Sunday, December 11, 2005

My Main Man, Richard Pryor





Ya'll just don't realize how much I love Richard Pryor. I've never met him and I've never seen him perform live and in person. The only thing I know about Richard Pryor is what I read and see through mass media. His movies, his television appearances, his albums. Man..his albums.

I got hooked on to the black comic jones via the stash my dad kept at the house. If they printed it on vinyl, he had it. His LP collection was serious and his 45's racks could take up a nice afternoon sorting through and listening to. When it came to black genre, soul music, Motown, R&B, them cool az n'gaz like Sam Cooke and Otis Redding, that Isaac Hayes album where he's stretching out his hands with no shirt on..my dad had it all.

There was also comedy albums, Flip Wilson, Redd Foxx, Pigmeat & Moms Mabley..if you've never listened to these artists work, you need to check em out. Cuz when Pigmeat starts talking that 'Here come tha judge!' or when Moms start talking that nasty talk, you're going to find yourself laughing. Those n'gaz are WILD.

But still, to me, I was strongly biased. I used to stare at Richard Pryor's 'Was it Something I said?' album all day long. I'd stare at the cover photos and then I'd listen to his jokes and it would make me laugh so hard, but I had to keep it inside. Because listening to Richard Pryor albums wasn't something that my dad did when we were around. We had to listen to Rich 'on the cool'. When mama and daddy were gone and we were home by ourselves.

That's one of the reasons I realized I had to get all my freak sh't out of the house and destroyed today. Because my kids are at the age where we can leave them home alone for a few hours and I know if they are anything like me and my sister, they're looking through me and my wife's sh't while we're gone.

Nosing through your drawers, opening up that mysterious can with the lid that daddy keeps in his closet. You definitely don't want them finding your porno stash. That'll twerk their mind FO REAL. Make em start tripping and looking all crazy in the eyes, like they know what's up. And after the drawer search and under the bed prowl for porno, dope stashes and/or sex toys. Mmmhmm..don't sleep. Those kids today are slicker than Spy Kids. You might THINK you hid something good, but these lil n'gaz know how to get codes and passwords and sh't like that now!!

N'ga. That's a pivotal word when you talk about Richard Pryor. When you listen to all of his earlier work, you'll see the word used quite liberally and quite hysterically. N'gaz laughed hard at Rich when he kept it real around those honkys. There was a GREAT skit that Rich did on Saturday Night Live with Chevy Chase..or was that Dan Akroyd? Hmm..I can't remember, all those Canadian honkies look the same to me anyway!! (laugh)

But in this particular skit, the Canadian honky is giving a word association test to Richard's character who was trying to get a job. The words play up more and more confrontational via racial slurs, when it gets to a point where Richard's responses are 'Honky!' and when that 'n' word is throwed out by Chase, Richard gets all agitated, buckeyed and crazy nervous n'ga looking..

Chevy Chase: "Jungle Bunny!"

Pryor: "Honky!"

Chase: "Spade!

Pryor: "Honky Honky!"

Chase: "N'ga!"

Pryor: "Dead honky!"


You know how Rich could buck up and act like he bad, but all the while the comedy is found in his transperently obvious underlying fear. Think penitentiary entrance scene in Stir Crazy, "That's right...we bad. Unn-huh." Rich was scaid to death, but he was never afraid to be real with his audience.

And when you consider Richard Pryor the comedian/philosopher, you have a b.a. and a.a. grouping that he must be considered in. Before Rich made that trip over to the mother land of Africa, he liberally used the word n'ga in his material. It could be a room full of white folks, Rich didn't give a sh't..he kept it real to what he knew.

But there was a change that took place within Rich once he returned from Kenya in 1979, and as he explained to the crowd as he paced that stage on the Sunset Strip, he was marveling at the beauty of Africa. Of the land, the animals, the people, it was truly a glorious site for Rich to behold. A place where even all the airline pilots are black. And Rich's revelation as he looked acrossed the beauty of the mother land, was that the whole time he had been in the country enjoying the culture and the people, he never once saw one 'nigger'.

And from that time on, you never heard Rich use that word in any of his material. I find that a feat in itself that I want to be sure to have on the list of my things to do in life. (But a n'ga just ain't there..yet :)

So..to my main man Richard Pryor, I will miss you brother. You was a wild az n'ga that had some balls the size of cracklin pots. Mudbone is still alive. Cool Breeze and those brothers hanging out on the corner around the fire, singing harmonies, sipping wine, and telling lies, they're all still there. Your grandma is still around, "Now Richard..you KNOW you can be doing better than what you doin." "Yes'm".

Rich was able to make us laugh as he described details from racial disparities, divorce, drug overdoses, domestic violence, firing a weapon at a motor vehicle...

"Then that vodka said, "gone and shoot some'n else!!""

Rich talked about some real az sh't.

Rich had that walk, Rich had that move, Rich knew that hip lingo. Rich was a cool cat jack and everybody knew that. But I'm sure if we could have a moment of reflection, as we commemorate brother Rich moving on to that other side, we should reflect on the funeral scene, in which Rich is consoling his father at the cemetary, as they're burying a close relative..

"It's go be alright Dad..she's in a better place."

"Better place? N'ga I'm not talking about her..I'm talking about ME..it's COLD out here!! Rev need to gone and finish this up so we can gone and get inside the house where it's warm!!"



Here's a good read on Rich..I learned a few things about him that I never knew.
http://richardpryor.com/history.cfm