Stray Shots: The Curious Case Of Katt Williams

Once upon a time in a universe far, far away, HipHopDX used to host blogs. Through Meka, Brillyance, Aliya Ewing and others, readers got unfiltered opinions on the most current topics in and beyond Hip Hop. After a few years, a couple redesigns and the collective vision of three different Editors-In-Chief, blogs are back. Well, sort of. Since our blog section went the way of two-way pagers and physical mixtapes, Twitter, Instagram and Ustream have further accelerated the pace of current events in Hip Hop. Rappers beef with each other 140 characters at a time, entire mixtapes (and their associated artwork) can be released via Instagram, and sometimes these events require a rapid reaction.

As such, we’re reserving this space for a weekly reaction to Hip Hop’s current events. Or whatever else we deem worthy. And the “we,” in question is DX Managing Editor Trent Clark and Senior Features Writer Ural Garrett. Aside from tackling stray topics, we may invite artists and other personalities in Hip Hop to join the conversation. Without further delay, here’s this week’s “Stray Shots.”

Is Katt Williams Over As A Comedian?

Trent: I interviewed Kevin Hart, the fleeting bane of Katt Williams’ existence, back in 2011 and he shed exuberant light as to why so many of our beloved Hip Hop comedians constantly unravel in the public eye. The subject at hand was Dave Chappelle. The topic at hand was the impromptu comeback and the subsequent letdown. Hart stated matter-of-factly that the on-and-off switch for funny becomes nonexistent once a comedian gets their career in full throttle. Whether you see them on stage or in the home and garden aisle at the hardware store, their humor button is always expected to be lit; with jokes on demand. All eyes are on the comic as if their minds are saying, “You are supposed to be making me laugh.” It’s what they sign up for but are never prepared to deal with. So all that “ping-pow-wow” positivity and Nike Hustle Hart physical fitness the little big man puts into plain view isn’t a facade or gimmick. It’s him having the understanding that putting your well-being on the line for the sake of other’s entertainment will simply lead to your downfall. Williams has become entangled in such a vortex that many don’t know when the joke has started or begun. His recent string of non sanctioned publicity—the Hart “Hit ‘Em Up” call out, the alleged gunpoint incident, accusing yet another store clerk of racism—all play out like a supporting character role from a movie he would have starred in ten years ago: comedic in face value yet too ridiculous to be taken seriously. However, while I do agree with many of his fans that he’s overdue for a break at the Sit Yo Ass Down Somewhere rest stop, I feel he’s still in control. Somewhat.

He is hilarious. His Target scooter fiasco from a few years back was hilarious. His recap of the recent Beanie Sigel Worldstar Emmy moment was hilarious. Planet Earth has become his own Laugh Factory stage and life is his microphone. It’s a dangerous road to walk on, especially and presumably, he’s using a stronger drug than aspirin but the road has been traveled by many a star and that path can lead to monetization of the life experience (see Martin Lawrence’s Runteldat). Let us hope Katt has an even better handle on his situation than I believe him to have already.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtU2lvlB4LQ

Ural: The public meltdown of Katt Williams isn’t any different than any unhinged figure whose wild antics eventually overshadowed their actual talents. A shame too. There was a moment in time where Katt had the potential to become the rawest comedian to spawn from the Hip Hop generation. More so than Kevin Hart and even more so than the centered Dave Chappelle (regardless of leaning more to the socio political as well). Katt was ignorant, hood and intelligent to the core. Everything from Pimpadelic’s relationship with his children, thoughts on marijuana legalization and United States politics to being in tune with one’s star player blended age old wisdom with very crass application. Clearly his specific brand of comedy kept him from crossing over into mainstream and nearly turned him into a hood icon. Remember that one time he was signed to Dipset and found an interesting bromance with Suge Knight?

Then the arrests started to happen. Katt’s rap sheet is large enough at this point to make your favorite trap rapper feel insecure about their own thuggery. Weapons charges, assault charges, burglary and child endangerment charges among others could eventually mean longtime jail time. This week could be considered one of the worst in his career. Going at such a pop culture darling like Kevin Hart isn’t the brightest move. Let’s be completely honest here, despite being a fairly raunchy comedian, he’s fairly safe subject matter wise. And as we all know, that’s lead him to being one of the highest grossing comedians of the modern era. Critics call Hart this generation’s Eddie Murphy for a good reason.

Getting knocked out at a Beanie Sigel concert isn’t the best look either. However, the fact that someone like Katt still finds enjoyment attending a Philly concert with The Broad Street Bully is telling. Katt really is the last of a dying breed of comedians who catered damn near exclusively to blacks. Anyone with enough African American friends on social media currently can see numerous videos and memes representing Katt’s views on Hollywood conspiracies where he even defended Dave Chappelle following the Comedy Central fallout while speaking on his history with the police. He represented the one unapologetic black voice who has enjoyed success on the other side of mainstream and just didn’t seem to fit in. For someone who wore his street credibility like the latest fashion threads, it has become his undoing. Add possible mental instability and drug use into the mix and self destruction is imminent.

Trent Clark is the Buckeye-born, Los Angeles-based Managing Editor for HipHopDX. Talk to him on Twitter @ItsMeTC15

Ural Garrett is a Los Angeles-based journalist and HipHopDX’s Senior Features Writer. When not covering music, video games, films and the community at large, he’s in the kitchen baking like Anita. Follow him on Twitter @Uralg.