Written By: Eboné Chatman, Kerrington Dillon
For the past thirteen years, Uptown Magazine has honored the creatives who have helped shape Black Hollywood as we know it today. On Wednesday, March 8, Uptown and their partners at Lexus hosted Uptown Honors Hollywood, for a special night honoring black contributors to American culture, art and entertainment. The honorees included: Guy Torry, Kym Whitley, Deon Cole, and Cedrick The Entertainer. This year’s event coincided with the 50th anniversary of Hip-Hop. Remixd Magazine was in attendance and caught up with the honorees on the red carpet to ask them about what it meant being honored, in addition to their favorite Hip-Hop songs and artists.
RemixdMag: What’s your favorite Hip-Hop song?
Kym Whitley: Anything MC Lyte and Wu-Tang Clan
Comedian and actress Kym Whitley hit the red carpet as the only women being honored during the evening. She told RemixdMag, “I’m pretty excited to be honored this way, amongst all these incredible male comics. This is a treat.” When asked about the role that hip-hop played in her career, Whitley responded: “Hip-Hop has changed the game for us comics, we use hip-hop in our jokes, it’s part of our culture, it shows up in how we dress.”
We asked, “What is your favorite Hip-Hop song?” Whitley responded “Oh my gosh, my favorite Hip-Hop song would be really old, but MC Lyte and anything with Wu-Tang Clan. All of those are my favorites, the classics.”
Cedric the Entertainer: Jay-Z “Public Service Announcement”, Reasonable Doubt Album
Actor and comedian Cedric the Entertainer was excited to be honored at the event. He told RemixdMag that he’s also getting ready for his upcoming sixth season on his hit sit-com “The Neighborhood” on CBS and streaming on Paramount +. We asked, “What is your favorite Hip-Hop song?” Cedric responded, “I’m a Jay-Z dude. Ultimately, the whole Reasonable Doubt Album. Put it on. I’m good. We ridin’. Dead Presidents, all that.”
Deon Cole: (Picked an entire era, couldn’t just pick one song) 80s and 90s
Actor and comedian Deon Cole paid homage to Hip-Hop saying, “It’s everything, I wouldn’t even be doing stand up if it wasn’t for Hip-Hop. [It] cultivated the way I think and everything. I am Hip-Hop.” When we asked, “What is your favorite Hip-Hop song?” He couldn’t just pick one, so he picked an entire era. “Every song is an emotion, and music is soundtracks to life, each song represents something that happened to me, each era, each year. They are all equally great to me.”
Guy Torry: 2Pac – “California Love”
This year’s event coincided with the 50th anniversary of hip hop, as Guy Torry’s iconic documentary “Phat Tuesdays: The Era of Hip Hop Comedy” explores the intersection of the music genre and Black comedy during a significant time in the 1990s.
Guy Torry stopped by RemixdMag on the red carpet. He was moved to be honored for his contributions to comedy and the culture saying, “Hip-hop and stand up go hand in hand. I think hip-hip started as stand up, guys getting on the mic cracking jobs and then they put beats under it. We love Hip-Hip and Hip-Hop loves us and it’s a good marriage.”
We of course had to asks him his favorite Hip-Hop song and the first song out of his mouth was “California Love.” He reminisced saying, “2Pac was a big fan of Phat Tuesdays … he always came to my shows and told me to carve my own lane out. And get out of my brothers shadows. 30 years later, I’m still here.”
Tai Beauchamp: LL Cool J – “Around The Way Girl”
Tai Beauchamp, who was one of the hosts for the evening, expressed to us that “comedy gets us over… and Hip-Hop made it ours.” She further went on to express that she remembers being a young girl from Jersey with her first pair of bamboo earrings, so for LL to create a theme song was everything.
Bill Bellamy: Nas – ‘Illmatic‘ (the whole album)
Actor and Comedian Bill Bellamy caught up with us on the carpet, to express his immense gratitude and happiness for his fellow peers being honored. Stating, “It’s a true blessing to be here.” When asked his favorite Hip-Hop record, with no hesitation “Nas’ first album, the whole thing.”
Latasha Gillespie: Biggie – “Born To Die”
Amazon Executive Latasha Gillespie was very thrilled and honored to be in the room expressing, “It’s so amazing to be surrounded by legends who paved the way for me, and also so very proud to be here for our show Phat Tuesday.” With her all time favorite record being the late great Notorious B.I.G’s “Born to Die.”
Uptown Magazine and Lexus put together an event for the Hip-Hop and Comedian history books. The room was filled with love and light as the honorees took the stage to be celebrated for their accomplishments. Remixd Magazine was able to get the full scoop and we want to know.
Let us know — what are some of your favorite Hip-Hop songs?
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