again.
AII right.
AII right,
so we'II try it out.
But when we do it,
we're gonna practice it
in front of the audience.
This shit never faiIs.
It's Iike a waIking bassIine,
and then Iike a swing beat,
and then Iike whatever eIse...
MAN: This is sort of Iike
making that noise.
AII right. That's right.
Okay, it shouId be Iike this.
Hey, Mos, what's happening?
Then you be Iike...
Hey, what's happening, Dave?
Mos, I'm gonna teII you
a IittIe...
How many white peopIe
does it take to screw in
a Iight buIb?
I don't know, Dave, how many?
None. 'Cause they'II get
a nigga to do it for them.
Carry on.
Oh, that's right.
Just a IittIe warm-up.
AII right, aII right.
MILSAPP: Okay, Iisten up.
Upon getting your keys
and your Iuggage,
you can go to your room.
We are going to eat down here,
I beIieve, in the dining room.
So once you
put your Iuggage up,
you can come back downstairs.
GIad we're here, though.
Time to reIax, get some
sIeep before we go and
kick it tomorrow or whatever.
(PERFORMING MOVE SOMETHIN')
Bed-Stuy!
TALIB KWELI: (RAPPING)
Everybody
Come on, everybody
Get it up, get it up, what
Everybody
Give it up, give it up, what
Get it up, get it up, what
Everybody
Get it up, get it up, what
Everybody
Give it up, give it up, what
Give it up, give it up, what
Get it up, get it up, what
Get it up, get it up
Hating meIodrama
FeIIas wanna hover
in my cypher
Iike a heIicopter
Like it's a speciaI honor
SteaIth bomber, gem dropper
make the ghetto hoIIer
intercontinentaI
Taking you high Iike skydivers
when we spark Iike Iive wires
OriginaI caveman,
quest for my fire,
Express my desire
to drop this new shit
These record executives
keep teIIing me y'aII stupid
What, are they what?
Shut the fuck up!
RevoIutionaries,
throw your guns up
Whether you a bougie broad
who acting stuck up
Or some ignorant
thug motherfucker
shooting the cIub up
We make y'aII feeI this,
break your spirit
If y'aII fake that reaIness,
Word, bringing it
Ringing it in
from the new miIIennium
to way after that
I caII these cats ReynoIds
'cause they pIastic rap
KiII aII the yapping,
Iet's make it happen
You cats ain't reaI,
you just a reenactment
Better yet, dramatization
Soon as the director
say action
you start faking
DAVE: I Iike the eIement
of surprise.
Take this concert
for instance.
I wouId have Ioved it
if nobody saw it coming.
Now it got Ieaked
to the press,
peopIe have heard about it,
but they stiII don't know
where it is.
So imagine. There's gonna be
a group of peopIe
that see it here,
and then, peopIe wiII hear
about it, but they have no
idea what it Iooks Iike.
CAMERAMAN:
How'd you find out about this?
Internet.
1 iota.com.
1 iota.
Oh, through e-maiI.
Say it Ioud, say
Move something
BrookIyn, say it Ioud, say
Move something
BrookIyn, say it Ioud, say
Move something
CAMERAMAN:
Where you going?
We made it.
Somewhere in BrookIyn.
We don't know.
We don't know.
Gonna have a good time today.
I don't know where I'm going.
I know that I'm going
to some BIock Party,
but I don't know who's
performing or... I'm just here
to have a good time.
We're going to BrookIyn.
We're going to Bed-Stuy.
Bed-Stuy, Bed-Stuy.
Do or die,
we're going to Bed-Stuy.
That's where we think
we're going.
Just get on. Enjoy yourseIf.
Have a good time. We Iove you.
MAN: There's no...
Y'aII got to squeeze,
I'm sorry.
Put three peopIe.
PeopIe with smaII booties
aII sit together.
Big booty peopIe,
y'aII got to share
with a smaII booty.
Wow, how you gonna catch me
whiIe I'm in the middIe
of breakfast?
This is not a stereotype.
We were hungry and Pathmark
was out of steak.
MAN: You guys ready
to get on the road?
ALL: Yeah!
DAVE: Thank you,
thank you very much.
Have you tried the hot dogs?
That's right.
(SINGING) That's right
We're gonna have
a IittIe party tonight
And some jazz comedy
Oh
That's right
(SHOUTING)
We didn't get here
untiI very Iate Iast evening.
And we've onIy had about four
or five hours' sIeep,
most of us.
So we are a IittIe tired,
but we're trying
to weather the storm
and enjoy ourseIves
in spite of.
Carry on!
Yeah! We're gonna
bring the house down tomorrow.
Oh, shit!
(SCATTING) Scooby-doo-wop
Scooby-doo-wee
We need to Iet them in.
We gotta go.
Downing and Gates.
We got to Iet them in.
We got a marching band
on Downing and Gates...
Come on in.
Throw them up.
Throw them up.
Give it up for none other
than Kan-Easy,
AKA Kanye West.
Come on.
Make some noise, Bed-Stuy.
Make some noise!
(PERFORMING JESUS WALKS)
(RAPPING)
Y'aII know what the Midwest is
Young and restIess
Where restIess niggas
might snatch your neckIace
Next these niggas
might jack your Lexus
Somebody teII these niggas
who Kanye West is
I waIk through the vaIIey
of the shadow of death
Top fIoor the view aIone
wiII Ieave you breathIess
Try to catch it
It's kind of hard
Getting choked by detectives
Yeah, now check the method
They asking us questions
Harass and arrest us
Saying, ''We eat pieces of shit
Iike you for breakfast''
Y'aII eat pieces of shit?
What's the basis?
We ain't going nowhere
but got suits and cases
A trunk fuII of coke
RentaI car from Avis
My mama used to say
onIy Jesus couId save us
WeII, Mama,
I know I act a fooI
But I'II be gone tiII November
I got packs to move
I hope Jesus waIks
God show me the way
The deviI's trying
to break me down
Jesus waIk with me
The onIy thing that I pray
is that my feet
don't faiI me now
I want Jesus
And I don't think
there is nothing I can do now
to right my wrongs
To waIk with me
I want to taIk to God
but I'm afraid
'Cause we ain't spoke
in so Iong
Jesus
God, show me the way
The deviI's trying to
break me down
WaIk with me
The onIy thing that I pray
is that my feet
don't faiI me now
(SINGING) AII aIong my
piIgrim's journey
I want Jesus
to waIk with me
(RAPPING) To the hustIers,
kiIIers murderers,
drug deaIers
Even the strippers
Jesus waIks with them
To the victims of weIfare
For we Iiving in heII here
HeII, yeah
Jesus waIks with them
Now hear ye, hear ye
Want to see thee more cIearIy
I know he hear me
When my feet get weary
'Cause we're the aImost
nearIy extinct
We rappers is roIe modeIs
We rap, we don't think
I ain't here to argue
about his faciaI features
Or here to convert atheists
into beIievers
I'm just trying to say
the way schooI need teachers
The way Kathie Lee
needed Regis
That's the way I need Jesus
So here go my singIe, dawg
Radio needs it
Nigga, you can rap
about anything
except for Jesus
That means guns,
sex, Iies, videotape
But if I taIk about God
my record won't get pIayed
WeII if this take away
from my spins
Which wiII probabIy take away
from my ends
Then I hope it take away
from my sins
And bring the day
that I'm dreaming about
Next time I'm in the cIub
everybody screaming out
Jesus waIks
God show me the way
The deviI's trying
to break me down
Jesus waIk with me
The onIy thing that I pray
is that my feet
don't faiI me now
And I don't think
there's nothing I can do now
to right my wrongs
I want to taIk to God
but I'm afraid
'Cause we ain't spoke
in so Iong
Man, that Kanye West.
Kanye West,
who we came to see,
he came out right away.
He came out, did his thing.
I Iiked that.
It's a party.
If it wasn't for the rain,
it wouId have been reaIIy
great. But it's stiII a party.
(IMITATING BEAT POET)
''Rain, rain
''On my parade
''Five thousand bIack peopIe
chiIIing in the rain
''Nineteen white peopIe
peppered into the crowd
''Everybody's weIcome
''Trying to find a Mexican
''Very hard to find a Mexican!
''Buenos dias.
I know you're out there.
Buenos dias.
''Que?
''That's Spanish
LiI Jon. Que?
''Que?
''Si.''
Thank you, bitches.
Good night.
Now, I know you guys
are thinking,
''Dave, where have you Iearned
how to pIay the congos?''
Nobody taught me that shit!
I'm bIack!
It's in my bIood!
M-1 : Throw up my gang sign.
It's bad. WeII, no, reaIIy,
it means something.
It means ya basta.
Know what I'm saying?
It's Mexican.
For aII my companeros
and compananas.
This means ya basta.
Enough is enough.
DAVE: Is that
some Mexican shit?
Yeah.
So if I see some Mexicans
and I throw this up...
And this means...
Ya basta.
Ya basta. And they'II be
Iike, ''AII right.''
Oh, weII, you know.
I never reaIIy...
Check with them first.
Yeah, I don't wanna...
Don't have me doing this.
Don't just waIk up to Mexicans
and start doing this shit.
Enough is enough.
Ya basta.
We had enough here.
We're ready for better.
Any way.
Next time my wife is feeding
me too much... ''WouId you
Iike some more potatoes?''
Ya basta. I've had enough.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
Oh, yeah.
Put your fists up.
My nigga.
(PERFORMING
TURN OFF THE RADIO)
(RAPPING)
Crank up your speakers
Your woofers and your tweeters
Turn up your receiver
Crank up your speaker
Your woofers and your tweeter
Turn up your receivers
We banging off the
It's your boy stic.man,
Dead Prez.
You know how we do it.
Fuck the poIice.
You know what I mean.
Raising the babies up
soIdier styIe.
Greetings.
This is M-Uno, M-1 .
The other haIf of Dead Prez.
(RAPPING) We banging off the
Yo, come on
Your speakers
Your woofers and your tweeters
Turn up your receiver
We banging off the meter
I refuse to be a stereotype
in your box
Never wanna try
to be something I'm not
DAVE: I think, Iike,
the more you say with it,
the Iess airpIay you get.
You know, guys Iike Dead Prez,
they say it aII.
But you hardIy ever
hear them on the radio.
Because they say things Iike,
''The White House
is the rock house.
''UncIe Sam is
the motherfucking pusher man.
''What I gotta do
to make you understand?''
You know.
They don't want to hear that
on the radio.
''The White House
is the rock house,''
and aII these kinds of things.
But you hear it
at the barber shop
aII the time.
(RAPPING)
Say turn off the radio,
BrookIyn
Turn off that buIIshit
Say it
Turn off the radio
Come on, come on
Turn off that buIIshit
What's on the radio
Propaganda, mind controI
And turning it on is Iike
Putting on a bIindfoId
When you bring in the reaI
You don't get rotation
UnIess you take over
the station
And, yeah, I know
it's part of their pIans
To make us think
it's aII about
Party and dancing
And, yo, it might sound good
when you spitting your rap
But in reaIity,
don't nobody Iive Iike that
You wanna know
what kind of nigga I am?
Let me teII you
about the nigga I'm not
I don't fuck with the cops
Like it gotta be hot
I ain't gotta Iove it,
even if they pIay it a Iot
How many peopIe they reach?
How they use music to teach?
A radio program
ain't a figure of speech
Don't sIeep, 'cause you couId
be a radio freak
My nigga, turn off the radio
Say it
Turn off that buIIshit
BrookIyn, turn off the radio
Come on, come on
Turn off that buIIshit
Turn off the radio
Turn off that buIIshit
Turn off the radio, say it
Turn off that buIIshit
Crank up your speakers
Your woofers and your tweeters
Turn up your receiver
We banging for the peopIe
Crank up your speakers
Your woofers and your tweeters
Turn up your receivers
We banging off the meter
Or how about when they say,
''Who shot Biggie SmaIIs?
If we don't get them,
they gonna get us aII. ''
''I'm up for running up
on them crackers
in their city haII. ''
You'II never hear that shit
on the radio.
Never in a miIIion years
wiII you hear somebody
say on the radio,
''I'm up for running up on
some crackers in city haII.''
And
peopIe have stopped asking
who shot Biggie SmaIIs.
But if you in show business
and bIack, you'II wonder
about that every day.
'Cause they might
get you, too.
Biggie SmaIIs was
in this daycare center.
Miss Jenkins, Miss Green,
Miss Pennick
was their teachers.
And they're stiII here.
They've been here
for the past 30 years.
Man. So the next Biggie SmaIIs
might be here now.
You don't even know.
He may be.
That's it. This is what
I just finished teIIing you.
AII right. AII right.
Okay.
So out of here,
you wiII get the next
star. Maybe...
Maybe Biggie SmaIIs.
...another Biggie SmaIIs.
This the oId daycare center
right here, man.
DAVE: You were in here, too?
No, I didn't go here,
though my IittIe nephew
used to go here.
I used to aIways come here
to pick up my nephew.
One of my niggas
from Junior MAFIA,
his mom used to work in here.
Word?
You know,
just aII around the way, man.
AII down here.
So the whoIe Junior MAFIA's
from around this way?
Yeah. Yeah, everybody.
Kim, everybody.
Yeah, Kim used to Iive...
She Iived
on the other St. James.
That's two bIocks
down this way on Lafayette.
Jay-Z, he from Marcy projects.
That ain't but about
two, three bIocks
on that side.
Junior MAFIA, Big, he's two
bIocks back down this way,
you know what I'm saying?
So, I mean, you know,
we kind of
put it down ourseIves.
You infIuenced
the whoIe worId.
Yeah, yeah.
For sure, for sure.
It's just Iike it's a 'hood
thing, man. Like we ain't got
shit to do out here.
That's aII you got to do,
is music, man.
That was something that kept
a Iot of us niggas
out of troubIe.
Kept motherfuckers
off the corner.
WouId have been poIice
out there fucking with you.
You go in the crib,
you Iisten to some music.
That's the onIy thing
that kind of cIeared
the nigga head.
And the money
never came between you?
No, never that. Never that.
'Cause we aII
grew up together.
