Davy from the block
Review: Dave Chappelle's Block Party

By Steve Warren
Staff Reviewer

Dave plays his $50 million bongos.

Why does it take so much heat to make a comic hot? Richard Pryor set himself on fire; Martin Lawrence nearly died from heat exhaustion; Dave Chappelle ducked out on a $50 million contract and went to Africa.

Now we find out that several months earlier—September 18, 2004, to be exact—Chappelle had hosted a street concert ("the concert I've always wanted to see") in Brooklyn. Michel Gondry's film of the event, Dave Chappelle's Block Party is not a documentary and not a concert film: it's a party! Lovers of truth in labeling should be ecstatic.

If you go for the music it won't bother you that several artists aren't identified when they perform, singly or in uncharacteristic combinations (a duet between Jill Scott and Erykah Badu is a highlight), because you already know them. You may be annoyed that not all songs are complete and/or uninterrupted, but that's what concert DVDs are for.

If you go for the comedy you'll be surprised at how little there is, in the traditional sense. While Chappelle provides plenty of off-the-cuff humor he tells very few jokes ("I knew the (DC) sniper was black because he took weekends off. A white sniper'd be up early shootin' people"; and the one about the "industrious prostitute").

There's so much cutting between the party and a day or three before, you may get the impression the movie is disorganized; but editors Jeff Buchanan and Sarah Flack are crazy like foxes, maintaining the party feel through a deceptively simple, loosey-goosey structure.

Some "feelgood movies" just have happy endings that let you leave happy; Dave Chappelle's Block Party" keeps you feeling good from beginning to end. Even angry rap songs contribute to an upbeat mood. The closest thing to a downer is an appearance by Fred Hampton Jr., whose Black Panther parents were killed by Chicago police before he was born.

The Roots say they played as a house band for most of the performers on the bill "before some of us had recording contracts." The roster includes Kanye West, Mos Def, Common, Talib Kweli, Dead Prez and a reunion of the Fugees. The party started at 2 p.m. and went on well into the night; performances are shown in random order.

Three days before the party we see Chappelle in his hometown of Dayton , Ohio , handing out "gold tickets" to the concert that include a round trip in a chartered bus and hotel accommodations in New York. He gives pairs to two young black golfers and two middle-aged white women who run a convenience store; and, supposedly on the spur of the moment, he invites an entire marching band from Central State University to come and perform.

At the party site, Quincy and Downing Streets in Bed-Stuy, they arrange to film from the roof of a day care center once attended, Dave's told, by Biggie Smalls. He races a local boy down the street and gets into a pickup basketball game: "We're playin' these white people for our freedom."

There must have been security for the concert but there's none in evidence, certainly not a crowd-provoking uniformed line in front of the stage, on what Chappelle calls "the best single day of my career."

The one moment that might seem in retrospect to hold portents of things to come is when Dave talks about the difference between the public and private personas of the artists on the bill. "It has to be that way," he says. "Not every part of you can be for sale." Not even for $50 million.

From the stage Chappelle describes the crowd as "5000 black people, 19 white people....It's very hard to find a Mexican." On the street he's taught a Mexican phrase, complete with hand sign: "Ya basta!"—"Enough already!" It will be hard to find someone who says that during Dave Chappelle's Block Party unless they've wandered into the wrong theater by mistake.

Steve Warren is a local actor and film reviewer. His reviews can also be seen weekly in the Sunday Paper.

Dave Chappelle's Block Party
Rating: (3 out of 4)

Directed by: Michel Gondry
Written by: Dave Chappelle
Starring: Dave Chappelle, Mos Def, Erykah Badu, Cody Chestnutt, Common, The Roots, Kanye West, Talib Kweli, Jill Scott, Dead Prez

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