Prince: Dave Chappelle Calls His Passing The ‘Black 9/11’
Dave Chappelle performed at the Chapel in San Francisco at about 2:00 this morning, but instead of his usual comedy routine, Chappelle paid tribute to Prince for four hours, according to the Huffington Post. Dave told the audience that his grief over the passing of Prince almost kept him from performing, but his band told him that Prince would not have approved. So Chappelle did so show up and told the audience,
“And now there is no place I’d rather be… This is black 9/11… It’s so much better that we grieve together.”
Chappelle used his show to share stories about Prince, and his band backed him up with Prince songs throughout. The two reportedly became friends after Dave did a skit about Prince. It was made when Purple Rain was at the height of its popularity.
Warning – Video includes some profanity.
Following Prince’s death, Minneapolis CBS affiliate WCCO contacted Chappelle for a statement. Here’s some of what he had to say.
“… His admirers are a community that spans the globe. His legacy is an immense offering of music, love and laughter. And a fight for fairness to artists. Nothing of this world will begin to fill the void of his absence except his memory. Scientifically a memory is almost neurologically identical to an experience. So remember your loved ones often. Forget their faults and remember the best of what they made you feel. In that way … all of us are immortal gifts to one another that keeps on giving.”
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Rolling Stone described Chappelle’s tribute to Prince. It included purple lighting and songs like “Kiss” and “Nothing Compares 2 U.” Chappelle Show cast member Donnell Rawlings said that Prince thought the sketch about him was
“hilarious… I think [Chappelle and Prince] really built a friendship after that sketch.”
By all indications, Prince did like the sketch. He even released a single titled “Breakfast Can Wait” in 2013 and used a shot of Chappelle from the sketch on the album cover.
Dave loved that Prince played along with the joke and included him in full Prince attire on the album cover. Chappelle commented about it on The Tonight Show
“That’s a Prince judo move right there… you make fun of Prince in a sketch and he’ll just use you in his album cover… What am I going to do — sue him for using a picture of me dressed up like him?… That’s checkmate right there.”
Dave Chappelle says that the sketch was based on a true experience that Eddie Murphy and his brother Charlie Murphy had with Prince, according to Hollywood Life. Yes, Prince invited the Murphy brothers over to play basketball. So what about the pancakes? Were they good? Could Prince cook? Charlie Murphy said the following.
“They were good, man. They were really good. They were actually perfect… They were as good as he played guitar.”
Those must have been some amazing pancakes.
http://mashable.com/2016/04/21/dave-chappelle-prince/
Prince’s birth name was Prince Rogers Nelson. In addition to being a singer and songwriter, Prince played five instruments – guitar, bass guitar, drums, keyboards, and Linn drums. He was also a record producer, actor, and film director. His family was from Louisiana, and both parents were musicians. His father was pianist and songwriter. His mother was a jazz singer. Prince was named after his father, whose stage name was Prince Roger. Over the course of his career, Prince released over 100 singles and 39 studio albums. He appeared in four films – Purple Rain, Under the Cherry Moon, Sign o’ the Times, and Graffiti Bridge. He also appeared on two TV shows – Muppets Tonight in 1997 and New Girl in 2014. Purple Rain won an Academy Award for Best Original Song Score.
[Photo by Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images]