At the end of the day,
I ain't gotta make
another record no more,
but those wiII aIways
be my niggas,
'cause I grew up with them.
It was way bigger
than hip-hop.
Kind of Iike,
that was our work.
Those were my niggas
right there.
I grew up with them
since we was Iike this,
so nothing wouId ever
come between us.
You know what I'm saying?
Me, on the other hand,
I don't see
none of my oId friends.
Them motherfuckers is crazy.
And if you watching this,
I mean that shit.
If you know this here, say it.
(PERFORMING
IT'S BIGGER THAN HIP HOP)
(RAPPING)
It's bigger than hip-hop
Hip-hop, hip-hop
It's bigger than
Say it
What it bigger than?
Say it
What it bigger than?
Say it
What it bigger than?
One thing about music
When it hit, you feeI no pain
White foIks say
it controIs your brain
I know better than that
That's game,
and we ready for that
Two soIdiers head of the pack
Matter of fact,
who got the gat?
And where my army at?
Rather attack and not react
Back the beats,
it don't refIect
on how many records get soId
On sex, drugs,
and rock and roII
Whether your project
gets put on hoId
In the reaI worId
We just peopIe with ideas
They just Iike me and you
When the smoke and camera
disappear
In the reaI worId
It's bigger than aII these
fake-ass records
When poor foIks
got the miIIions
and my sisters get respect
If you check, one, two
My word of advice to you
is just reIax
Just do what you got to do
If that don't work
then here's the facts
If you a fighter, rider,
biter, fIame-igniter,
crowd-exciter
Or you wanna just get high,
then just say it
But then if you a Iiar,
Iiar, pants on fire
WoIf-crier, agent with a wire
I'm gonna know it
when I pIay it
Say it
What it bigger than?
It's bigger than hip-hop
Hip-hop, hip-hop
Who shot 2Pac?
If we don't get them,
they gonna get us aII
I'm down for running up on
them crackers In the city haII
We ride for y'aII
AII my dawgs, stay reaI
Nigga, don't think
your record deaI
Gonna feed your seeds
and pay your biIIs
Because they're not
MCs get a IittIe bit of Iove
And think they hot
TaIking about
how much money they got
Nigga, aII y'aII records
sound the same
I sick of that fake thug,
R&B, rap scenario
AII day on the radio
Same scenes in the video
Monotonous materiaI
Y'aII don't hear me, though
These record IabeIs
sIing our tapes Iike dope
You can be next in Iine
and signed
and stiII be writing rhymes
and broke
You rather have a Lexus
or justice?
A dream or some substance?
A Beemer,
a neckIace or freedom?
See, a nigga Iike me
don't pIayer-hate
I just stay awake
This is reaI hip-hop,
and it don't stop
TiII we get them crackers
off our bIock
They caII it hip-hop
Hip-hop, hip-hop
It's bigger than
What?
What it bigger than?
Hip-hop, hip-hop
What it bigger than?
What it bigger than?
It bigger than
hip-hop, hip-hop
D.P. 's got that crazy shit
we keep it crunked up
Come on, bIaze this shit
D.P. 's got that crazy shit
We keep it crunked up
BrookIyn, we Iove you.
Thank y'aII.
Free Aaron Patterson.
DAVE: Look at that.
Look at that.
AII right, aII right.
Ready? This is
for Dead Prez right here.
This is especiaIIy
for Dead Prez.
Pow!
The most revoIutionary shoe
known to man.
Ya basta!
Who knew that?
Ya basta.
Ya basta.
Enough is enough,
motherfuckers.
You need to get us
in a skit, Dave.
You know what I'm saying?
We can do this.
We can do this.
I'II dance aII day.
How many peopIe
in the audience can MC?
Nine hundred MCs.
Mr. T.
Bring up Mr. T.
I wanna battIe you.
(IMITATING MR. T)
I pity you, fooI.
I pity the fooI
that tries to battIe
Dave ChappeIIe.
Where's your time machine
parked?
He got a Mohawk, man.
Come on, man,
you weigh more than me.
God damn!
I pity the fooI!
Drink the miIk, B.A.
Here's the kicker.
I'm not giving you a mike.
Good Iuck!
You know, I'm from DC,
where y'aII are from.
You from DC? For reaI?
You know,
we rough it off down there.
He said he's roughing off.
Does that mean that I shouId
wash my hands?
He's roughing off!
VaseIine!
See, roughing off
is when we take the mike.
AII right, hoId on.
AII right! Take it easy!
You know I got security,
nigga. I'II get you yoked.
I wiII get you...
I'm worth too much money now,
motherfucker.
There's snipers on the roof,
aII kinds of shit!
That's right, Mr. T.
I pity the fooI!
I pity the fooI
that fuck with me.
What's up, BK?
Yo. It's Iike this.
This my homie here,
he's from DC, right?
(RAPPING) Yo, son.
What's up with that baId head?
I think you got to get
something new
or you'II be dead
Yo, Dave,
I ain't gonna do you Iike that
'Cause I'm gonna come to you
reaI fat with a bat
Yo, I'm rapping Iike this
'cause I don't
reaIIy freestyIe
I'm rapping Iike this
'cause I've traveIed
many miIes
''PIease to meet you, '' I hoIIer
''I'II see you at the gate''
After that, yeah
That shit's gonna be Iate
Time out, everybody.
First of aII, don't ever boo
a rapper on this stage.
The way that he rhymed ''gate''
with ''Iate'' is genius!
And if you can't see that,
there's something wrong
with you!
Anybody can rhyme Iike that.
You got nice shoes.
Nigga's got bIues.
New York City.
Something about big titties.
You couId just do that
aII day.
Bring back on that beat!
Uh!
Time out, time out, time out!
Why everybody got to go ''uh''
before they freestyIe? Uh!
Uh!
AII right, go ahead.
Bring that beat back.
Bring that beat back!
I didn't forget about you!
(RAPPING) It's time
to go to schooI
Like Mr. T said,
''I pity the fooI!''
That ain't pIatinum
it's not even siIver
It's just a piece of shit
I toId you that shit
don't rhyme
What? What?
Look at that! Huh?
You said ''Free Tibet''
Ain't no niggas in Tibet!
It's probabIy a free t-shirt!
My fIow is too iII.
Damn, I thought
that was a reaI person.
That's a puppet. God damn!
This puppet had me fooIed.
I was Iike, he's gonna
get in troubIe smoking
aII this weed out here.
Guy got his hand
up a Jamaican midget's ass.
Doing aII...
I didn't know it was a puppet!
AII right.
Oh yeah, give it up
for my man, Mr. T.
His cereaI is in stores.
(SINGING) Mr. T!
Can I get somebody
to beatbox for me?
I'II beatbox.
How do you want your beat?
AII right.
(BEATBOXING)
(RAPPING) Many women teII me
my styIe is so different
It is kind of good
but Iet's be specific
I'm not the type to be rushing
I'm not the type of guy
who asks
a whoIe Iot of questions
Like where you going,
where you been
and can we
have sex aII the time?
That's not important to D
I onIy date girIs
who have men or reIations
So to be with me
is Iike a mini vacation
So I don't Iet no girI
spend my money Iike she crazy
HaIf on drinks
on the room and the baby
I don't argue,
I controI myseIf
'Cause I don't have to be Ioud
or physicaI to be feIt
'Cause after it's aII over
we reaIize it was nothing
I waIk away and Iater
return and stiII be...
You never have to worry
that I Iie
'Cause I don't have to
'Cause I'm
the nigga on the side
That's right.
AII right,
I'II see you Saturday, man.
AII right!
Saturday.
2.;00.
Be there or be square,
as they say.
She knew what I was going for.
You heard that, buddy?
Quincy and Downing Street.
WOMAN:
How do you speII Downing?
Downing? I don't know,
I went to pubIic schooI.
D-O-W-N-N-I-G?
When you said you was
doing it over there,
I was Iike, ''Fuck.''
DAVE: You grew up over there?
My whoIe chiIdhood...
Hey, that's crazy.
...was in the Stuy.
So it's a trip.
The Stuy is stiII, Iike,
the Stuy.
You know what I'm saying?
This shit has been Iike that
forever.
It's actuaIIy better now
than it has been.
In certain areas, anyway.
DAVE: Some of it Iook Iike
when The Cosby Show
comes back
from commerciaI break.
And some of it Iook Iike
when Good Times came back
from the commerciaI break.
But it couId be
in the same bIock.
MOS DEF: Like, yeah,
you couId be in one bIock,
and then you'd turn the corner
and you'd be Iike, ''Oh, shit. ''
Tyrone in schooI?
FoIks, right now
I'm sitting in the office
of none other than Luz Grice.
She is the director
of the daycare center
whose roof
we'II be shooting on Saturday.
I just wanted to say
thank you, first of aII,
for Ietting us shoot here.
Thank you.
And thank you
for introducing me
to aII the kids today.
You're quite weIcome.
It's a mixed area.
Bed-Stuy, it's bIack,
Hispanic...
There are a few Caucasians
coming in.
You know, that's what I Iike
about Bed-Stuy.
You say it's a mixed area.
BIacks and Hispanics.
BIacks, Hispanics,
and a few Caucasians
coming into the neighborhood.
Do you got a Iimo?
Do I have a Iimo?
Today I have a Iimo.
(CHILDREN CHEERING)
Thank you. Thank you.
Can we ride in it?
If you guys couId ride
in my Iimousine, right,
where wouId you want to go?
No, wait a minute!
Wait a minute!
Let's go to AIabama.
You wanna go to AIabama?
We get to see the roof?
Now we going
to the roof.
To the roof?
Yes.
The roof.
I hope you can cIimb stairs.
Right
over the Iedge
is the actuaI
BIock PartyIconcert.
AII right, to my right
is Tyrone. One of the fastest
kids on the East Coast.
I'm gonna give you
a head start,
that's how confident I am.
You ready?
Yeah.
Set?
I didn't say go.
I didn't say go, Tyrone.
Come on, now, aII right?
Now this time I mean it.
Are you ready?
Set.
I'm gonna give you
a head start.
Go.
Just gonna Iet him run
reaI quick.
Oh, he is fast!
Is the jump-off
jumping off?
Who wants to go next?
Ready?
Yeah, I'm ready.
AII right, come on, y'aII.
Let's keep the show going.
DAVE: AII right, everybody.
I don't know what to say.
Ya'II just gonna have to
go crazy now.
Just make some noise.
Hey! I smeII reefer!
I'm caIIing the poIice!
AII right, everybody.
Make some noise.
Show your Iove.
Erykah Badu.
(PERFORMING BACK IN THE DAY)
(SINGING) Back in the day now
Back in the day
when things were cooI
Hey
AII we needed was bop-bop
bop-bop, bop-ba-dop
Hey
Bop-bop, bop-bop, bop-ba-dop
Wait.
WeII, weII, weII
Sing
Back in the day
when things were cooI
Back in the day
AII we needed was
Bop-bop, bop-bop, bop-ba-dop
Hey
Oh, weII, weII, weII
Look, gotta say
SouI fIower
take me fIying with you
Hey, chiId
Just give me that
bop-bop, bop-bop, bop-ba-dop
Let me just say, just because
you guys are younger than me,
don't think for a second
I'm gonna take it easy on you.
I pIay to win.
Yeah, you can't win.
I'm putting some money
on the tabIe.
I'm just kidding.
GambIing is wrong, kids.
James, watch this.
(SINGING)
We gonna go back, aII right?
Say good morning.
KIDS: Good morning!
Good morning, kids.
Say, ''Good morning,
Mr. ChappeIIe.''
Good morning, Mr. ChappeIIe.
Thanks. Can you say,
''Good morning,
Mr. BIack Bush?''
KIDS: Good morning,
Mr. BIack Bush.
I Iove kids. Thank you.
The Iaughing, the singing
The jamming, the taIking
And pumping the trunk
With the windows roIIed up
Puff
Hours ago
Then we couId ride
around the park
tiII it's after dark
And when we get home
hope the dog don't bark
Puff
DAVE: It's aIways more
interesting to Iook at
the person behind the image.
Everyone's got a difference
between their personaI Iife
and their pubIic Iife.
You kind of have to.
Not every part of you
can be for saIe, right?
But this is something
where I just wanted
to get a feeIing of,
Iike, that third dimension.
Something just a IittIe bit
beyond that superficiaI image.
Just meet the peopIe
beyond the goId
or whatever it is
that their image is.
That, you know,
you hear someone Iike
Erykah Badu's music and you
get the idea she's so serious,
but she's a hiIarious person.
You'd never know this.
So hopefuIIy we hang out here
for 12 hours together,
we perform together,
or we taIk together,
maybe we get to see
a IittIe bit more
about what we're aII about.
DAVE: Hey, Iook at Erykah!
JILL SCOTT:
Go ahead, girI.
I reaIIy Iove
that woman.
We aII have our own thing.
That's the magic.
That everybody comes with
their own sense of strength
and their own queendom.
Mine couId never compare
to hers, and hers couId never
compare to mine.
(PERFORMING LOVE OF MY LIFE)
(SINGING) Love of my Iife
You are my friend
Love of my Iife
I can depend
Love of my Iife
Without you, baby
FeeIs Iike a
simpIe true Iove, yeah
But the shit didn't cIear
(RAPPING)
Y'aII know how I met her
We broke up
and got back together
To get her back
I had to sweat her
Thought she'd roII
with bad boys forever
In many ways
them boys made her better
To grow I had to Iet her
Let her
She needed cheddar
and I understood that
Looking at cheese
that don't make her
a 'hood rat
In fact she's a queen to me
Her Iight beams on me
I Iove it when she sings to me
It's Iike
(SINGING) Ooh, you know
you rock my worId
And you be boy
CROWD: And I'II be girI
And it don't stop
UntiI the break of dawn
Sing it, y'aII,
come on
It don't, it don't
It don't, it don't
She jumped off
into the crowd's arms.
That was exciting.
(RAPPING) Yes, yes, y'aII
And you don't stop
We Iike to rock to the beat
And you don't stop
KooI Herc in the house
And you don't stop
JILL SCOTT:
That chick right there
has definiteIy Ied the way
for me
and a Iot of other sisters.
You know, I appreciate it.
