The soundtrack
to the cult classic film Dolemite is being reissued by Relapse Records
for the first time on CD.
Representatives
for Relapse told AllHipHop.com that the reissue will contain rare and exclusive
bonus tracks, radio ads from the film and the sequel, a 28-page-booklet written
by Moore’s biographer Mark Jason, and never before seen photos.
Rudy May Moore
conceived the smooth street character Dolemite in the mid-1960’s after
hearing a panhandler tell a story about "Dolemite," a mythical black
hero with super strength who could kill women with the power of his love-making.
Moore released
several albums under the moniker Dolemite, but the albums were so raunchy
that they were regularly banned from record stores. Moore issued his self-financed
debut Eat Out More Often in 1970 under his own name.
In 1975, he shot
the low-budget spoof Dolemite in Los Angeles and followed with the films
The Human Tornado (1976) and The Devil’s Son-In-Law (1977).
Images from the
movie have since been incorporated into various Hip-Hop videos, and the character
has had an influence on scores of rappers, including Ice-T, Ol’ Dirty Bastard
and Snoop Dogg, who featured Moore as Dolemite in his 1994 video for "Doggy
Dogg World," from Snoop’s breakthrough album Doggystyle.
"Without
Rudy Ray Moore, there would be no Snoop Dogg, and that’s for real," Snoop
Dogg said of the pioneer, while fellow West coaster Ice T added: "Dolemite
is really the flyest man of all time in film history. People just don’t know.
He shaped a lot of Black men including myself with his strength and his ability
just to show us how we are."
In 2001, it was
announced that rapper LL Cool J would star in a remake of Dolemite for
Dimension Films.
The soundtrack
to Dolemite hits stores June 27 in the United States and July 3 internationally.