Dave Chappelle stopped by Hot 97’s Ebro in the Morning recently to discuss his run of shows at Radio City Music Hall with special guests like Chris Rock (reuniting with him again after sharing a stage in New Orleans in March), Erykah Badu, Lauryn Hill, The Roots, Trevor Noah, John Mayer, Childish Gambino, Chance the Rapper, Solange, Leslie Jones, and many more.
Chappelle’s performance will begin on Tuesday and run through Aug. 24, rotating stars as the tour progresses. While chatting with Ebro Darden, Peter Rosenberg, and Laura Stylez, Chappelle revealed more names he’s added to the already star-studded list: Ice Cube, Lil Wayne, Common, Vince Staples, and Big Boi. For Aug. 15, Chappelle also said there’s a very special guest, but he wouldn’t give more details on who it might be. "The guest is so special that I can’t even say who it is," he said.
The conversation moved on to several pop culture topics, as Chappelle shared his thoughts on Adrien Broner vs. Mikey Garcia, his recent interview with Kendrick Lamar for Interview, Drake's ghostwriting allegations, and even Jay Z's 4:44 album. Chappelle revealed he's been a fan of Hov since Reasonable Doubt and Streets Is Watching, and he said that Jay is still making the kind of music he can appreciate.
"This guy's saying stuff I want to hear," he said. "It's a record for a person of my time. It's the first time, I think, that a guy of his age can make a relevant record. It's fun to see a genre like hip hop be mature like this. Jay Z went to space and came back. He's a billionaire from Brooklyn. I appreciate that. If I had that kind of money you'd never see my ass again."
Outside of talking hip hop, the crew also had to ask Chappelle if he is a Game of Thrones fan, and he admitted he binge watched several episodes before becoming a fan.
"I used to be on the tour bus and there was a couple of nerds on my bus who would always be talking about it," he said at around the 25:10 mark. "And you would hear bits of the conversations—dragons and on that. Like, 'Man, that sounds wack. You guys are the worst.' And I just started watching it, man, and I got sucked in."
Later in the interview, they talked about Chappelle’s appearance on SNL and specifically his skit about election night, where Chappelle and Rock are unsurprised by Trump’s victory as results come rolling in.
"The night that he won, the writer’s room at SNL stopped. And that was my attitude. I was more worried about coming back to television then what had happened in the election. I live in Ohio—I could see him coming," he said at around the 31:00 mark.
Near the end, Chappelle shared a personal story about how he got into smoking (a cigarette company gave him a pack at the Metro Center in Washington D.C. when he was 14), and he was asked he has any guilt about it, which he goes into at the 44:00 mark. Finally, the interview wrapped up with him commenting on the passing of Charlie Murphy.
"Honestly, I didn’t know he was sick," he said. "To say I was grateful to meet that guy is an understatement. The big reason I was successful was because of him. Like, we are all at lunch and he says something crazy like, 'I fought Rick James many times,' and that conversation changed my life. And it changed his life, too."
He added: "It’s kind of like graduating together. We did this thesis, and everyone went on to do great stuff. He was a very generous person, he was hilarious, and very wise."
You can watch the whole interview in the video above.
