Off the Dolemite

Rudy Ray Moore, stand-up comedian turned blaxploitation sex machine, has died at the age of 81. Most of Moore’s best material didn’t reach a mass market because it made Redd Foxx look like Rita Rudner and came in album sleeves feature naked pictures of him and multiple ladies, and was generally hidden behind record store counters in plain brown wrappers. His biggest hit was Dolemite, about a framed man re-entering his life after doing time, which the New York Times called the “Citizen kane of kung fu pimping movies.” Moore lives on in the music of Dr. Dre, Big Daddy Kane and 2 Live Crew and many others who sampled his songs and routines. Snoop Dogg wrote in the liner notes of the 2006 release of the soundtrack to Dolemite that “Without Rudy Ray Moore, there would be no Snoop Dogg, and that’s for real.”