“In the dung piles of pimp and gangster rap we hear from slime meisters like Snoop Dogg and 50 Cent, the worst of Pryor’s influence has been turned into an aspect of the new minstrelsy in which millions of dollars are made by “normalizing” demeaning imagery and misogyny.” When we look at the remarkable descent this culture has made into smut, contempt, vulgarity and the pornographic, those of us who are not willing to drink the Kool-Aid marked “all’s well,” will have to address the fact that it was the combination of confusion and comic genius that made Pryor a much more negative influence than a positive one.
“This past Saturday Richard Pryor left this life and bequeathed to our culture as much darkness as he did the light his extraordinary talent made possible.
Pryor reached for anything that would make white America uncomfortable and would prop up a smug belief among black Americans that they were always “more cool” and more ready to “face life” than the members of majority culture.”
TheStateOf . . . Richard Pryor. I have mixed emotions about Pryor (and Crouch too). Pryor was hilarious, no doubt, but Crouch makes good points about Pryor’s larger legacy, which includes, among many aspects, the public acceptance of the gravest profanity, especially when used by African Americans. Would 50-Cent be possible without Richard Pryor? I don’t know. Still, there’s a part of me that is slow to judge Pryor. After all, his mother was a prostitute and guys would come by and ask him if his mom was home so they could get a blowjob.
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