JOE CLAIR: THE ENTERTAINMENT HUSTLA

Written by Jorteh Senah

Thursday, 09 August 2007

“I’m a hustla” has to be the most manifested mantra used by the urban community and the disciples of its culture. A phrase that once solely spewed from the mouths of street pharmacist and one-time street pharmacist turned rappers, has been adopted by hustlas from various avenues of achievement. Still, and troublingly so, the archaic interpretations of the term are the ones that are vastly simulcasted across various forms of urban media. The gap is quickly decreasing, however, in the race between the classic hustla and the new-age hustla.

Joe Clair is the pristine personification of the contemporary hustla. The self-proclaimed, “entertainment hustla,” has scoured the entire scope of urban entertainment, including comedy, VJing, hosting, rapping, producing, and commercials. Though the one-time social worker, whose dream was to help underprivileged kids, has become somewhat of a media celebrity, you’ll see that his core cause has remained the same.

The Industry Cosign: I just caught the first couple episodes of  “Take the Cake” on YouTube, and it seems like you guys got something pretty unique going on there.

Joe Clair: Yeah, that type of show is done all over the globe. This is their second attempt at doing it in the US. They do a show on TBS called “Midnight Money Madness,” which is sort of like similar to ours, but they decided when they came to BET, to put some entertainment value in it, make it a little more live, a little more urban, a little more for the BET demographic. So far the response has been incredible.

The Industry Cosign: It’s unique in the sense that it’s a sketch comedy show but a game show at the same time.

Joe Clair: Exactly. That’s what it is. We try, every night we try to make sure that we have the entertainment value in the show, so that if you were just tuning in you would sit and watch. Of course, we want everybody to play, but if you’re not going to play, we want you to sit and watch and be entertained.

The Industry Cosign: How much input do you have in the show? Did BET create it and then find you, or was it a joint project between you and BET?

Joe Clair: Yeah, it was BET and a company called Endemol. Endemol is a huge international entertainment conglomerate, they do “Deal or No Deal” and “Fear Factor.” So them and BET partnered up, and I had met with the Endemol people about a year ago for another project, so when this one came up my name was on the list for them. Then BET submitted a list of talent and my name was on that one as well, so it just made sense.

The Industry Cosign: The chemistry between you and Toccara is pretty good. How did that develop?

Joe Clair: I met her once or twice before, but it was nothing like, you know, we ever sat down and really knew each other. But when we got on the set, it was just like we both wanted to get to work and make a good show. I think that we have the team mentality. She brings something that I don’t; she’s a sexy model and on the other hand I’m a comedian and host, so it just made perfect sense.

 

The Industry Cosign: You just called yourself a comedian, but is that the title you usually use? Your career seems to encompass so much more than just doing comedy.

Joe Clair: To tell you the truth man, I don’t use a title. That’s a title [Laughs]. People usually use the host title because I do stand-up all over the country and when I’m out doing stand-up a lot of people say, “I didn’t know you were a real comedian.” They only thought I was a host. When I’m on TV I’ll be in the club and people will be like, “Oh, you on TV? I didn’t know you was doing TV,” because they’ve only seen me tell jokes over the years on BET. So the way I look at it, I’m an entertainment hustla [Laughs].

The Industry Cosign: My introduction to you was through Rap City. And I just thought, ‘Well here’s a funny guy who just happens to be a host.’ I didn’t know that comedy was actually one of your gigs as well.

Joe Clair: I started doing comedy fresh out of college. I’ve been on “Def  Comedy Jam,” “Comic View,” “Comedy Central,” Starz, on the “First Amendment Comedy” show,” I did that the first season. So comedy is a big part of my life.

The Industry Cosign: Let’s talk a little about how you got into the game.

Joe Clair: I went to college and my mindset was, when I get out of school I don’t think that I’m made for a regular nine to five desk job. I couldn’t see myself being successful at that. I could do it but I wouldn’t be successful, and I saw myself going from job to job. I looked at what I was good at, and one of the things I was good at was entertaining people. I was like, ‘lets go for it.’ When I first got out of college I had a job working with homeless kids, I was a social worker. The kids were like, “He should be a comedian. ” I entered a contest in DC, and the next thing I knew I was in the second round of the contest. I was in front of four thousand people and they gave me a standing ovation, and I was like, ‘boom, that’s it.’ I quit my job and said ‘I aint’ working no more,’ and its been comedy ever since man. Don’t get it twisted, it was a struggle. Any comedian, you go through the times when you got to hustle up your shows and all that kind of stuff. And I did all of that and ever since then I’ve been eating, but at the same I had a huge love for hip-hop music. Here’s something that most people don’t know: I was rapping since I was maybe ten years old, but nobody ever took me seriously because I’m funny. So when Rap City came up, which I was watching every day, because as a comedian you in the house most of the time in the daytime, and you don’t go out until the night, I really wanted to be on that show. So I started calling up there, calling the executive producer, leaving a message saying, “My name is (Joe Clair), I’m a comedian, and I’d like to be on your show.” I never got a call back or nothing like that. But one day a friend of mine was DJing on rap city and they didn’t have anywhere to shoot; they didn’t have a location so he asked me to have the shoot in my crib, and I was like, “Hell yeah.” So Rap City came to my crib, they was going to shoot a show and one of the producers walked in and he was like, “Man I seen you before, you a comedian right?” I was like, “Yeah”. He was like, “I would like to do some work with you.” I was like, “Oh man, that’s really cool.” About ten minutes later, the guy who I had been calling walked in and I introduced himself. He was like, “Man, you been calling my phone,” and then the other guy was like, “This is the guy I’ve been telling you about.” That’s how that came about man.