MICHEL GONDRY: Are you nervous
you're gonna perform
after her?
I'm trying to get
your feeIings out.
Have you ever
seen me perform?
I am the Iady, JiII Scott.
I am a poet and a singer
and a Iot of other things.
And this is my pimpIe,
Herbert.
He arrived today
and he decided to stay.
So we'II see
his performance tomorrow.
They're fixing me.
Now I can't see him.
He said,
''Can I see your pimpIe?'' No.
(PERFORMING THE WAY)
(SINGING) Woke up this morning
With a smiIe on my face
Jumped out of bed
Took a shower
And I cIeaned up my pIace
Made me some breakfast
I had some toast
and two scrambIed eggs
Grabbed my keys
Grabbed my purse
Grabbed my jacket
Off to work
Beaming aII the way
You Iove me, baby
You Iove me, baby
You Iove me, baby
Is it the way
You Iove me, baby
I know.
JiII Scott. I Iove her.
I've seen Mos Def.
Oh, my gosh, I'm so excited!
Oh, it's wonderfuI.
It's great being out here
in New York for my first time.
I feeI kind of Iike
I'm at home.
Yeah.
Seeing aII these peopIe
out here with Iocks,
it's comfortabIe.
You know,
it's nice, though.
See, you can't come
to BrookIyn
without coming to the rooftop.
This is New York
when you're on the rooftop.
Every time you show a movie,
it aIways show somebody
on the rooftop.
This is it.
So we here doing it.
On a rooftop.
The barbeque...
You shouId see
the IoveIy women.
QUESTLOVE: AII of us have...
What we have in common
is that our audience
doesn't Iook Iike us.
And it's the same for him.
Because of whatever vehicIe
that he's working at the time,
it attracts
a certain demographic.
And I guess around the time
when the thing
that was out for him
was, you know, Iike peopIe
knowing about HaIf Baked.
And it was Iike post-9I1 1 .
So, pretty much Iike...
The audience was
fuII of, Iike,
these wiId frat boys, Iike,
you know, Iike,
that just wanted him
to do his character.
'Cause he was teIIing stories,
they wouId aIways
interrupt his narrative.
But teII them what I said,
that's when
the sniper was out,
what did I say?
I said
the sniper was bIack.
Oh. We, we...
Yeah...
Did I not say that?
Yeah. He predicted
that the DC Sniper...
Was bIack.
...was bIack.
'Cause he was taking
weekends off.
What kind of white sniper's
gonna do some shit Iike that?
A white sniper's
up earIy, kiIIing.
(PERFORMING BOOM)
(RAPPING) Party peopIe
gather round
What we have here
is a brand new sound
Reach for my waist
Y'aII hit the ground
You better duck
when I start
spitting the rounds
It goes, boom, boom, boom
Yeah, that's what's happening
in the parking Iot
Check it out, y'aII
That's what's happening
on stage
HoId your fIix,
I'm not for the photo ops
It's BIack,
code name Yaphet Kotto ock
What's good? BIack Thought
from the Roots crew,
hoIding it down.
Frank KnuckIes of the Roots.
One Iove.
I'm KamaI from the Roots
and I'm an aIcohoIic.
Ahmir Thompson.
I'm the officiaI photographer
of this event.
My name is Kirk,
AKA Captain Kirk.
AKA Roscoe, AKA Tracy Chapman.
I pIay guitar
with the Roots crew.
What's happening?
Martin Luther,
RebeI SouI Music.
(RAPPING) Party peopIe...
This is H-U-B, Hub,
Leonard Hubbard on the bass,
representing the Roots Crew
and keeping bIack music aIive.
BIG DADDY KANE: What's up?
Big Daddy Kane. Just here
to show Iove, you know.
I'm gIad to be a part
of this, you know.
Big ups to the Roots.
Big up to Dave, for, you know,
showing a brother Iove.
(RAPPING) The man at hand
that ruIe the schooI
And teach and reach the bIind
and find a way from A to Z
And be the most
to boast I'm Ioud and proud
The game to reign
You remain guiIty
The heat is on
so feeI the fire
come off the empire
aII the more higher
IeveI of depth
one step beyond dope
To suckers aII smoke and hope
to cope with notes
'Cause I couId never Iet them
on top of me
I pIay them out
Iike a game of MonopoIy
Let it speed around the board
Iike an astro
And send them to jaiI
for trying to pass go
Shaking them up,
breaking them up,
taking no stuff
But it stiII ain't Ioud enough
So QuestIove Iet the fire grow
Everybody in the house
say, ''Ho!''
Party peopIe gather round
What we have here
is a brand new sound
Reach for my waist
y'aII hit the ground
You better duck
when I start
spitting the rounds
and going,
''Boom, boom, boom, boom''
That's what's happening
in the parking Iot
Y'aII are not ready for it
Yo, check it.
I'm Iive, design a finer rhyme
that's right on time
One step beyond
and not behind the Iine
That separates thought
from divine
You can take it as a caution
or a warning sign
Antonyms, words,
I'm bIending them
Homonyms, synonyms
good Iike M&Ms
With PoIo,
and whiIe I'm sIicing
I turn a mike's Iast name
into Tyson
My brain Iike a factory
constantIy creating
MateriaIs stitch by stitch
for decoration
My Iyrics are fabric,
beat is a Iining
My passion of rhyming
is fashion designing
Now it gets ordered 'cause
peopIe wanna sport it,
you bought it
If you didn't
then you couIdn't afford it
Poetry fuII of surprises
It's Iike a game show
And my brain go...
I do my thing, yo
Party peopIe gather round
What we have here
is a brand new sound
Reach for my waist
Y'aII hitting the ground
You better duck
when I start
spitting the rounds
I go, ''Boom, boom, boom''
What's happening
in the parking Iot
Check it out, y'aII
That's what's happening
on stage
(WHOOPING)
Yes, they deserved to die,
and I hope they burn in heII!
AII right, band, you ready?
Yes!
Hit me, hit me.
Hit me two times.
(BAND RESPONDING)
That's not how
James Brown did it.
His shits was crisp, decisive.
I said, ''Hit me. ''
Y'aII was Iike...
(MOCKING BAND)
I got to get that
James Brown shit.
Hit me two times.
(BAND RESPONDING)
That's better, motherfuckers.
Three times.
That's right.
Two from both nuts.
(BAND RESPONDING)
That's right.
Ain't nothing Iike
a James Brown hit
to set the mood. Hit me.
(BAND RESPONDING)
See? Hit me again.
That's right. Hit me.
(BAND RESPONDING)
See?
If you couId do that
in reaI Iife,
you'd be powerfuI.
If I couId waIk
into the meeting,
''I want more money,
motherfuckers. '' Hit me.
(BAND RESPONDING)
(CROWD LAUGHING)
Just might get it.
''Excuse me, baby,
wouId you Iike to dance?''
''I ain't dancing with you. ''
''WeII, fuck you, bitch.
Hit me. ''
(BAND RESPONDING)
(CROWD CHEERING)
Hit me again.
(BAND RESPONDING)
AII right, just checking
to make sure you... Hit me.
(BAND RESPONDING)
Watching, that's aII. Hit me.
(SHOUTING)
(BAND RESPONDING)
Hit me!
They're good. What can I say?
They're professionaIs.
(BAND RESPONDING)
Hit me!
(BAND RESPONDING)
See, I can't shake them...
Hit me! Shit.
Life is deep. You know,
the other day... Hit me!
Damn! These motherfuckers
are good.
You see what I'm saying?
I'm teIIing you,
the crowd's not gonna know
what hit them.
You see, what I'm saying
is that the crowd's
not gonna...
See, y'aII motherfuckers
don't even know what hit you.
MOS DEF: AII you got is the
mother jokes. You in Bed-Stuy.
Got the mother jokes.
There you go. There you go.
AII right. Your fucking...
Your short-ass mother,
motherfucker.
I seen your mother's picture.
You couId see her feet on
the driver's Iicense picture.
How about that? Hit me.
Boom, in your face,
motherfuckers,
'cause I got a band, too.
I got a band, too.
Oh, yeah.
Then we'II tear them up.
We'II tear them up.
You see, your mother's
got an eye here,
here, here and here.
When someone knock
on the door, she Iooks
in the peephoIe and say,
''Who is it?'' Hit me!
That's right,
your ugIy-ass mother.
I'II be going on
Iike this aII day Iong.
That's right.
Your mother got three titties.
One for miIk, one for water
and other one's out of order.
Hit me.
You see, it's not even
that funny, but with the hit,
it just pushes it
over the top.
Nobody has three titties.
That's ridicuIous.
One more hit.
Two times.
Three times.
BLACK THOUGHT: I think we're gonna
have some fun with this one
right here.
(PERFORMING YOU GOT ME)
(SINGING) When I use my mind
I win the race
I am the moon
and the rising sun
My new shit has just begun
I can take you higher
I can take you Iow
If you were worried
about where
I been or who I saw
Or what cIub I went to
with my homies
Baby, don't worry
Yeah.
Don't worry, don't worry
You know
(RAPPING) That snake couId be
that chick and that rat
couId be that cooI cat
That's whispering
''She trying to pIay you
for a fooI, BIack''
If something's on your chest
then Iet it be known
See I'm not every five minutes
aII on the phone
And on the topic of trust
It's just a matter of fact
That peopIe be biting
that shit trying to fracture
what's intact
And they'II forever be
I ain't on some
''Oh, I'm a ceIebrity''
I deaI with the reaI
And if it's artificiaI,
Iet it be
I seen peopIe caught in Iove
Iike whirIwinds
Listening to their squabbIes
and fucking their girIfriends
That's exactIy the spot
they whoIe worId ends
Lies come in,
that's where the drama begins
(SINGING) If you were worried
about where
I went or who I saw or
What cIub I went to
with my homies, baby
Yeah.
Shout out, y'aII
If you were worried
about where
If you were worried
about where
I went or who I saw or
I went or who I saw or
What cIub I went to
with my homies
Baby, don't worry
If you were worried
About where I been
Baby, don't worry, don't worry
I take you everywhere
You know it yet
When I am faithfuI to you aII
If you were worried
about where
Don't worry
I went or who I saw
About where I been
What cIub I went to
with my homies
Baby, don't worry
You know that you got me
If you were worried
about where
I been or who I saw
You know got me
What cIub I went to
with my homies
Baby, don't worry
You know that you got me
Don't worry about me
Say what?
BLACK THOUGHT: Roots crew
up in the pIace, y'aII.
(SINGING) Be-bop, be-dop, yeah
BrookIyn!
Wah-do-dem,
give it just a IittIe bit.
Go, come on.
JiII Scott, Erykah Badu.
The Iegendary Roots crew
from PhiIIy,
Iadies and gentIemen.
BrookIyn!
The party ain't over.
The party is not over.
QUESTLOVE: The Roots
used to hoId jam sessions
at this cIub caIIed WetIands
in New York City
every Sunday night.
So, a Iot of the times,
we were...
The Roots were the house band.
And JiII wouId get up
and do something.
Then TaIib wouId be there,
he'd do something.
Then Common wouId be there
and he'd do something.
And Erykah wouId be there
and do something.
And Mos wouId get up,
the same thing, you know.
So, it's not even surprising
that these are
the particuIar artists
that are chosen.
You know, Iike, aII of us
were interacting
with each other,
even before
we aII had record contracts.
(SINGING) Take my paw, JiII
(SINGING) Write this down
No
I'm not gonna say it
right now
Tomorrow may never come
(SINGING) For you or me,
Iife is not promised
Tomorrow may never show up
For you or me,
this Iife is not promised
Yeah
(PERFORMING UMI SAYS)
I ain't no perfect man
I'm trying to do
the best that I can
with what it is I have
(VOICEOVER) My name is Dante.
Some peopIe caII me Mos Def.
Some peopIe caII me
other things.
(SINGING) With this mike
in my hand
Even though it's feeding back
and shit
I'm stiII gonna come Iegit
Put my heart and souI
into it, y'aII
Bed-Stuy, do you feeI me?
From where I am
to wherever you are
I mean it, I mean it,
I mean it
You better hoId
this very moment
very cIose to you
8.;00 in the p.m.,
September 18, 2004,
happy birthday
So cIose to you
Don't be afraid
BrookIyn, Iet it shine, sing
My Umi said
shine your Iight on the worId
What'd she say?
CROWD: Shine your Iight
on the worId
That's what she said,
my Umi said
shine your Iight on the worId
What'd she say?
Shine your Iight
for the worId to see
Break it down
I put my heart and souI
into this show
BrookIyn, do you feeI me?
Sometimes I don't want
to be bothered
Sometimes I just want
a quiet Iife
Me and my babies
Me and my Iady
Sometimes I don't want
to get into no war
Sometimes I don't wanna
be a soIdier
Sometimes
I just wanna be Dante
But Umi said
shine your Iight on the worId
Shine your Iight
for the worId to see
My Umi said
shine your Iight on the worId
Shine it right on the worId
I want my peopIe to be free
That's Fred Hampton Jr.
That's Fred Hampton.
Fred Hampton Jr.?
What's up, baby?
Fred Hampton Jr.,
the gentIeman
that was on camera
not Iong ago
is a good friend of mine,
comrade, and he's an exceIIent
gentIeman.
He's the son of Fred Hampton,
who was a young
18-, 19-year-oId BIack Panther
in Chicago,
working with peopIe
in the communities,
in the streets
and the poIice came
and kiIIed him in his bed
with his woman,
and his newborn...
His yet-to-be-born son
in his woman's beIIy.
Which is Chairman Fred
over here.
Free aII poIiticaI prisoners.
Don't edit that.
Don't cut that.
Make sure you put that
on there.
Free aII poIiticaI prisoners.
Make sure that on there.
Don't edit. Don't cut it.
In the raw, no mix, no segue.
Free Mumia Abu-JamaI,
Sundiata AcoIi
and aII poIiticaI prisoners.
Free the New York Three.
Don't edit that. Make sure
they go there. Uncut.
TeII it, Fred Hampton.
Right on. Right on.
Heads up, eyes open
and fists cIenched.
Heads up, eyes open
and fists cIenched.
Heads up, eyes open,
fists cIenched.
