Dave Chappelle shows off his rap skills at Cincinnati festival
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Over the weekend, fans flocked to Ohio for the Cincinnati Music Festival, which boasted performances from Doug E. Fresh, Al Green, Slick Rick, Babyface, Snoop Dogg, and more. On Sunday (July 23), TMZ shared some fan footage from the big event that saw comedian Dave Chappelle delivering a live rendition of Eric B. and Rakim’s classic single “Paid In Full.” “Thinkin’ of a master plan, ’cause ain’t nothin’ but sweat inside my hand,” he could be heard rapping as the crowd followed along word-by-word.
Chappelle‘s relationship with hip hop is well-known by his fans. His iconic Comedy Central series, “Chappelle’s Show,” featured a wealth of notable artists during its three-year run, including Yasiin Bey (then known as Mos Def), De La Soul, Talib Kweli, Slum Village, Common, The Roots, Cee-Lo Green, Erykah Badu, and Lil Jon. Many of those who guested on said series also performed for Chappelle’s Brooklyn block party in 2004 — an event that would be immortalized via a documentary the following year.
During a 2014 interview on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” (above), the D.C. talent shared how he managed to befriend his aforementioned guests, beginning with The Roots.
“I was in Portland, Maine. And I was walking in a mall, and I guess [The Roots] had been there an hour before me, so they just thought I was like a lost Root,” Chappelle quipped, drawing laughter from everyone in the room. “I went to their show that night, that was the first time I met them.”
He continued, “Not long after that, I went to a recording session with Talib Kweli at Electric Lady… They had D’Angelo downstairs, and Common was [on] one floor, and Erykah was in another recording studio, and Mos and Kweli were on the roof, and [Questlove] was running up and down… And then a year later, when I did my show, and I was asking musical guests to be on it, nobody would come. And then all the people [from that] recording session became the entire first season of ‘Chappelle’s Show.'”
Check out Chappelle rocking the mic in Cincinnati below.
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