Rudy Ray Moore

State of the art

by Carly Carioli

On short notice, we attempted -- in vain -- to get on the horn with Rudy Ray Moore, best known as the fightin'-est, lovin'-est, pottymouth-est blaxploitation hero of them all, Dolemite. Although it's been 22 years since his last real feature -- 1978's awful Disco Godfather, a flick even the actor himself blames for the abrupt end of his film career -- Rudy Ray Moore is suddenly a busy man again. The indie label Norton has just issued a double-LP collection, Hully Gully Papa, of his late-'50s/early-'60s output as a wild rhythm-and-bluesman. Earlier this year, he appeared in Big Money Hustlas, an effective straight-to-video effort by white-rap knuckleheads Insane Clown Posse. Jon Spencer is threatening to make an album with him. Meanwhile, Altoids have been using Rudy Ray in a limited-edition "Dolemint" ad campaign, and garage-rockers the Phantom Surfers invited him to make a prominent cameo on their XXX Party (Lookout!), a revival of the ultra-sleazy blue-humor party records that brought him his first wave of notoriety in the '60s. And in the midst of all this, he's making his first appearance here in years this Saturday in Dorchester.

Born March 17, 1937, in Fort Smith, Arkansas, Rudy Ray Moore has had a well-rounded career as a self-made showman, both behind and in front of the curtain. He began as an "African" modern dancer, cut R&B records under a variety of names, booked and promoted shows by the likes of James Brown (often with his own groups on the undercard), and held down gigs as a club MC, radio personality, and record-store clerk. He began releasing his sex-stoked comedy albums in 1961, and he claims to be the first person to use the word "motherfucker" on a comedy disc. His 1970 comedy album Eat Out More Often made the soul charts, introducing audiences to the epic saga of his greatest character, Dolemite, the mythic king of pimps and hustlers. Like Moore's best material, Dolemite's story was related in rhymed stanzas in the toasting tradition (Rudy Ray often claims to have bought the Dolemite toast from a wino in exchange for a few drinks). A precursor to hip-hop, toasts tended to be outlandish and vulgar and sexually frank, and they constituted a vibrant and informal oral folk tradition passed from street corner to street corner, or more often from cellblock to cellblock.

Although never as profound as that of Redd Foxx or Richard Pryor, Moore's comedy falls somewhere between the pimpadelic ghetto lit of Iceberg Slim and the postmodern talking-blues of Andre "Mr. Rhythm" Williams. He became more popular than either of those men in 1974 when he self-produced the film version of Dolemite, which has remained both a highlight and a lowlight of blaxploitation ever since. A blend of half-baked kung fu, absurdist dialogue (inspired in part by the need to get Dolemite's trash talking past the RIAA censors), inimitably garish pimp fashion, and gratuitous nudity, Dolemite wasn't everyone's cup of tea. Fred Williamson (Black Caesar) has been a vocal critic of Moore's films (which include a Dolemite sequel, The Human Tornado, and Petey Wheatstraw: The Devil's Son in Law); Rudy Ray was conspicuous by his absence from Williamson's 1996 blaxploitation reunion Original Gangstas.

Although Disco Godfather seemed to have ended Moore's career, he got a second act in 1986 when 2 Live Crew sampled one of his routines on "Throw the Dick." That made Rudy an instant hip-hop godfather, and the royalty checks have rolled in ever since: he's been sampled by everyone from Eric B & Rakim to N.W.A and Dr. Dre. Now, with this revival of interest, he's gearing up to reintroduce his most famous character to a new generation. A new film, tentatively titled Dolemite 2000, with guests to include long-time fans Snoop Dogg and Big Daddy Kane, is said to be in post-production. We can't wait.

Rudy Ray Moore performs this Saturday, December 9, at 9 p.m. at Russell Auditorium, 80 Talbot Avenue in Dorchester. Call 436-9841.

-- CC