Look here, right on.
Say, ''Power to the peopIe. ''
MOS DEF: Power to the peopIe.
Right on. We sense a Iot
of taIk going around
about terrorism.
We say bIack peopIe
are the O. V.s, the originaI
victims of terrorism.
We say poIiticaI prisoners
are victims of terrorism.
We say our position is
''Free them aII. ''
We say,
those soIdiers in Attica,
free them aII.
What's the caII?
Free them aII.
Mumia Abu-JamaI.
Free them aII.
Sundiata AcoIi.
Free them aII.
RucheII Cinque Magee!
Free them aII.
The New York Three.
Free them aII.
Man, we say,
free aII poIiticaI prisoners
and prisoners of war.
Power to the peopIe.
Free them aII.
(SINGING)
To be free, to be free
To be free, to be free
To be free, to be free
To be free, to be free
To be free
To be free
Break it down
To be free, to be free
AII right, Iisten.
We're going to settIe this
raciaI shit right now.
We're pIaying these
white peopIe for our freedom.
''Can Dave ChappeIIe baII?''
No, I can't baII,
motherfucker.
What do you mean, can I baII?
Y'aII missed it.
You was reIoading the camera,
I was aII the way
on the other court.
TeII them what I did.
They'II never beIieve me.
AII right , here I am.
Okay, Iook. This is me.
I'm aII the way back,
I dribbIe,
get my confidence, aim, fire.
TALIB KWELI: What's up?
Oh, shit!
(PERFORMING GET BY)
(RAPPING)
We go through episodes Iike
Attack of the CIones
Work tiII we break our back
and you hear the crack
of the bone
To get by, just to get by
Just to get by, just to get by
We asking why some peopIe
got to Iive in a traiIer
'Cause Iike a saiIor
I paint a picture
with the pen Iike Norman
Mi abueIa raised
three daughters
aII by herseIf, with no heIp
I think about her struggIe
and I find the strength
in myseIf
These words meIt in my mouth
They hot Iike the jaiI ceII
in the South
Before my nigga Core
BaiIed me out
To get by, just to get by
Just to get by, just to get by
We do or die Iike Bed-Stuy
through the red sky
Out the window of the red eye
Let the Iead fIy
on some G Rap shit
This morning I woke up
FeeIing brand new
and I jumped up
FeeIing my highs, and my Iows
In my souI, and my goaIs
And tried to stop smoking
and stop drinking
And I've been thinking
I've got my reasons
Just to get by, just to get by
Just to get by, just to get by
Just to get by, just to get by
TeII them, KweIi
We keep it gangster,
say ''for shizzIe, '' ''for
sheezy'' and ''staying crunk''
It's easy to puII a breezy,
smoke trees, and we stay drunk
Yo, our activism
attacking the system,
the bIacks and Latins
in prison
Numbers have risen
They reach us
Iike inner vision
Shit and aII they got
is rapping to Iisten to
Let them know we missing you
Love is unconditionaI
Even when the condition
is criticaI
When the Iiving is miserabIe
Your position is pivotaI,
I ain't buIIshitting you
Now, why wouId I Iie?
Try to get by, just to get by
We can't fIy
See, the TV got us
reaching for stars
Not the ones
between Venus and Mars,
the ones that be
reading for parts
PeopIe get breast enhancements
and penis enIargements
Saturday sinners
Sunday morning
at the feet of the Father
They need something to reIy on
We get high on
aII types of drug
AII you reaIIy need
is Iove to get by
Just to get by, just to get by
Just to get by, just to get by
Like John Lennon
''Imagine aII the peopIe''
Watch me rock
Iike PauI McCartney
from now
untiI the Iast BeatIe drop
This morning I woke up
FeeIing brand new
and jumped up
FeeIing my highs and my Iows
In my souI and my goaIs
Just to stop smoking,
stop drinking
But I've been thinking
I've got my reasons
Just to get by, just to get by
Just to get by, just to get by
One more time!
Some peopIe cry
Some peopIe try
Just to get by,
for a piece of the pie
We Iove to eat and get high
We deceive and we Iie,
and we keeping it fIy
When peopIe decide
to keep a disguise
You can't see them
We see the eviI inside
The best peopIe you find
Strong or feebIe in mind
I stay reading the signs
Yo, yo, yo, yo, I get by
Just to get by
I Iove y'aII, BrookIyn.
I Iove y'aII. Word up.
TaIib KweIi, BrookIyn,
New York City.
MOS DEF: BIack Star Embassy
is in the buiIding.
BrookIyn, do you feeI
good tonight?
I know I do.
MICHEL GONDRY: What do you
think of rock music
and hip-hop?
WeII, personaIIy,
I am for cIassicaI music.
I pIay the piano.
I want to pIay.
And I wish to marry,
when I die,
Sergei Rachmaninoff.
I am terribIy in Iove
with him.
Thank you.
Over my dead body.
WeII, it wouId have to be,
wouIdn't it?
I guess so, Arthur.
That's very normaI.
You know,
I don't Iike rap music.
Because rap music composes
a Iot of fouI Ianguage,
and I don't think
it's proper for chiIdren.
I don't even think
it's proper for aduIts either
to be using that type
of Ianguage.
Hey, Mos.
Hey, Dave.
You know, I was in the pubIic
restroom the other day...
It's a Iong story.
This guy was peeing
in the urinaI next to me,
I didn't Iook or nothing,
but I couIdn't heIp
but notice.
His dick was so smaII...
How smaII was it, Dave?
He peed on his baIIs.
AII day, babe.
We couId do this aII day Iong.
AII day Iong.
AII right. One more.
This is as dirty
as it's gonna get.
AII the kids, pIug your ears.
Ready? Here we go.
Hey, Mos.
Hey, Dave.
Did I ever teII you the one
about the industrious
prostitute?
No, I don't beIieve
you did.
WeII, it's a funny story.
She actuaIIy had a vagina
surgicaIIy impIanted
in her hip.
Oh, my God.
Yeah.
So she couId make some money
on the side.
Oh, it goes on Iike this
for days and days and days.
We just teII straight jokes.
That's it, we'II kiII them.
AII right, everybody,
Iisten up.
Listen up, there's been
some technicaI difficuIties.
Listen, I'm gonna teII you
what happened.
As you aII know,
we were expecting to have
Lauryn HiII cIose the show.
UnfortunateIy,
CoIumbia Records
wouId not cIear
any of her songs.
Lucky for us,
Lauryn HiII came up
with an aIternative soIution.
Ladies and gentIemen,
make some noise for a miracIe.
The Fugees.
(RAPPING) Yeah, yeah, yeah
BIack Star Jack Bush
Put your hands up,
get your hands up
One, two, three,
put your hands up
Get your hands up,
get your hands up
Get your hands up
HoId on, hoId on,
hoId on, hoId on.
(PERFORMING NAPPY HEADS)
(SINGING) Yo, Mona Lisa
Can I get a date on Friday
And if you're busy
I wouIdn't mind
taking Saturday
Round up the posse
Fugee comin' around the way
Nappy heads in the zone
And we ain't going home
Put your hands in the air
right now.
I've been waiting
for this shit!
(RAPPING)
Yo! A cheeba cheeba, y'aII
WeII I'm a Libra, y'aII
Yes, yes, y'aII,
and it don't stop
A cheeba cheeba y'aII,
weII I'm a Libra y'aII
Yes, yes, y'aII, Iet's
Yo
You wanna battIe swing
I bring commanding men
Iike I was king
In aII your dreams
I write the horror fIick
of Stephen King
CIing to faIse aIso
those papers say ock
I got tired of the fat Iady
So I sing to my own opera
Ba-Iang-baIang-baIang
-to-de-man-de-rock
'cause I Iove thee
If you Iive by the sword
you wiII be die by the gun
'Cause aII guys teII Iies
and poor girIs commit sin
I was ordered the code red
but now I'm chiIIin'
with A Few Good Men
Assassination on the kid
from the capitaI
I never pIayed a soap opera
Now I'm in GeneraI HospitaI
Condition criticaI
Spirit overruIes the physicaI
So if I die,
catch me at the funeraI
I'II fIy away, oh gIory
With a mike in my hand
To a Iand where onIy
And the angeIs write raps
on hoIy paper
I said I'm Iookin' for Jesus
He said take the escaIator
One fIight up is guaranteed
I'II be there
My sister'd be there
I want to see everybody
Iike this
LAURYN HILL: Yo, Mona Lisa
Stop, BrookIyn!
Yo!
WYCLEF: Ladies and gentIemen,
Lauryn HiII!
(RAPPING)
Yo, I don't puff bIunts
so I aIways got my breath
Never had to battIe
with a buIIetproof vest
They caII me cock-weaseI
but I stiII cave a chest
I don't wear Jheri curIs
'cause I'm not from the West
No disrespect to the West,
true indeed
I rock it to the East,
the East is the seed, yo
To see that them days back
Yo, sheepskins and Hot Tracks
Peace to Mr. Magic
Things are getting tragic
Now we on some new stuff
Ku KIux, whatcha gonna do
Kids are actin' oh
Yeah, put your hands up.
Lauryn HiII's in the buiIding.
Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey
PrasweII,
where you at? Come on.
(RAPPING)
Hey, yo, a battIe is a battIe
but a battIe's not a battIe
If it's...
If your snake doesn't rattIe
'Cause my styIe,
it's oId as a reptiIe
As new as a new NiIe
As new as a new chiId
Come foIIow me
to the Iand of Abraham
This Iand's your Iand,
this Iand's my Iand
The bIacker the bIack man
The better the next man
Yo, some nappy heads
need to check they necks
for red
PRAS: Brother, Iet me
ask you something.
When you got the word
that the Fugees
is coming back together to...
DAVE: I didn't beIieve it.
I didn't beIieve it 'cause...
You know, what happened is,
I got a caII.
Yo, I said, ''Fugee what?''
I said, ''Who is this?''
Then I got a caII from CIef.
And you know,
I stiII don't know
the science on it.
I mean, you know,
both of us,
speaking for both of us,
yo, it's Iike, when we
see Lauryn, you know what
I'm saying?
It's Iike, we just,
Iike, speechIess,
you know what I mean?
Yeah. 'Cause she was singing
KiIIing Me SoftIy Iast night.
She was Iike...
We was just Iike,
''God damn, she's a beast.''
Like, I'm a fan. I mean, yeah,
you know, me and CIef went
through our IittIe buIIshit.
WeII, peopIe go through that.
You know what I'm saying?
But I think, Iike they say,
to err is human,
but to forgive is divine.
You know
what I'm saying? So...
We just came together.
'Cause I'm a fan
of both CIef and Lauryn.
Even though I'm
a part of the group,
I'm a fan of them,
and when she started singing
KiIIing Me SoftIy,
I aImost wanted to cry.
(PERFORMING KILLING ME SOFTLY
WITH HIS SONG)
(SINGING) Strumming my pain
with his fingers
Singing my Iife
With his words
KiIIing me softIy
with his song
KiIIing me softIy
with his song
TeIIing my whoIe Iife
with his words
KiIIing me softIy
WOMAN: Lauryn!
...with his song
I heard he sang
a good song, yes
And I heard
that he had a styIe
And so I came to see him
And Iisten for a whiIe
And there he was
This young boy
singing
straight and strong
Strumming my pain
with his fingers
Singing my Iife with his words
He was kiIIing me softIy
with his song
KiIIing me softIy
with his song
TeIIing my whoIe Iife
with his words
KiIIing me softIy
with his song
Yo!
What, what?
I heard he had a styIe
Come on
And so I came to see him
And Iisten for a whiIe
Yeah, yeah, yeah
And there he was,
this young boy
Yeah, yeah, yeah
A stranger to my eyes
Check it
Strumming my pain
with his fingers
One time
Singing my Iife with his words
Two time
Yeah, yeah
KiIIing me softIy
with his song
KiIIing me softIy
with his song
TeIIing my whoIe Iife
Yeah, yeah
with his words
KiIIing me softIy
Yeah, yo
SoftIy with his song
PRAS: Yo, L-Boogie,
take it to the bridge
Yeah, yeah
Sing it
Oh, yeah
Where y'aII been?
What'd you...
You said, where I've been?
You see,
that's where I've been.
See, that's where I've been.
Yeah.
You see where I've been?
Yeah, the first day
that we rehearsed, it was...
You know, it was famiIiar.
You couId feeI why...
You know.
Why we had made music together
in the first pIace.
'Cause there was a certain
synergy at the time.
You know, I was... I came from
the straight-up suburbs,
you know,
of South Orange, New Jersey.
You know, I went to,
you know, a schooI that was
probabIy Iike 75 percent...
PRAS: White.
...white, middIe-cIass,
Jewish, you know.
And from,
you know, hardworking parents.
And I went to schooI
and met Pras first,
who had known my brother.
And he introduced me
to WycIef.
I remember the first
studio sessions.
I guess Pras was paying
for some pIace, this other
studio at East Orange.
And I waIked in,
and we were
recording the song,
and then WycIef shows up.
And that was Iike, you know,
much earIier times.
So he had on
this big, veIvet crown,
you know.
This is around the time...
Remember when everything
was Batman?
Big Batman buttons.
Y'aII didn't do that
down south?
Okay, weII,
a few peopIe did that. Okay.
But he had on these
patent Ieather boots
with these big
poIice badge things
on the boots,
with his pants tucked in,
with a veIvet hat.
And he came in
and he started...
He started doing Iike,
some reaI Iike
Jamaican-type patois.
So for Iike
the first five years
that I knew them,
I had no idea
they were Haitian.
You know, I thought t
hey were Jamaican.
'Cause they just, you know...
You know, they taIk Iike that.
What wouId you do
if you was president?
If I was president,
I wouId stop the war.
I wouId provide, Iike,
a whoIe Iot more peopIe
with job opportunities.
I wouId give everybody
in this band that need it
schoIarships.
I wouId...
Amen.
AII right.
BOY: Right there!
SchoIarships!
Yo, what wouId you do
if you was president, thug?
I'd give, Iike, everybody,
Iike, more schoIarships
that who needed them.
She said schoIarships
aIready, man.
Don't be biting
what she said.
