"If you think Richard Pryor and Eddie Murphy had foul mouths, dig this for sure !In fact, long before West Coast rap, Rudy was rapping about the hustler's, players and sexual prowess (*I'm purposely trying to keep the language tame here...)except *IMHO* his lack of self absorption made it funny and entertaining. (Many of these rhymes actually came from prison toasts that were passed on from person to person... but he put his own flavor to it and preserved them for posterity.) These albums for sure weren't sold at most stores and definitely weren't played on the radio, but if you were throwing a party, they were a must have ! Rudy Ray Moore's mixture of stand up comedy, "rapping" and all things bad and nasty made him an underground party icon. It was the charactors in many of these "blue" comedy routines, that would eventually evolve into the charactors in his outragous near zero budget action/comedy films which in themselves became classics... among them - - Dolemite, The Human Tornado, Avenging Disco Godfather, Petey Wheatstraw). For sure, he is now a '70s and "players" icon.I wish I could discuss the content of this album here, but well, let's just say, not while the children are listening.If you enjoy this CD, I strongly reccomend checking out THE HUSTLER'S CONVENTION (Lightening Rod), stuff by the last poets, hunting down some BLOWFLY, and renting the HUMAN TORNADO (my favorite movie of his) - - then getting your nasty bad self to church."
Hands-down the funniest raunch act of all time...
f7frcd@aol.com | Vancouver, Washington U.S.A. | 11/09/1999
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I first heard Rudy on 8-track when I was a teenager riding up to Northern Michigan for summer hockey camp in 1972. We nearly died lauging at the best flat-down nasty comic in the biz. Redd was on, Richard and Eddie have kept it going, but Rudy Ray Moore was the grandfather - the original and still the best. Check your timidness at the door: Rudy will kill you."
Please Don't Overlook a Key Companion Work
Stephen M. Kerwick | Wichita, KS United States | 05/24/2002
(4 out of 5 stars)
"In preparing my initial review on Mr. Ray Moore's excellent CD, I neglected a key aspect of one of his tracks. About a dozen years ago the distinguished Harvard African American Studies Professor Henry Louis Gates published The Signifying Monkey: A Theory of African-American Literary Criticism. This scholarly text discusses the roots of this tale in a Yoruba trickster deity which apparently survived (figuratively, anyway) the horrors of the middle passage of the slave trade to become the source of this important element of African-American folklore. For those who enjoy Mr. Ray Moore's wonderful recitation and desire to look into some of its sources and the relevant literary criticism in the area, I would heartily recommend Professor Gates' treatment, along with Roger Abrahams' Deep Down in the Jungle. The former, in particular, will heighten the enjoyment and appreciation of Ray Moore's superlative popular adaptation."
No Political Correctness Here
Stephen M. Kerwick | Wichita, KS United States | 05/24/2002
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Mr. Ray Moore has been one of America's finest entertainers for a generation or more and without a doubt he is our leading exponent of ethnic humor. He exploits the stereotypes and ironies of American race relations par excellence, although it is necessary to add, in occasionally coarse terminology. Mr. Ray Moore's Greatest Hits album has been out for several years now and I am delighted to report that much of his finest remaining work from the early 70's is now also being reissued in other disks. This particular CD is a fine intoduction to his oeuvre, but must not be an ending point. Indeed, there are better examples of his best work to be found elsewhere. The enthusiast would be wise to explore some of his lesser known pieces, particularly with respect to his stand up act which incorporates often funnier material, and some that is even more vulgar, difficult as that may be to believe. His jokes are in no way inferior to the high quality urban epic poetry which makes up the art form known as the "toast," which is best represented by "Petey Wheatstraw," "Shine and the Great Titanic" and "Dolemite." In Mr. Ray Moore's segment of American society, these figures are every bit as important and well-known as Daniel Boone, Paul Bunyan, Bill Clinton or Indiana Jones and it behooves the literate American of any background to become more conversant with this portion of our overall culture."