A hip-hop film extravaganza

Dave Chappelle is worth a lot of money. \nOr he was. I don't know what happens when you renege on a massive television contract. Maybe it all goes away.\nMaybe that's what he wanted. Fifty million dollars is a lot of cash, and maybe that changes a man. It seems that Chappelle was wrestling with this when he left his highly successful Comedy Central show halfway through filming its third season and did whatever it is that he did. Some say he went nuts. Others say he went nuts and ran off to South Africa. Oh, how people will gossip.\nChappelle, money or not, has an undying ability to connect to regular people. And he's undeniably amusing -- I say "amusing" because I think he's more of a likeable guy than a uproariously funny guy. His overall likeability is what makes his concert film "Block Party" all the more viewable. \nIn September 2004, Chappelle put together an outdoor concert in Brooklyn's Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood. Its location was kept secret until the last minute to avoid a mob scene, and the entire event was free. If he wanted to give back to the community, he could have sponsored a basketball program, or donated money to some local charity. That would have been nice.\nThis was a lot cooler, though.\nThe concert is like a who's who of hip-hop's current greats, so here's the obligatory line up: Common, Mos Def, Kanye West, Dead Prez, Talib Kweli, The Roots crew, Cody Chesnutt, Big Daddy Kane is on stage briefly and Erykah Badu and Jill Scott sing a duet.\nBut most impressive, by far, has got to be the reunification of The Fugees. How Chappelle pulled that off is unimaginable. Like a lot of the concert, their performance -- their first as a group in years -- was kept quiet until the last minute, and the crowd's freak-out is genuine. Which makes their performance that much more exciting.\nChappelle, during all of this, is present everywhere. In between sets, he entertains the crowd. He introduces new artists, bullshits with the audience, talks with neighborhood residents. None of it, I think, is laugh-out-loud funny. Chappelle is hysterical in sketch comedy and film ("You've got Mail" was genius) but, that's not really what he's going for here. He's reaffirming to himself -- and us, on the wayside -- that he's just a regular guy, no matter how much Viacom is paying him to dance for frat boys on cable television. \nSo, at the end of the day, it's just a concert film with a comedian as a host. And concert films always have their problems. Everything is off the cuff and improvised, which is a both an appeal and fault for any live event, but whatever little problems you'll find with it will get glossed over. Dave Chappelle seems like he could be everybody's friend and acquaintance, the bill is loaded and no one screws up enough for you to not enjoy watching it. If you've got even a little interest in hip-hop, check it out. It's only going to make you enjoy it more.