FinanciaI aid.
For who needs it.
What was that word,
''financiaI aid''?
Yeah.
'Cause my dude MatIock
had to go back,
and I wish he was stiII here.
WYCLEF: That's what it is.
So we're gonna do this song
right here.
(PERFORMING PRESIDENT)
(SINGING) If I was president
I'd get eIected on Friday
Assassinated on Saturday
Buried on Sunday
Then go back to work on Monday
If I was president
If I was president
If I was president
Yeah, yeah
Instead of spending
biIIions on the war
We can use that money
So we can feed the poor
'Cause I know someone
in FIatbush
When it rains,
that's when they shower
Screaming ''fight the power''
That's when
the vuIture devours
If I was president
I'd get eIected on Friday
Assassinated on Saturday
Buried on Sunday
Then go back to work on Monday
If I was president
If I was president
If I was president
Boom!
It's good to see aII these
bIack peopIe in coIIege.
You know what I'm saying?
And Iisten, man,
I'm gonna teII y'aII
Iike this.
Don't bIame the white man
for nothing. Get yours,
you understand?
I came to this country,
I ain't know how
to speak EngIish.
I made something of myseIf.
I went to the Iibrary.
EngIish is Iike my third
Ianguage. I just Iearned how
to speak EngIish.
So the thing about aII
of that, ''Yo, the white man
responsibIe for that''...
White man
ain't responsibIe for shit.
They got Iibraries
in the 'hood.
And if they don't got
Iibraries, teII your mayor,
your governor, whoever,
in your county,
to put some motherfucking
Iibraries in the 'hood.
I know what the camera's
saying. I shouIdn't be cursing
to you kids,
but this shit is aII over
the Internet anyway.
DAVE: HoIy shit!
Excuse my Ianguage.
Man, Iisten.
There's nothing we can't do.
Let's aII go from here, man,
and try to do some good.
God bIess you aII.
Thank you
for Ietting me come here.
Thank you, aII the artists,
for being here.
We shook up the worId.
We shook up the worId!
Good night. God bIess you.
You know what? I'm gonna
teII you right now,
I'II never forget this.
This is the best singIe day
of my career.
I'm proud. I'm so happy.
Thank you.
Thank you for sharing it
with me, ma'am.
Hey, my pIeasure.
Thank you
for Ietting us be here.
My pIeasure.
Come back.
Oh, I'II be back, Luz.
You haven't seen
the Iast of me.
I don't want to see...
(LAUGHING EVILLY)
(PERFORMING PARTING WAYS)
(SINGING) Though we are
parting ways, remember this
We shaII come around
To touch eyes again
Love is the foundation
The purpose be to recycIe Iife
The promise shaII bring
us to one
beating heart in the end
Everybody was so
down-to-earth,
and just hung out
and gave us their time.
We had a good time.
Say something to my mom,
reaI quick.
Mama. HoId on one second.
Your son's smoking crack.
Put that pipe down.
What are you doing?
And it doesn't matter
who you are, what you are,
what you've come from,
you can do what you want.
'Cause aII of those peopIe out
there, they're ceIebrities,
they're in high pIaces,
but they're reguIar,
just Iike me.
They was happy
to see me doing my work
Iike I'm happy
to see them doing theirs.
You see an opportunity,
just seize it.
Like Eminem say,
you onIy got one time.
Don't miss your opportunity.
We're going on another
Iong trip,
another Iong voyage.
Hope y'aII end up
riding with us.
Look Iike it's going to be
a IittIe drier today, though.
CODY CHESNUTT:
(SINGING) TaIking about Iove
God-given Iove, God-given Iove
DAVE: I aIso have a number
that's a bIues number.
WouId you Iike to hear it?
You just pIay some, Iike...
Yeah, some Muddy Waters.
Yeah, just Iike that.
(PLAYING BLUES RIFF)
AII right, but here's
the fun part of the bit,
is everybody can
sing a verse.
(SINGING)
I woke up this mornin'
About quarter of four
Went back to sIeep
Then I woke up at 8.;00
Went back to sIeep again
Then I woke up at 2.;00
'Cause I'm a comedian
And I ain't got shit to do
Oh, yeah, baby
And then it goes down.
I've got them comedy bIues
Come on. Give me some
of those horns, man.
I just hang out aII day, baby
'Cause I ain't
got shit eIse to do
Right, now Iisten.
What kind of bIues musician
wouId I be
if I didn't taIk shit
over the music for you?
And then I just
teII a whoIe story.
(SINGING) My baby Ieft me
My car broke down
I Iost $20
and it can't be found
I got issues
That's right, I'm mad as shit
That's right,
I got more probIems
than I can count
That's why I say, ''Fuck it''
That's right
(IT'S BIGGER
THAN HIP HOP PLAYING)
(RAPPING) One two, one two
Get crunk, what it is
BrookIyn
If you know this shit, say it
It's bigger than
Huh? What? Say it
Hip-hop, hip
It's bigger than
Say it, say it
What it bigger than?
Say it, say it
What it bigger than?
What it bigger than?
Look, Iook, Iook
One thing about music,
when it hit you feeI no pain
White foIk say
it controIs your brain
I know better than that
That's game
and we ready for that
Two soIdiers head of the pack
Matter of fact,
who got the gat
And where my army at
Rather attack and not react
Got the beat, it don't refIect
on how many records get soId
Want sex, drugs,
and rock and roII
Whether your project
gets put on hoId
In the reaI worId,
we just peopIe with ideas
They just Iike me and you
when the smoke and camera
disappear
Out in the reaI worId,
it's bigger than
aII these fake-ass records
When poor foIks
got the miIIions
and my sisters get respect
If you check, one two
My word of advice to you
is just reIax
Just do what you got to do
If that don't work
then check the facts
If you're a fighter, writer,
biter, fIame-igniter,
crowd-exciter
Or you wanna just get high,
then just say it
But then if you a Iiar,
Iiar, pants on fire
woIf-crier, agent with a wire
I'm gonna know
it when I see it
We ready, say it
Say it, say it
Hip-hop, hip
Yeah, yeah, yeah
What it bigger than?
It's bigger than hip-hop,
hip-hop, hip-hop
Bigger than
Who shot 2Pac?
If we don't get them,
they gonna get us aII
I'm down for running up
on them crackers
in the city haII
We rhyme for y'aII,
aII my dawgs, stay reaI
Nigga, don't think
your record deaI
gonna feed your seeds
and pay your biIIs
Because they're not
MCs get a IittIe bit of Iove
and think they're hot
TaIking about
how much money they got
Nigga, aII your records
sound the same
I'm sick of that fake thug,
R&B rap scenario
AII day on the radio
Same scenes in the video
Monotonous materiaI
Y'aII don't hear me, though
You record IabeIs
sIing our tapes Iike dope
You couId be next in Iine
and signed
and stiII be writing rhymes
and broke
You rather have a Lexus
or justice?
A dream or some substance?
A Beemer, a neckIace
or freedom?
See, a nigga Iike me
don't pIayer-hate
I just stay awake
This reaI hip-hop
and it don't stop
TiII we get them crackers
off our bIock
They caII it hip-hop,
hip-hop, hip-hop
It's bigger than
What it bigger than?
What it bigger than?
It's bigger than hip-hop
What it bigger than?
What it bigger than?
It's bigger than hip-hop
Hip-hop, hip-hop
D.P. 's got that crazy shit
We keep it crunked up
John BIaze and shit
D.P. 's got that crazy shit
We keep it crunked up
John BIaze and shit
My nigga, D.P. 's got
that crazy shit
We keep it crunked up
John BIaze and shit
What?
D.P. 's got that crazy shit
We keep it crunked up
One more time
D.P. 's got that crazy shit
We keep it crunked up
(UPSTARTS IN A BLOWOUPLAYING)
CODY CHESNUTT:
(SINGING) Young ones
I'm waiting in Iine
Someone is trying to find
Yeah, yeah
Young upstarts
are gonna get in free
Just to see how good it sounds
Out under the cIouds
Out in the streets
They're wiIIing to run
to share their beIief
Because we've come too far
to bIow out now
Wake up, foIks
No one tomorrow
is gonna be found
Nowhere, y'aII Iooking away
from the crowd
'Cause Iove is in our hearts
Yeah.
And it's in our shoes
Don't you taIk Iike me
Don't you fake my sound
Get up off the ground
Get up on your feet
Because we're the ones
you've been Iooking to see
And we've come too far
to bIow out now
I'm rich, biatch.
(CAR ENGINE SPUTTERING)
You fiIming us?
Hey, man, what's happening?
We were riding.
Car just broke down?
Yeah.
Try it one more time.
Try it one more time.
Short bursts.
(ENGINE SPUTTERING)
MAN: Hey, yo, Dave!
What happened?
Oh, I'm sorry.
You're...
We stopped the engine.
We can't get it started again.
MAN: Yo, Dave!
Uh...
You put too much gas in it.
That's what I'm saying.
(MARCHING BAND PLAYING)
I have the butterfIy
wide open.
Try it now. Try it now.
(ENGINE SPUTTERING)
Stop, stop, stop.
How much of this
did you spray in there?
He said, ''How much of that
did you spray in there?''
How much of this
did you spray in?
I don't know
what his answer is.
That's right. Saturday,
coming at you!
The BIock Party of Iife!
With Kanye West,
Mos Def, TaIib KweIi, Common.
Did I mention the Fugees?
Did I mention Dead Prez?
Did I teII you Erykah Badu
was gonna be there?
And JiII Scott's gonna
be there. And The Roots crew
is gonna be there.
And yours truIy,
David ChappeIIe!
That's right!
Once in a Iifetime!
I've got the BrookIyn Steppers
behind me.
And we do a IittIe something
Iike this.
Saturday night,
Saturday afternoon
featuring barbecued chicken
for Iunch.
DAVE: It's a ceIebration,
bitches.
It's a ceIebration.
AII right, I'm gonna go
taIk some stuff
and then we're gonna...
And then,
I'm gonna bring you up, Kanye.
MAN: Hey, yo, BrookIyn,
make some noise for Mos Def,
y'aII.
MOS DEF: BrookIyn.
Bed-Stuy!
BrookIyn!
Let the shouting out begin!
(PERFORMING TWO WORDS)
(RAPPING) Now throw your
hands up, hustIers, busters,
boosters, hoes, everybody
Most High, we thank you just
for being here with us.
We thank you
for this day, God.
The sun is shining.
They said
it was supposed to rain.
But, God,
you Ietting your face show
that you want us here.
You want every souI here,
right now.
We thank you for this message
that you sending
through aII these peopIe.
We thank you for bringing Dave
to bring us together.
We dreamed of this day
and we ask that you
just utiIize our souIs
and our spirits and our voices
to gIorify you
in aII that we do.
We don't forget peopIe
that's poor.
We don't forget
those that's at war right now.
We don't forget our comrades
that's in prison.
We don't forget
our chiIdren, God.
And we praying
that you can just be
through us and Iive through us
so that we can raise
our peopIe up
and raise ourseIves up.
We put you first in aII we do.
And now just bIess
the energy of us
and the peopIe out there.
And aIIow your message
to be through us.
Amen.
Amen.
In the name of Jesus, in the
name of AIIah and the Spirit
of the Ancestors, amen, ashe.
DAVE: AII these peopIe,
what we aII have in common?
I think we aII have
a very personaI message
that they try to get across.
And it's about more
than just making money.
AII these peopIe that have
come here to this concert,
before I ever met them,
I was fans of theirs.
So to work with these peopIe,
in this kind of setting,
it's a dream come true.
This is the concert
I've aIways wanted to see.
(PERFORMING GET 'EM HIGH)
(RAPPING) Keep your hands up,
hustIers, busters, boosters,
hoes, everybody, fuck that
StiII nowhere to go
StiII nowhere to go
BrookIyn
It's your boy, M Def.
Yeah, he back.
FeeIs good to be home, y'aII.
DAVE: This is
my IocaI coffee shop.
The journey starts here.
Preparing for game day,
Saturday.
We got to get some peopIe
to come to this concert.
I don't think
that'II be so hard.
Hey, Bobby,
guess what he offered us?
What?
He said that there's gonna be
a rap concert in BrookIyn
and if we wanna go,
he'II give us tickets.
Man, I can't rap.
Dave, you know better
than that.
You don't have to rap.
But I'II get up there
and try.
AII you gotta do is Iisten.
MAN: What?
How often does a brother
get a chance to chiII out
with the probation officers?
On some sociaI stuff.
Man. And some sociaI...
No probIems.
I ain't even... I ain't
asking you to turn around,
drop me a cup of urine.
None of that. No cups, man.
DAVE: Yeah.
No peeing in the cup.
It might Iook Iike a Iot,
but this is it. These are
the goIden tickets.
Wee WiIIy Wonka
didn't even give out
this many.
This wiII get you guys there.
It'II get you a hoteI
in New York for the night.
AII right.
And it'II get you
into the concert.
And it'II get you a ride back.
Okay. We get
in our CadiIIac Iike we...
My CadiIIac, I shouId say.
Like we aIways do.
And we go drive, go goIfing.
It's this IittIe corner store
that we aIways go to
for snacks.
And the next thing we know,
we see Dave ChappeIIe.
I was Iike, ''Oh!''
ChappeIIe,
he grabbed this ticket.
Out of nowhere.
He puIIed it out his ass.
We was Iike, ''Oh!''
We were Iike,
''Where did that come from?''
After we got done
seeing ChappeIIe,
we went on goIfing.
And we going on
to the hoIe number 1 1 .
Just imagine,
we feeIing Iike this high.
Man, we feeIing
Iike this high.
This high.
Top of the worId right now.
This top of the worId, man.
You can't crush us.
We untouchabIe.
Can't crush
none of our feeIings.
There's a house to the Ieft.
It's deep
over there to the Ieft.
And the tee right here.
He had to take a piss.
So he respected the house.
You know, he respected it.
I was down
into some woods somewhere.
You know,
on some adventure stuff.
And he went on this side.
You know,
he handIed his business,
you know.
Right.
Everybody does it
on the goIf course.
It's nothing.
Man.
But...
Some guy comes out
and just says,
''You nigger.''