The Industry Cosign: Which college did you go to?

Joe Clair: Morgan State University.

The Industry Cosign: What did you major in?

Joe Clair: Psychology.

The Industry Cosign: During college, was your plan to be a psychologist or social worker, and do comedy on the side?

Joe Clair: It was mostly social work. I thought of myself as being a party promoter or something. I felt there was something in me that wanted to help kids. Young black males, specifically, need elders in any way shape or form they can get it. Young black males in this country have always been fed to the wolves. I always thought there was a need for somebody to work with young black males, and that’s what I wanted to do and I got out and started doing that. In doing that, I realized I could reach more kids as opposed to reaching one or two kids. I still do a lot of work to this day with BET’s “Rap-it-up” campaign, we go out and do HIV/AIDS awareness, and of course, when you are talking to kids about that we get into issues like self-esteem, integrity, responsibility and those kinds of things, so I’m still in that vein of work.

The Industry Cosign: Staying on the topic of young black males, what do you think about the recent criticism hip-hop has been getting in light of Don Imus’ comments.

Joe Clair: I think that people who criticize hip-hop just don’t have anything else to talk about. There are so many other things we can be sitting around and discussing than ‘this guy has a foul mouth.’ These images are already out there, they just decided to hop on hip-hop. You notice that they didn’t hop on rock music; they didn’t hop on the movie industry and all the sex and violence that’s in movies. They didn’t talk about television. You can’t even look at cartoons now-a-days. They are so violent and have so much…what about “South Park?” The same things you said about hip-hop you can say about “South Park.” It seems like anytime that a black man does something, it just has that much more attraction to everybody. If you look at how they report on gang violence, they always talk about the Bloods and Crypts. However, the Bloods and the Crypts are much smaller than all of the Latino gangs in America. Those are the black gangs, so those are the gangs we need to talk about. We could talk about so much other stuff. The La Calle 13, that gang is international! You got Latin Kings, you got so many other things you can focus on, but they rather focus on the black man and that’s just because of our history in this country, being ex-slaves or whatever. That’s how it goes. I think they are silly for criticizing hip-hop. I think they are very hypocritical for focusing on hip-hop. I think its pretty much bull shit.

The Industry Cosign: On the Oprah show there were African Americans such as a the former editor-in-chief of Essence magazine, Diane Weather, who claimed that hip hop degrades women and is normalizing misogyny.

Joe Clair: Still, if you’re going to talk about the misogyny in hip hop, you have to talk about the misogyny in America as a whole. These young girls who get in the videos, show up to work. So really the question is: where is the education for the mothers to make sure that their daughters don’t end up selling themselves? When are we going to blow the whistle on the social fabric of African Americans? We don’t talk about the girl who’s sitting at the back of the class, who’s a D student. We don’t really do anything for her; we just really point the finger at her and laugh at her. When a girl is a D student in high school, when is she going to learn what she’s without? A lot of them become strippers and video girls.

The Industry Cosign: Now you have your own hip hop album coming out pretty soon right?

Joe Clair: I’m finishing up mixing it right now. I should be done soon, and then the album will come out and it’s called I Want To Be A Rapper Now. It’s an album where I contemplate what kind of rapper I would be, given the fact that my manger and agent says you shouldn’t be rapping. And I’m trying to tell them that I should be the one rapping, but they don’t get it and hopefully this album will break that way of thinking.

The Industry Cosign: Well just by the way our conversation has been going I would think you would be on the Public Enemy tip.

Joe Clair: It’s funny you say that. I got a song called, “I’m Too Damn Black For My Own Damn Good.” I’m on that Chuck D shit and I wouldn’t change if I could. I say what rappers think or at least what I think they should. It’s like we need a change in the hood. In Hollywood, being to black is a liability. They rather you be a buffoon as opposed to having some integrity. So that’s why that comes out. I got a song called “Non Immigrants Gaining Global Achievement,” and that’s an acronym for nigga.

The Industry Cosign: When I heard that you were putting out an album, the first thing I thought was that it would be a comedy album

Joe Clair: Well I do have a couple of funny songs on there. I have a song called “In My Car,” which talks about me being the best rapper in the world, in my car. You know, in your car you the best. Just like in your shower, you’re the best singer. I got a couple other funny songs like “Take Care Of Your Muthafuckin Kids,” and it talks about how you need to take care of your daughters so that they don’t end up being the freaks, or prostitutes, or the video vixens, or whatever. I have some funny stuff on the album but it’s more serious than it is funny, but it’s not too preachy. I’m not going to beat you over the head with what I’m saying. I’m just putting out how I feel.

The Industry Cosign: Do you have any club joints on the album?

Joe Clair: I mean I got one or two club joints, but I’m really trying to make something for you to listen to.  Because when you think about it, you got two different ways that people think about hip hop now: you got some people who just want to here club bangers all night long, and then you got other people who listen to it in their car. If you were a young kat when hip hop started, you might have a PHD or you might be a CEO, but you still love hip hop. So this record is for you. As well as, if you’re a young kid who’s tired of hearing all the gangsta stuff – here’s something new for you to listen you. 

The Industry Cosign: I found it interesting that you’re trying to start you rap career now as opposed to when you where hosting Rap City.

Joe Clair: Well I did make a record, but that record is buried in the ground and no one will ever here it.  I liked the content of it but technically it was horrible. So I never put it out. But I started ghost writing for people and doing production for people. I produced all the beats on the new album that’s coming out. That would have been a great time, but I don’t believe in timing I guess.  So I’m going for mines now.