RIP - Rudy Ray Moore

In what looks like such a sad year in the case of musical icons yet another has passed. Comedian, musician, singer, film actor, and film producer Rudy Ray Moore died Sunday, October 19th at the age of 81.

Moore, perhaps better known as Dolemite, the uniquely articulate pimp from the films Dolemite, and its sequel, The Human Tornado, began his career as an R&B singer (which continued throughout his comedy career). His comedy albums produced in the 60s and 70s featured an explicit style comparative to Richard Pryor and Redd Foxx.

The self-proclaimed "Godfather of Rap" had a significant effect on comedians and hip-hop artists with his rhyming style, braggadocio and profanity-laced routines.

In 1997 he told the Miami Herald,"I wasn't saying dirty words just to say them. It was a form of art, sketches in which I developed ghetto characters who cursed. I don't want to be referred to as a dirty old man, rather a ghetto expressionist."

Dolemite is my name
And rappin and tappin

that's my game
I'm young and free
And just as bad as I wanna

be.