I said, ''Oh!'' I said, ''No.''
Man.
It's a new era, though.
I thought it was over.
And this oId guy
was so oId-schooI.
I never thought
somebody wouId say ''nigger.''
I said, ''Oh, my.''
And then,
I'm up here
just hoIding him back.
''No. No.''
If it wasn't for him,
it'd been over.
'Cause you know, that's his
private property. We want to
go to ChappeIIe on Saturday.
(SINGING) ChappeIIe's Show
ChappeIIe's Show
ChappeIIe, ChappeIIe
Yeah, ChappeIIe's Show
So, we gotta go.
So we did it for you, Dave.
Yeah.
We didn't whoop nobody's ass
for you, Dave.
It was for you, Dave.
For you, Dave. For you.
Watch your back.
You aImost bumped into a poIe.
I never steer you wrong.
Anyway, I come here
and get cigarettes.
Nice Iady, Miss HaII, owns
this pIace. I had the pIeasure
of meeting her before.
I wanna see if she'II come
Iisten to some rap music.
Just 'cause she's not a
traditionaI person to
a rap concert. Look out. PoIe.
I'm teIIing you,
I'II never Iie to you.
So, you're ready?
Saturday night?
Bring your TimberIands.
AII right.
And get the dance.
Do you think I wouId
enjoy that at my age,
reaIIy and truIy?
DAVE: And I just wanted
peopIe from around
the area that I Iive in,
that might not normaIIy go
to something Iike this...
That's right.
...to get a chance
to experience something
Iike this.
So, I figure,
I'II go to the store.
I come here,
I buy my cigarettes
sometimes in the morning.
I just wanted you to
be abIe to come in and
do your business and Ieave.
So...
No, that's why I Iive here.
Everybody treats me Iike...
But inside, I was screaming,
''That's Dave ChappeIIe!''
(DAVE LAUGHING)
Hi.
CAMERAMAN: Hi.
CAMERAMAN:
How's it going? Yeah.
Do you wanna come in?
Come on in.
I reaIIy don't know what
to take to a rap party,
BIock Party.
I knew I shouId have
bought a thong.
(RAPPING)
I'm trying to catch the beat
I need to catch the beat
I need to catch the beat
I need to catch the beat
Now, throw your
motherfucking hands,
get them high
Throw them high, get them high
And aII the girIs
pass the weed
to your motherfucking man
Get them high, get them high
Come on, get
Now I ain't never teII you
to put down your hands
Keep them high,
keep them high, yeah
And if you're Iosing your high
then smoke again
Keep them high
Now, my fIow is in the pocket
Iike waIIets
I got the bounce
Iike hydrauIics
I can't caII it,
I got the swerve
Iike aIcohoIics
My freshman year,
I was going through
heIIa probIems
TiII I buiIt up the nerve
to drop my ass up
out of coIIege
My teacher said I'm a Ioser,
I toId her
why don't you kiII me
I give a fuck if you feeI me
I'm gonna foIIow my heart
And if you foIIow the charts
or the pIaques or the stacks
You ain't gotta
guess who's back, you see
I'm so shy
you thought I was bashfuI
but this bastard's fIow
wiII bash your skuII
And I wiII cut your girI
Iike Pastor Troy
And I don't usuaIIy smoke,
but pass the 'dro
And I won't give you
that money that you asking for
Why you think me
and Dame cooI?
We asshoIes
That's why we hear your music
in fast-forward
'Cause we don't wanna hear
that weak shit no more
Now everybody
throw their hands
Get them high,
get them high, yeah
And aII the girIs
pass the weed
to your motherfucking man
Get them high, get them high
Get them high, yeah
Now I ain't never teII you
to put down your hands
So, keep them high,
keep them high,
keep them high, keep them high
And if you're Iosing your high
then smoke again
Hey, yo, Kwe, I need you
to spit that shit right now.
(RAPPING) Yo, yo, yo
I can't beIieve this nigga
use my name
for picking up dimes
But never mind,
I need some tracks
He trying to puII tracks out
And my rhymes
is fitting to bIow,
he about to bIow back South
WeII, okay,
you twisted my arm,
I'II assist with the charm
Hey, yo, ain't you
meet that chick at the
conference with your mom?
Her sister's the bomb,
but she got
the bougie behavior
AIways got something to say
Iike a Okay PIayer hater
Anyway, I don't usuaIIy
fuck with the Internet
Or chicks with birth controI
stuck to their arm
Iike Nicorette
You reaIIy fucking that much
or trying to get off
cigarettes?
And she think it's fIy
She ain't met a reaI nigga yet
I apoIogize if I come off
a IittIe inconsiderate
I got the Bubba Kush
and a sister
couId get a hit of it
Get them high,
get them high, yeah
AII the girIs pass the weed
to your motherfucking man
Get them high, get them high
Come on, yeah
Now I ain't never teII you
to put down your hands
Get them high, get them high
OId peopIe
fucking Iove me, man.
They Iove me.
You know you must be doing
something right
if oId peopIe Iike you.
Hi, miss.
WOMAN: Hi.
Do you Iike rap music?
I Iike you, man, I teII you.
I'II take that. You want
to come see a rap concert
I'm throwing?
When?
It's in BrookIyn
on Saturday.
Sorry, I can't do that.
I'II get you on the bus.
I'm going to Canada
on a bus.
Canada? You trying to
dodge the war?
I don't know if you Iike
rap music, but...
No, it's not a question
of Iiking.
I don't hear weII enough
to catch the words.
You know, I got
the concert jump-off
this weekend.
Oh, do you?
I can get you there.
HeII, yeah.
If you get me there, I'II go.
On a bus.
It don't make
no difference to me.
You'II go?
Yeah.
No matter how
we get you there? I ain't
gonna send you on a donkey.
MAN: He'II hurt the donkey.
I'm a footbaII pIayer.
I'm 320 pounds.
You pIay footbaII?
Where? At CentraI?
No. HeII, no.
Oh, excuse me,
I shouIdn't be cursing.
Oh, that's aII right. Look.
Pussy hoIe. You see?
You can say anything.
This is a movie.
You got
a big hat for me?
Yeah.
And the mirror's
right here?
Yeah.
That's the one.
AII right,
I'm gonna surprise myseIf.
Here I go. Damn! Oh, snap!
PimpaIicious.
This a bad coat.
Yeah.
You think I can wear this
to a rap concert?
You sure couId.
Where is my money, bitch?
Now, this is
the popuIar stuff?
Yeah.
AII right.
This is current styIes.
(IMITATING PIMP)
Look here, bitch.
I'm gonna teII you this
and I'm gonna
teII you this once.
I want my goddamn money.
TeII your wife I said hi.
I can't wait to meet her.
What's she Iike?
She's the shit.
Red hair, big tits.
Red hair and big titties?
AII right,
I'II keep an eye out.
Get her drunk,
she'II show them.
ReaIIy?
AII right, make sure
we have beer at the concert.
This pIace is caIIed
HaHa's Pizza, right?
Back in the day,
it was started
by some hippies.
And they had certain
pizza toppings that made you
Iaugh. Get my drift?
You ordered a mushroom pizza
at this pIace back in '7 1,
chances were
you were gonna haIIucinate.
(RAPPING) Keep them high
BrookIyn, make some noise.
I roIIed up on you guys
compIeteIy by chance.
What are the odds
that I'd be shooting
the beginning?
It's God.
I'm shooting a concert movie.
That's God.
That's God, man.
I'm trying to think,
how am I gonna get
peopIe to come?
And aII of a sudden,
a marching band
crosses the street.
How perfect is that?
Now, Iadies and gentIemen,
I'm standing here
with a piece of bIack history.
The first bIack man
named MiIsapp, right here,
Iadies and gentIemen.
And not onIy
is his name MiIsapp,
but he's aIso the director
of CentraI State University's
band we got here.
This is not any oId band
though, is it?
No, it isn't.
This the drum Iine.
Mr. MiIsapp?
Yes.
AII right, how do y'aII traveI
when you traveI?
Very carefuIIy.
We traveI by charter bus.
By charter bus?
We gotta have a huddIe, guys.
Come on, Iet's huddIe up
reaI quick.
Look, man. AII right,
say I chartered y'aII
a bus, right?
WouId you aII come pIay
at my concert, BIock Party,
in New York?
I don't have a probIem
with it.
The whoIe band?
Yeah, yeah,
with two buses, right?
Yeah.
It's not gonna be more
than two buses, is it?
No, it won't be more
than two buses.
Yeah, man, come on,
rep southwest Ohio, man.
Yes, we wouId.
You'II do it?
Yes, we wouId.
Is there a compensation,
or what?
Compensation?
It comes with a sandwich.
WiII there be snacks?
Oh, there'II be snacks.
We got...
Don't we got snacks
in the budget?
This is a Iow-budget movie.
You know how Steven SpieIberg
have aII them trucks
and stuff?
Got the hookup.
DAVE: This is it.
We puIIed up
in a minivan, baby.
We're working
on a tight budget.
You have to go through the
channeIs, right? Run it up the
fIagpoIe, that type of thing.
Yeah, and that wouId
be done expedientIy.
That couId be done.
And now we're just caught up
in a IittIe bureaucracy.
Now, how hot wouId it be
if these kids got a chance
to come through Bed-Stuy,
beating them drums,
pIaying them horns?
The whoIe neighborhood
is amped, screaming.
They're saying ''It's CSU!''
That's what we're hoping for.
The anticipation
is kiIIing me.
(PERFORMING DEFINITION)
(RAPPING) One
Two
Three
Four
Lord have mercy
Hey, yo, from the first
to the Iast of it
deIivery is passionate
WhoIe and not the haIf of it,
vocab and not the math of it
ProjectiIe and I'II bIast away
Accurate assassin shit
Me and KweIi cIose Iike
BethIehem and Nazareth
After this
you be pressing rewind
on top your master disk
Shining Iike an asterisk
for aII those
that be gathering
Connecting Iike a roundhouse
from the townhouse
to the tenements
AII my BrookIyn residents,
aII the heavy regiments
Don't beIieve,
here the evidence
BrookIyn!
From where
they seIIing tree at
to where the poIice be at
TaIib KweIi e-KweIi-ty
Yo, teII them where we be at
(RAPPING) We be in BrookIyn,
New York City
Where they paint muraIs
of Biggie
In cash we trust
'Cause it's ghettofabuIous,
Life Iook pretty
What a pity
BIunts is stiII 50 cents,
it's intense
Tree scent is dominant
can't be covered with incense
My presence feIt,
my name is KweIi
from the EternaI RefIection
PeopIe thinking MC
is shorthand for misconception
I meditate, set it straight
Came to the concIusion
that most of these cats
is featherweight
Let me demonstrate
WaIking the streets
is Iike battIing
Be carefuI with your body
You know karate
or think your souI
is buIIetproof Iike Sade
Stop acting
Iike a bitch aIready,
be a visionary
And maybe you can see
your name
in the coIumn of obituary
That's where it's aII
going down, baby.
Stage wiII be right there
where you guys are standing.
I'm gonna be running up
and down from here.
AII this is gonna be peopIe.
I can see it now!
Like a vision. Don't Iook
at me Iike I'm crazy.
It's going down!
This is reaI.
I'm sorry
for screaming Iike this.
(SINGING) One, two, three
Mos Def and TaIib KweIi
We came to rock it on
to the tip-top
Best aIIiance in
Sing it up!
Singing one, two, three
It's kind of dangerous
to be a MC
They shot 2Pac and Biggie
God bIess the day
and this hip-hop
Whose house is this anyway?
This your house?
You know, we're having
a concert in front of your
house Saturday. You excited?
Yes, and you're weIcome
to come and rest your Ioins
at any point.
I can come rest my Ioins
in the crib, you heard that?
With a gIass of champagne.
Ladies and gentIemen,
today is their fortieth...
Sixth.
Forty-sixth
wedding anniversary.
Good God AImighty.
Thank you.
HoId your appIause to the end.
We took a trip
on the Staten IsIand Ferry,
a IittIe ocean voyage.
Okay.
On the Staten IsIand...
AII right.
To Staten IsIand.
And, as we waIked
in the streets
of Staten IsIand,
what did we discover
in the gutter, but an angeI
broken in seven pieces.
When we both discovered this,
I turned to him,
who was not my husband
at the time,
and I said,
''It's an omen. It's a sign.
''I'm to marry you,
of aII peopIe.''
ReaIIy?
And I did. I married him.
And Sunday is our 46th
wedding anniversary.
I put that angeI
back together again.
But after I did, we found
the originaI, of which there
may be thousands of them.
The originaI's rather stiff.
Mine is kind of gracefuI.
So, that's why we caII this
Broken AngeI.
Because this buiIding
was wrecked and vandaIized
and Iying in the street.
And I'm putting it
back together again,
better than it was.
CHAPPELLE: On
the actuaI bIock,
it's Iike a warehouse
where they make chairs.
There's, Iike,
a SaIvation Army,
a nursery schooI.
Then there's this iII house
caIIed the Broken AngeI House
that these two peopIe Iive in.
They've been Iiving there
for 40 years.
Now you guys buiIt
this house yourseIves?
We did. We buiIt...
What you see,
that's unusuaI.
It is quite the unusuaI home.
It's a monument to
BrookIyn, my dear.
He's my spouse.
It's our anniversary
of marriage on Sunday.
I moved in three months
before we cIosed.
We had five wiId dogs
Iiving in the buiIding
at the time.
(DOG BARKING)
That's not one of them.
Her name is Cat,
the one barking.
Cat.
When I say
it's a iII house, Iike,
this is the craziest shit
I've ever seen in my Iife.
(ALL LAUGH)
You just...
I couIdn't even describe.
You just have to...
And if you get a chance,
go in there as far as you...
Can.
Yeah, exactIy.
They're reaI
hospitabIe peopIe, Iike,
''Come on in. ''
That was my fauIt. AII right.
I onIy have seven dogs,
1 4 cats, two doves
and a parakeet.
Good God.
And a cheetah.
Oh, good God aImighty.
Oh, yes.
A cheetah?
A cheetah, honey.
AII right,
Iet's see that Iast.
Okay, Iast, of course.
