For better or worse, Katt Williams always knows how to make a scene.
Thankfully during this past weekend’s Culture Creators Brunch at Mr. C Beverly Hills Hotel, which honored veteran music mogul Andre Harrell among several others, the oft-controversial comedian was in good behavior mode when he donned the Revolt Vice Chairman of Media & TV’s trademarked honeybee glasses and accepted his award while imitating his persona.
Culture Creators’ founder and Senior Vice President of Marketing and Brand Partnerships at Atlantic Records, Joi Pitts, tried her best to keep a straight face as she read through Harrell’s pre-ceremonial speech as Williams surprised everyone and stood at the podium, eventually (and humbly) grabbing the award and delivering a speech of his own.
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Surprisingly enough, Williams managed to keep it comedic while still recognizing the merit of the event and Harrell’s contributions to the culture.
“Sometimes the culture that is being created is destroying another culture,” Williams said, channelling Harrell. “Sometimes a culture is dying out as a culture is coming in. We know it’s important that Hip Hop die every four years so it came come back that same year,” he said, garnering uproarious laughter. “It’s a cycle! And I, Andre Harrell, know that because I’ve been through Uptown, Motown, downtown — got so tired of just being the greatest everywhere I went and I said, ‘I will just begin a Revolt.'”
Yet it was Williams’ conclusion that truly outlined the importance of Culture Creators’ existence and trumped the silliness of his show-stealing antics when he acknowledged there was no substitute for a true legacy.
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“This honor is only an honor because of who’s doing the honoring. You can go to any party this [BET] weekend and see a group of celebrities all congratulating themselves on things that they’ve done,” he continued. “But this is a celebration of people who have already done the things that nobody said was possible to do and they’re here today while still in the process of still doing greater things than they already did. That’s what makes you a Culture Creator. That’s what makes you Andre Harrell.”
While the moment was undoubtedly the highlight of the afternoon, Harrell was in prestigious company with his salute. The other recipients who made up the Leaders and Innovators categories were A&R of Atlantic Records and creator of the upcoming Quality Street Music 2, DJ Drama; Phylicia Fant (VP, Publicity & Lifestyle Marketing, Warner Brothers Records); Kristen Fraser (Music Marketing, Beats By Dre); Ethiopia Habtemariam (President of Urban Music and /Co-Head of Creative to Universal Music Publishing Group); Miss Diddy (The Brand Group LA); Mark Pitts (President, Urban Music, RCA Records & CEO Bystorm Entertainment); Juliette Jones (SVP, Radio Promotions, Atlantic Records); Chris Atlas (SVP of Marketing Island Def Jam Recordings); Yvette Noel-Schure (Founder of Schure Media Group and Beyoncé and Prince’s personal publicist); Michael “Blue” Williams (Blue AGI Management and Marketing Solutions); and Dallas Martin (SVP, A&R, MMG & Atlantic Records).
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That’s a lot of brass for your ass. Check out photos from the event below and follow Culture Creators on Instagram.
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