Dave Chappelle's Block Party

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Dave Chappelle's Block Party

Promotional poster for Dave Chappelle's Block Party
Directed by Michel Gondry
Produced by Dave Chappelle
Michel Gondry
Written by Dave Chappelle
Starring Dave Chappelle
Music by Corey Smyth
Distributed by Rogue Pictures
Release date(s) USA March 3, 2006
UK June 30, 2006
Germany August 03, 2006
Running time 100 minutes
Language English
Budget $2,000,000
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

Dave Chappelle's Block Party (aka Block Party) is a documentary film hosted and written by comedian Dave Chappelle, and directed by Michel Gondry. Its format is inspired by the documentary Wattstax.

The film and its soundtrack are dedicated to the memory of hip hop producer J Dilla (James Dewitt Yancey), who died from lupus one month before the film's release.

Contents

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The film follows Chappelle during the summer of 2004, up until September 18, 2004, when he threw a block party on the corner of Quincy Street and Downing Street in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York City. The film was produced before Chappelle's highly-publicized decision to walk away from a $50 million deal to continue his hit Chappelle's Show, and gained prominence after the announcement.

He invited several alternative hip hop and neo-soul musical artists to perform at the party, including Kanye West, Mos Def, Jill Scott, Erykah Badu, and The Roots along with The Central State University Marching Band. Lauryn Hill was also scheduled to perform at the party, but since Columbia Records refused to release her songs for use in the production, she decided instead to reunite The Fugees for the occasion. In addition, Chappelle performed comedy monologues and sketches in between the musical acts.

[edit] Performers

[edit] Soundtrack

Dave Chappelle's Block Party
Dave Chappelle's Block Party cover
Live album by Various Artists
Released March 14, 2006
Recorded September 18, 2004
Genre Neo-soul, Alternative rap, East coast rap
Label Geffen
Professional reviews

A compilation of "music from and inspired by" the film was released on March 14, 2006.

The album was released by Geffen Records, and produced by Corey Smyth for Blacksmith Music Corp and ?uestlove.

  1. Hip Hop - Dead Prez
  2. Definition - Black Star (Mos Def & Talib Kweli)
  3. Golden - Jill Scott
  4. Universal Magnetic - Mos Def
  5. The Blast - Talib Kweli feat. Erykah Badu
  6. The Light - Common feat. Erykah Badu & Bilal
  7. Boom! - The Roots feat. Big Daddy Kane & Kool G. Rap
  8. Back in the Day - Erykah Badu
  9. The Way - Jill Scott
  10. UMI Says - Mos Def
  11. You Got Me - The Roots feat. Erykah Badu & Jill Scott
  12. Born & Raised - Black Star (Mos Def & Talib Kweli)

All the songs were recorded live in concert, except "Born & Raised", an exclusive new studio track from Mos Def and Talib Kweli's Black Star. Many performances, including the Fugees' reunion performance, could not be included due to legal restraints with the groups' record labels.

[edit] Trivia

  • An incomplete version of the film was shown at the Toronto International Film Festival.
  • The movie had its European premiere at a screening during the "Berlinale 2006" - the international movie festival in Berlin - on 2006-02-19.
  • This was the second of two films released on March 3, 2006 with Mos Def. The other film to be released was 16 Blocks in which Mos Def starred with Bruce Willis.
  • The venue of the block party was outside the Broken Angel, a building renovated by Arthur and Cynthia Wood. Shortly after the film's release the building was "slapped with a handful of violations and was deemed unfit for living after an inspection of a small rooftop fire on October 10th" [1]

[edit] Box Office and reception

As of July, 2006, the film grossed a total of 16.9 million dollars in the United States Box Office + DVD sales. It received a 91% approval rating at Rotten Tomatoes[2].

[edit] External links

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