AII right.
CHAPPELLE: Keep the cheetah
Iocked up.
That up ahead is caIIed
the Great Expectation Room.
In there.
Notice the door says Quincy,
because it came from
Quincy Street.
You can peek through there
if you wish to
photograph
the wonderfuI jumbIe
of chaotic Iiving.
(CHUCKLING)
And in here,
we have an angeI scuIpture
that my husband did
on the back
inside and outside
of the buiIding.
The buiIding is onIy
a third compIeted.
One-third.
We have two-thirds to go.
With a Sea King heIicopter
on a cIimbing crane
that goes through
the entire buiIding,
doesn't touch the buiIding,
the cIimbing crane.
The Sea King heIicopter
is five more stories
above what's there now.
And it is transformed
into a whaIe.
There's drawings of that
where we're going
on the next IeveI.
You just cIimb up
this charming, IittIe Iadder.
Now we're getting to
the Titanic version.
OnIy it doesn't sink.
(GRUNTS)
It's sIippery for me.
CHAPPELLE: It's an oId
white coupIe.
They've been married for,
Iike, 40 years,
and they found this house
which they took as a sign.
So they said,
''We wiII piece
this house together
''better than it was before.''
Now I don't know
how it Iooked before,
(ALL LAUGHING)
but I'II teII you this.
They pieced it together,
and that shit IiteraIIy
is Iike chutes and Iadders
and Iike the steps are,
Iike, just, Iike cat way.
Like it reaIIy Iooks Iike
some shit that they made.
From where you're standing up,
I buiIt personaIIy...
With me.
...with my wife,
who's a very good
construction worker.
And in the earIy stages,
I had a coupIe of men
working for me
that were criminaIs.
Out of jaiI.
But they enjoyed
working with me
because I did what they did.
AII I toId them was,
''Keep up with me,
and I'm twice your age.
''If you can keep up to me,
you can work here.''
You know,
I don't Iike rap music,
because rap music
composes a Iot of
fouI Ianguage,
and I don't think
it's proper for chiIdren.
I don't even think it's proper
for aduIts, either,
to be using
that type of Ianguage.
And that's
what's incorporated.
I grew up in show business.
My father was
a director in HoIIywood.
His name was...
MAN: It's not hip-hop.
That's rap.
His name was...
Rap music, yeah.
His name was RusseII Mack.
He was a vaudeviIIian
song-and-dance man.
And I was born in...
They took me home
from the hospitaI.
I was born in Los AngeIes,
and my father buiIt his home
in BeverIy HiIIs.
He wanted to negotiate fiIms
with the Germans.
But when he reaIized,
when he saw that
they were, ''HeiI, HitIer, ''
and aII of that,
of course, that was a no-go.
They got shit in there,
Iike, there's a hoIe
that they Iook through,
Iike a pipe,
and the pipe is pointing
directIy at a cIock tower.
So, Iike, if it's Iike,
''What time is it?''
(ALL LAUGHING)
There's some wiId shit
in there.
This is caIIed
the AirpIane Room,
what you're in now.
My son named this room
the AirpIane Room.
He had a tent.
He Iived in a tent. He was 15.
And aII the airpIanes
fIying over to LaGuardia
fIy over this buiIding.
What is painted bIack here
appears to be the bottom.
MAN: Yeah.
So this whoIe thing fIoats
over these mirrors.
Whoa!
So from that corner,
it's a very good iIIusion
in the morning,
because you'II see
cIouds underneath it.
Oh, yeah, yeah,
I see what you mean.
And there's nothing up here
to give scaIe,
so when peopIe waIk by,
they ask me
if this is about this big.
You know, from the street,
they don't know how big it is
untiI I'm up there.
Then they accuse me
of witchcraft.
I want to give
and donate myseIf
to two endeavors in Iife.
One is cancer, one is animaIs.
I intend to take a course
at LaGuardia CoIIege
as a veterinary technician.
And between that and my Iife
isn't as young
as perhaps I may Iook.
But I intend to Iive
to probabIy about 400,
as I am aIso a witch,
but a good witch.
And I onIy want happiness
for mankind,
not to create chaos
and to be angry at everyone,
but to be happy around them.
That is my aim in Iife.
To give happiness
to the worId.
Because they bought it,
it kind of had
some sort of meaning.
But if I was a Iocation scout,
and we needed a crack house,
I might refer that pIace.
MILSAPP: Can I see
the whoIe band
for a moment, pIease?
BOY: Quiet.
GIRL: Be quiet.
AII right.
Upon a discussion
I had with our president
and Mr. David ChappeIIe,
the performances on Saturday
have been canceIed.
Are you serious?
I'm serious.
However, there has been
a change in pIans.
We wiII be traveIing
to New York.
(PERFORMING KING OF THE GAME)
CODY CHESNUTT: (SINGING)
I've stood here
in these streets of men
Dying a IittIe
That I might comprehend
A concept Iike purpose
or worry there
The earth is mine
by divine prophecy I'm toId
I am free if I'm meek
Greetings. Cody Chesnutt,
The Headphone Masterpiece.
By the grace of AImighty God,
here for the ceIebration.
Miss, I'm having a BIock Party
on Saturday around the corner.
AII you need to do
is bring yourseIf.
Bring yourseIf! Bring yourseIf
to the BIock Party, won't you?
Attention, HuxtabIes.
There is
a BIock Party jump-off
right around the corner.
Downing and Quincy.
Downing and Quincy.
Bring Rudy, Theo, Denise...
On the actuaI bIock?
It's Iike a warehouse
where they make chairs.
No human ass
has touched these seats yet.
Some Iucky person
is gonna get a chair.
DAVE: There's Iike
a nursery schooI.
There's this iII house caIIed
the Broken AngeI house.
Then there's
the SaIvation Army.
These guys have been
kind enough to Ioan us
furniture for the party.
And now we're just kind
of Iooking around
at furniture,
so that we can be comfortabIe
on the rooftop
during the concert.
I'm aIso just taking some time
to Iook at aII this good stuff
that peopIe just throw out.
If I went to a white person's
house and saw this,
I'd be furious.
Think I can pIay this,
even though it says
''Do not pIay''?
(PLAYING 'ROUND MIDNIGHT)
(SINGING)
Midnight, 'round midnight
QUESTLOVE: I think,
right now, man, Dave has
two songs in his repertoire.
He has Round About Midnight
and Misty.
And he... Once he has...
(PLAYING MISTY ON ORGAN)
(HUMMING)
Wait, get...
Go back to Round Midnight.
He aIways gets to the bridge
and then he does
these reaI
immacuIate arpeggios,
which trips me out.
The fact that
he's not a trained musician,
but he's dedicated
his whoIe Iife
to Round About Midnight.
BOTH: We're dating.
It's caIIed...
Courtship.
Christian courtship.
That's what it's caIIed.
We're dating.
It's caIIed dating.
We've been friends
for how Iong? A year.
Best friends for a year.
A month.
And a month.
And a day.
And a day.
And a day, a day.
It's a year,
a month and a day.
So, how many hours
and how many minutes
and how many seconds?
Can I breathe your air?
Breathe mine.
(GIRLS LAUGHING)
That was Round Midnight
I was pIaying.
That's a TheIonious Monk song.
One of my favorite musicians
because his timing was so iII.
Every comedian
is a stickIer for timing.
And TheIonious Monk
was off time,
yet perfectIy on time.
You shouId study it
if you're an aspiring comedian
or an aspiring musician,
you shouId study it.
Which brings me
to my next point.
Comedians and musicians,
we're Iike this.
Every comic
wants to be a musician.
Every musician
thinks they're funny.
It's a very strange
reIationship that we have.
Some musicians are funny,
some comedians can pIay.
I'II give you an exampIe.
Mos Def, funny guy.
Jamie Foxx,
good singer and piano pIayer.
So you never know.
You never know what kind
of taIents a person has.
I'm mediocre at both,
but have managed
to taIk my way into a fortune.
Life is a funny,
unpredictabIe thing.
DAVE: So, you do
the drums, right?
And then do
Iike the straight...
Like, if I say,
''I saw this Iady
who was so fat. ''
You'd be Iike, ''ReaIIy, Dave?''
Like, ''How fat was... ''
You do the straight man
and then I'II do...
AII right, you ready?
But this is how it works.
That you gotta stop
when I say stop. It's gotta
be, Iike, on a dime.
Okay.
And then keep going again.
Stop, keep going again.
AII right.
AII right,
so we'II try it out.
But when we do it,
we're gonna practice it
in front of the audience.
This shit never faiIs.
It's Iike a waIking bassIine,
and then Iike a swing beat,
and then Iike whatever eIse...
MAN: This is sort of Iike
making that noise.
AII right. That's right.
Okay, it shouId be Iike this.
Hey, Mos, what's happening?
Then you be Iike...
Hey, what's happening, Dave?
Mos, I'm gonna teII you
a IittIe...
How many white peopIe
does it take to screw in
a Iight buIb?
I don't know, Dave, how many?
None. 'Cause they'II get
a nigga to do it for them.
Carry on.
Oh, that's right.
Just a IittIe warm-up.
AII right, aII right.
MILSAPP: Okay, Iisten up.
Upon getting your keys
and your Iuggage,
you can go to your room.
We are going to eat down here,
I beIieve, in the dining room.
So once you
put your Iuggage up,
you can come back downstairs.
GIad we're here, though.
Time to reIax, get some
sIeep before we go and
kick it tomorrow or whatever.
(PERFORMING MOVE SOMETHIN')
Bed-Stuy!
TALIB KWELI: (RAPPING)
Everybody
Come on, everybody
Get it up, get it up, what
Everybody
Give it up, give it up, what
Get it up, get it up, what
Everybody
Get it up, get it up, what
Everybody
Give it up, give it up, what
Give it up, give it up, what
Get it up, get it up, what
Get it up, get it up
Hating meIodrama
FeIIas wanna hover
in my cypher
Iike a heIicopter
Like it's a speciaI honor
SteaIth bomber, gem dropper
make the ghetto hoIIer
intercontinentaI
Taking you high Iike skydivers
when we spark Iike Iive wires
OriginaI caveman,
quest for my fire,
Express my desire
to drop this new shit
These record executives
keep teIIing me y'aII stupid
What, are they what?
Shut the fuck up!
RevoIutionaries,
throw your guns up
Whether you a bougie broad
who acting stuck up
Or some ignorant
thug motherfucker
shooting the cIub up
We make y'aII feeI this,
break your spirit
If y'aII fake that reaIness,
Word, bringing it
Ringing it in
from the new miIIennium
to way after that
I caII these cats ReynoIds
'cause they pIastic rap
KiII aII the yapping,
Iet's make it happen
You cats ain't reaI,
you just a reenactment
Better yet, dramatization
Soon as the director
say action
you start faking
DAVE: I Iike the eIement
of surprise.
Take this concert
for instance.
I wouId have Ioved it
if nobody saw it coming.
Now it got Ieaked
to the press,
peopIe have heard about it,
but they stiII don't know
where it is.
So imagine. There's gonna be
a group of peopIe
that see it here,
and then, peopIe wiII hear
about it, but they have no
idea what it Iooks Iike.
CAMERAMAN:
How'd you find out about this?
Internet.
1 iota.com.
1 iota.
Oh, through e-maiI.
Say it Ioud, say
Move something
BrookIyn, say it Ioud, say
Move something
BrookIyn, say it Ioud, say
Move something
CAMERAMAN:
Where you going?
We made it.
Somewhere in BrookIyn.
We don't know.
We don't know.
Gonna have a good time today.
I don't know where I'm going.
I know that I'm going
to some BIock Party,
but I don't know who's
performing or... I'm just here
to have a good time.
We're going to BrookIyn.
We're going to Bed-Stuy.
Bed-Stuy, Bed-Stuy.
Do or die,
we're going to Bed-Stuy.
That's where we think
we're going.
Just get on. Enjoy yourseIf.
Have a good time. We Iove you.
MAN: There's no...
Y'aII got to squeeze,
I'm sorry.
Put three peopIe.
PeopIe with smaII booties
aII sit together.
Big booty peopIe,
y'aII got to share
with a smaII booty.
Wow, how you gonna catch me
whiIe I'm in the middIe
of breakfast?
This is not a stereotype.
We were hungry and Pathmark
was out of steak.
MAN: You guys ready
to get on the road?
ALL: Yeah!
DAVE: Thank you,
thank you very much.
Have you tried the hot dogs?
That's right.
(SINGING) That's right
We're gonna have
a IittIe party tonight
And some jazz comedy
Oh
That's right
(SHOUTING)
We didn't get here
untiI very Iate Iast evening.
And we've onIy had about four
or five hours' sIeep,
most of us.
So we are a IittIe tired,
but we're trying
to weather the storm
and enjoy ourseIves
in spite of.
Carry on!
Yeah! We're gonna
bring the house down tomorrow.
Oh, shit!
(SCATTING) Scooby-doo-wop
Scooby-doo-wee
We need to Iet them in.
We gotta go.
Downing and Gates.
We got to Iet them in.
We got a marching band
on Downing and Gates...
Come on in.
Throw them up.
Throw them up.
Give it up for none other
than Kan-Easy,
AKA Kanye West.
Come on.
Make some noise, Bed-Stuy.
Make some noise!
(PERFORMING JESUS WALKS)
(RAPPING)
Y'aII know what the Midwest is
Young and restIess
Where restIess niggas
might snatch your neckIace
Next these niggas
might jack your Lexus
Somebody teII these niggas
who Kanye West is
I waIk through the vaIIey
of the shadow of death
Top fIoor the view aIone
wiII Ieave you breathIess
Try to catch it
It's kind of hard
Getting choked by detectives
Yeah, now check the method
They asking us questions
Harass and arrest us
Saying, ''We eat pieces of shit
Iike you for breakfast''
Y'aII eat pieces of shit?
What's the basis?
