Dave Chappelle threw a socially-distanced music festival in his hometown of Yellow Springs, Ohio during the July 4 weekend, as Spin and Cincinnati’s CityBeat point out. Guest performers included Erykah Badu, Common, Questlove, Talib Kweli, Michelle Wolf, Tiffany Haddish, Michael Che, Jon Hamm, and Chappelle himself.
According to Spin, Chappelle covered Radiohead’s “Creep,” Badu did a rendition of Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” Kweli, Common, and Chappelle did Eric B. and Rakim’s “Paid in Full,” and Hamm sang Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’.” Check out of a few clips from the block party below.
According to CityBeat, guests were required to have their temperatures checked, wear masks, and to maintain a six-foot distance. CityBeat also reports that “folding chairs were spaced out in pairs and staggered across the spacious lawn,” and that “masks and social distancing were gently enforced.”
In an Instagram post, Questlove wrote that he “drove 900+ miles to a hippie farm town, got tested 2ce & mask/rantined & got on a drumset for the first time in 4 months.”
In 2004, Chappelle hosted his famous “Block Party” in Ohio featuring Kanye West and Mos Def. The concert was filmed and later released as a documentary of the event in 2006. Chappelle recently released a new Netflix special titled 8:46 in which he discusses the killing of George Floyd, the subsequent media response, and more.
Read “Revisiting Dave Chappelle’s Block Party, A Celebratory Concert Film and Reclamation of Black Fandom” on the Pitch.