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Zora Neale Hurston, the "Queen of Black Folklore," took a trip to her hometown in the 1920s. She recorded African-American folktales that have been passed down through generations, which are traceable to our African roots and our oral traditions of sharing history amongst each other. Much of the stories she recorded would contain the larger than life protagonist John Henry, who was such a legend even the devil told him to go open his own hell and get out of his. Dolemite Is My Name is a Netflix original movie detailing the life of Rudy Ray Moore, aka "The Godfather of Rap," who starred in the original Dolemite released in 1975. A surprising hit, racking in over $10 million dollars on a less than $100,000 dollar budget, it shows a continuation of the aforementioned Black custom.

Eddie Murphy's character, Rudy Ray Moore, is a down on his luck comedian who's busy working what he said would be "a temporary job" inside of a record shop after he spent time on top of the world. He's now busy looking for the next comedy routine that could get him out of his current predicament. He finds inspiration from an unlikely source, he uses said influence to come up with an entirely new character: Dolemite, a jive-talking pimp. This depiction helps him return to the top, helping his wildest dreams come true.

It's refreshing to see the return of Eddie Murphy not in pounds of prosthetics portraying a portly character for laughs and giggles. Eddie Murphy is a matured man. As he recently acknowledged in an interview with The New York Times, he has grown from the time he wore a purple leather suit in Raw. His performance in Dolemite reflects his quotes, portraying a more pulled back and tragic character. He delves into the psyche of Moore, who runs from his small hometown of Arkansas to realize his dream of making it big in Hollywood, a desire to prove his step-daddy wrong about him being unable to amount to anything. That motivation drives his character to turn "no" into "yes." We root for him and want to see him win.

Eddie Murphy was not the only stellar performance in the film. You have Craig Robinson, Keegan Michael-Key, Wesley Snipes and Mike Epps also excelling within their roles. Along with cameos from Snoop Dogg, who wrote in the liner notes of a 2006 re-release of the Dolemite soundtrack, "Without Rudy Ray Moore, there would be no Snoop Dogg, and that's for real," Tip "T.I." Harris and Chris Rock, the entire cast works well together.

One notable standout is Da'vine Joy Randolph, who plays Lady Reed. Randolph's portrayal of Lady Reed explores the anxiety of being good enough for the big screen. It makes the acting seem more real when played by Randolph, a normal-sized, dark-skinned Black woman, which is a vital element of her character's tragic backstory. Randolph's character, Lady Reed, shows the value of representation as she says in the movie, "I ain't never seen nobody that looks like me … up there on that big screen."

But just like the real-life Rudy Ray Moore, the film isn't a pristine portrait of Blackness because, as Keegan Michael-Key states in the movie, you have to "tell how it is on the streets." Keeping it real will reveal the ugly sides of our society, and it exposes itself in this movie, the treatment of poor Black people. In the film, Moore gets the bulk of his inspiration from these poor people to kick them out of the Dunbar Hotel, a makeshift shelter for them, and disregarding the people as junkies. The movie never checks on their well-being again after they're used for Moore's gain.

Overall, Dolemite Is My Name is a dive into the treasure chest of Black Hollywood, giving a history lesson on Rudy Ray Moore and the power of words. The movie is definitely worth a watch.

Dom Alexander

Writing since December 2018 · 1 story contributed