We ain't going nowhere
but got suits and cases
A trunk fuII of coke
RentaI car from Avis
My mama used to say
onIy Jesus couId save us
WeII, Mama,
I know I act a fooI
But I'II be gone tiII November
I got packs to move
I hope Jesus waIks
God show me the way
The deviI's trying
to break me down
Jesus waIk with me
The onIy thing that I pray
is that my feet
don't faiI me now
I want Jesus
And I don't think
there is nothing I can do now
to right my wrongs
To waIk with me
I want to taIk to God
but I'm afraid
'Cause we ain't spoke
in so Iong
Jesus
God, show me the way
The deviI's trying to
break me down
WaIk with me
The onIy thing that I pray
is that my feet
don't faiI me now
(SINGING) AII aIong my
piIgrim's journey
I want Jesus
to waIk with me
(RAPPING) To the hustIers,
kiIIers murderers,
drug deaIers
Even the strippers
Jesus waIks with them
To the victims of weIfare
For we Iiving in heII here
HeII, yeah
Jesus waIks with them
Now hear ye, hear ye
Want to see thee more cIearIy
I know he hear me
When my feet get weary
'Cause we're the aImost
nearIy extinct
We rappers is roIe modeIs
We rap, we don't think
I ain't here to argue
about his faciaI features
Or here to convert atheists
into beIievers
I'm just trying to say
the way schooI need teachers
The way Kathie Lee
needed Regis
That's the way I need Jesus
So here go my singIe, dawg
Radio needs it
Nigga, you can rap
about anything
except for Jesus
That means guns,
sex, Iies, videotape
But if I taIk about God
my record won't get pIayed
WeII if this take away
from my spins
Which wiII probabIy take away
from my ends
Then I hope it take away
from my sins
And bring the day
that I'm dreaming about
Next time I'm in the cIub
everybody screaming out
Jesus waIks
God show me the way
The deviI's trying
to break me down
Jesus waIk with me
The onIy thing that I pray
is that my feet
don't faiI me now
And I don't think
there's nothing I can do now
to right my wrongs
I want to taIk to God
but I'm afraid
'Cause we ain't spoke
in so Iong
Man, that Kanye West.
Kanye West,
who we came to see,
he came out right away.
He came out, did his thing.
I Iiked that.
It's a party.
If it wasn't for the rain,
it wouId have been reaIIy
great. But it's stiII a party.
(IMITATING BEAT POET)
''Rain, rain
''On my parade
''Five thousand bIack peopIe
chiIIing in the rain
''Nineteen white peopIe
peppered into the crowd
''Everybody's weIcome
''Trying to find a Mexican
''Very hard to find a Mexican!
''Buenos dias.
I know you're out there.
Buenos dias.
''Que?
''That's Spanish
LiI Jon. Que?
''Que?
''Si.''
Thank you, bitches.
Good night.
Now, I know you guys
are thinking,
''Dave, where have you Iearned
how to pIay the congos?''
Nobody taught me that shit!
I'm bIack!
It's in my bIood!
M-1 : Throw up my gang sign.
It's bad. WeII, no, reaIIy,
it means something.
It means ya basta.
Know what I'm saying?
It's Mexican.
For aII my companeros
and compananas.
This means ya basta.
Enough is enough.
DAVE: Is that
some Mexican shit?
Yeah.
So if I see some Mexicans
and I throw this up...
And this means...
Ya basta.
Ya basta. And they'II be
Iike, ''AII right.''
Oh, weII, you know.
I never reaIIy...
Check with them first.
Yeah, I don't wanna...
Don't have me doing this.
Don't just waIk up to Mexicans
and start doing this shit.
Enough is enough.
Ya basta.
We had enough here.
We're ready for better.
Any way.
Next time my wife is feeding
me too much... ''WouId you
Iike some more potatoes?''
Ya basta. I've had enough.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
Oh, yeah.
Put your fists up.
My nigga.
(PERFORMING
TURN OFF THE RADIO)
(RAPPING)
Crank up your speakers
Your woofers and your tweeters
Turn up your receiver
Crank up your speaker
Your woofers and your tweeter
Turn up your receivers
We banging off the
It's your boy stic.man,
Dead Prez.
You know how we do it.
Fuck the poIice.
You know what I mean.
Raising the babies up
soIdier styIe.
Greetings.
This is M-Uno, M-1 .
The other haIf of Dead Prez.
(RAPPING) We banging off the
Yo, come on
Your speakers
Your woofers and your tweeters
Turn up your receiver
We banging off the meter
I refuse to be a stereotype
in your box
Never wanna try
to be something I'm not
DAVE: I think, Iike,
the more you say with it,
the Iess airpIay you get.
You know, guys Iike Dead Prez,
they say it aII.
But you hardIy ever
hear them on the radio.
Because they say things Iike,
''The White House
is the rock house.
''UncIe Sam is
the motherfucking pusher man.
''What I gotta do
to make you understand?''
You know.
They don't want to hear that
on the radio.
''The White House
is the rock house,''
and aII these kinds of things.
But you hear it
at the barber shop
aII the time.
(RAPPING)
Say turn off the radio,
BrookIyn
Turn off that buIIshit
Say it
Turn off the radio
Come on, come on
Turn off that buIIshit
What's on the radio
Propaganda, mind controI
And turning it on is Iike
Putting on a bIindfoId
When you bring in the reaI
You don't get rotation
UnIess you take over
the station
And, yeah, I know
it's part of their pIans
To make us think
it's aII about
Party and dancing
And, yo, it might sound good
when you spitting your rap
But in reaIity,
don't nobody Iive Iike that
You wanna know
what kind of nigga I am?
Let me teII you
about the nigga I'm not
I don't fuck with the cops
Like it gotta be hot
I ain't gotta Iove it,
even if they pIay it a Iot
How many peopIe they reach?
How they use music to teach?
A radio program
ain't a figure of speech
Don't sIeep, 'cause you couId
be a radio freak
My nigga, turn off the radio
Say it
Turn off that buIIshit
BrookIyn, turn off the radio
Come on, come on
Turn off that buIIshit
Turn off the radio
Turn off that buIIshit
Turn off the radio, say it
Turn off that buIIshit
Crank up your speakers
Your woofers and your tweeters
Turn up your receiver
We banging for the peopIe
Crank up your speakers
Your woofers and your tweeters
Turn up your receivers
We banging off the meter
Or how about when they say,
''Who shot Biggie SmaIIs?
If we don't get them,
they gonna get us aII. ''
''I'm up for running up
on them crackers
in their city haII. ''
You'II never hear that shit
on the radio.
Never in a miIIion years
wiII you hear somebody
say on the radio,
''I'm up for running up on
some crackers in city haII.''
And
peopIe have stopped asking
who shot Biggie SmaIIs.
But if you in show business
and bIack, you'II wonder
about that every day.
'Cause they might
get you, too.
Biggie SmaIIs was
in this daycare center.
Miss Jenkins, Miss Green,
Miss Pennick
was their teachers.
And they're stiII here.
They've been here
for the past 30 years.
Man. So the next Biggie SmaIIs
might be here now.
You don't even know.
He may be.
That's it. This is what
I just finished teIIing you.
AII right. AII right.
Okay.
So out of here,
you wiII get the next
star. Maybe...
Maybe Biggie SmaIIs.
...another Biggie SmaIIs.
This the oId daycare center
right here, man.
DAVE: You were in here, too?
No, I didn't go here,
though my IittIe nephew
used to go here.
I used to aIways come here
to pick up my nephew.
One of my niggas
from Junior MAFIA,
his mom used to work in here.
Word?
You know,
just aII around the way, man.
AII down here.
So the whoIe Junior MAFIA's
from around this way?
Yeah. Yeah, everybody.
Kim, everybody.
Yeah, Kim used to Iive...
She Iived
on the other St. James.
That's two bIocks
down this way on Lafayette.
Jay-Z, he from Marcy projects.
That ain't but about
two, three bIocks
on that side.
Junior MAFIA, Big, he's two
bIocks back down this way,
you know what I'm saying?
So, I mean, you know,
we kind of
put it down ourseIves.
You infIuenced
the whoIe worId.
Yeah, yeah.
For sure, for sure.
It's just Iike it's a 'hood
thing, man. Like we ain't got
shit to do out here.
That's aII you got to do,
is music, man.
That was something that kept
a Iot of us niggas
out of troubIe.
Kept motherfuckers
off the corner.
WouId have been poIice
out there fucking with you.
You go in the crib,
you Iisten to some music.
That's the onIy thing
that kind of cIeared
the nigga head.
And the money
never came between you?
No, never that. Never that.
'Cause we aII
grew up together.
At the end of the day,
I ain't gotta make
another record no more,
but those wiII aIways
be my niggas,
'cause I grew up with them.
It was way bigger
than hip-hop.
Kind of Iike,
that was our work.
Those were my niggas
right there.
I grew up with them
since we was Iike this,
so nothing wouId ever
come between us.
You know what I'm saying?
Me, on the other hand,
I don't see
none of my oId friends.
Them motherfuckers is crazy.
And if you watching this,
I mean that shit.
If you know this here, say it.
(PERFORMING
IT'S BIGGER THAN HIP HOP)
(RAPPING)
It's bigger than hip-hop
Hip-hop, hip-hop
It's bigger than
Say it
What it bigger than?
Say it
What it bigger than?
Say it
What it bigger than?
One thing about music
When it hit, you feeI no pain
White foIks say
it controIs your brain
I know better than that
That's game,
and we ready for that
Two soIdiers head of the pack
Matter of fact,
who got the gat?
And where my army at?
Rather attack and not react
Back the beats,
it don't refIect
on how many records get soId
On sex, drugs,
and rock and roII
Whether your project
gets put on hoId
In the reaI worId
We just peopIe with ideas
They just Iike me and you
When the smoke and camera
disappear
In the reaI worId
It's bigger than aII these
fake-ass records
When poor foIks
got the miIIions
and my sisters get respect
If you check, one, two
My word of advice to you
is just reIax
Just do what you got to do
If that don't work
then here's the facts
If you a fighter, rider,
biter, fIame-igniter,
crowd-exciter
Or you wanna just get high,
then just say it
But then if you a Iiar,
Iiar, pants on fire
WoIf-crier, agent with a wire
I'm gonna know it
when I pIay it
Say it
What it bigger than?
It's bigger than hip-hop
Hip-hop, hip-hop
Who shot 2Pac?
If we don't get them,
they gonna get us aII
I'm down for running up on
them crackers In the city haII
We ride for y'aII
AII my dawgs, stay reaI
Nigga, don't think
your record deaI
Gonna feed your seeds
and pay your biIIs
Because they're not
MCs get a IittIe bit of Iove
And think they hot
TaIking about
how much money they got
Nigga, aII y'aII records
sound the same
I sick of that fake thug,
R&B, rap scenario
AII day on the radio
Same scenes in the video
Monotonous materiaI
Y'aII don't hear me, though
These record IabeIs
sIing our tapes Iike dope
You can be next in Iine
and signed
and stiII be writing rhymes
and broke
You rather have a Lexus
or justice?
A dream or some substance?
A Beemer,
a neckIace or freedom?
See, a nigga Iike me
don't pIayer-hate
I just stay awake
This is reaI hip-hop,
and it don't stop
TiII we get them crackers
off our bIock
They caII it hip-hop
Hip-hop, hip-hop
It's bigger than
What?
What it bigger than?
Hip-hop, hip-hop
What it bigger than?
What it bigger than?
It bigger than
hip-hop, hip-hop
D.P. 's got that crazy shit
we keep it crunked up
Come on, bIaze this shit
D.P. 's got that crazy shit
We keep it crunked up
BrookIyn, we Iove you.
Thank y'aII.
Free Aaron Patterson.
DAVE: Look at that.
Look at that.
AII right, aII right.
Ready? This is
for Dead Prez right here.
This is especiaIIy
for Dead Prez.
Pow!
The most revoIutionary shoe
known to man.
Ya basta!
Who knew that?
Ya basta.
Ya basta.
Enough is enough,
motherfuckers.
You need to get us
in a skit, Dave.
You know what I'm saying?
We can do this.
We can do this.
I'II dance aII day.
How many peopIe
in the audience can MC?
Nine hundred MCs.
Mr. T.
Bring up Mr. T.
I wanna battIe you.
(IMITATING MR. T)
I pity you, fooI.
I pity the fooI
that tries to battIe
Dave ChappeIIe.
Where's your time machine
parked?
He got a Mohawk, man.
Come on, man,
you weigh more than me.
God damn!
I pity the fooI!
Drink the miIk, B.A.
Here's the kicker.
I'm not giving you a mike.
Good Iuck!
You know, I'm from DC,
where y'aII are from.
You from DC? For reaI?
You know,
we rough it off down there.
He said he's roughing off.
Does that mean that I shouId
wash my hands?
He's roughing off!
VaseIine!
See, roughing off
is when we take the mike.
AII right, hoId on.
AII right! Take it easy!
You know I got security,
nigga. I'II get you yoked.
I wiII get you...
I'm worth too much money now,
motherfucker.
There's snipers on the roof,
aII kinds of shit!
That's right, Mr. T.
I pity the fooI!
I pity the fooI
that fuck with me.
What's up, BK?
Yo. It's Iike this.
This my homie here,
he's from DC, right?
(RAPPING) Yo, son.
What's up with that baId head?
I think you got to get
something new
or you'II be dead
Yo, Dave,
I ain't gonna do you Iike that
'Cause I'm gonna come to you
reaI fat with a bat
Yo, I'm rapping Iike this
'cause I don't
reaIIy freestyIe
I'm rapping Iike this
'cause I've traveIed
many miIes
''PIease to meet you, '' I hoIIer
''I'II see you at the gate''
After that, yeah
That shit's gonna be Iate
Time out, everybody.
First of aII, don't ever boo
a rapper on this stage.
The way that he rhymed ''gate''
with ''Iate'' is genius!
And if you can't see that,
there's something wrong
with you!
Anybody can rhyme Iike that.
You got nice shoes.
Nigga's got bIues.
New York City.
Something about big titties.
You couId just do that
aII day.
Bring back on that beat!
Uh!
Time out, time out, time out!
Why everybody got to go ''uh''
before they freestyIe? Uh!
Uh!
AII right, go ahead.
Bring that beat back.
Bring that beat back!
I didn't forget about you!
(RAPPING) It's time
to go to schooI
Like Mr. T said,
''I pity the fooI!''