How House Party Brought the Black Teenage Experience to Mainstream

Table Of Content

• Morgan Wallen and Post Malone Debut New Joint Single, ‘I Had Some Help,’ at Stagecoach on Festival’s Closing Night
• Robin Harris
• LeBron James is producing an all-new House Party.
• Benzino Talks Rumors Surrounding Diddy, Meek Mill’s Relationship: “It’s None Of Our…
• 'Challengers' Heats Up: How Zendaya's Star Power and a Sexy Love Triangle Could Give Gen Z Its Next Movie Obsession
• Christopher 'Kid' Reid

What's more, one of his most famous stand-up routines, "Bébé's Kids," was turned into an animated feature by Bruce W. Smith (Animation Director of Space Jam, among many others), in which Harris' part was voiced by actor Faizon Love. While it's sad to think we'll never see more of what Harris could do, it's a comfort to know that his comedy lives on. Already a working stand-up at the time of House Party's release, Lawrence was plucked from his early movie days by mogul Russell Simmons to host the groundbreaking HBO series Def Comedy Jam. While working on that show, he launched his own sitcom, Martin, which was a huge hit, making a star of its lead. Then he was cast as co-lead opposite Will Smith in Michael Bay's massive cop action hit Bad Boys, which has spawned multiple sequels up to and including 2020's Bad Boys For Life.

Morgan Wallen and Post Malone Debut New Joint Single, ‘I Had Some Help,’ at Stagecoach on Festival’s Closing Night

Though some of the references in the film are cringey at best, the rest is, as Roger Ebert said at the time, filled with "exuberance." The teen movies of the 1980s, such as those written and directed by John Hughes, left an indelible mark on the decade. In many ways, Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, Weird Science, Pretty in Pink, and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off are as representative of the ’80s as Reaganomics. Black teens of that era, on the other hand, had no quintessential equivalent.

Robin Harris

The good news is that Mitchell would go on to demonstrate a much wider range, with House Party serving as a launchpad for a long and venerable screen career. The '90s, in particular, were good to him, with roles on The John Larroquette Show and in the classic sci-fi comedy Galaxy Quest, in which he hilariously portrayed the grown-up Tommy Webber. After House Party, Johnson's acting career moved in fits and starts, leading her to roles in films like Sister Act and Baby Boy, and to television in a main role on Sirens and episodic turns in Chicago Hope and JAG, among others. Her most notable work, however, has been in the world of fitness, where she's become a wellness coach and the host of VH1's series Flab to Fab. She has served as a spokesperson for the American Cancer Society, and as Lindsay Lohan's life coach in the 2014 Oprah Winfrey Network docu-series Lindsay, demonstrating she's not afraid of any challenge. Comedians were cast in several key roles or did cameos in numerous scenes that helped the film flow perfectly.

LeBron James is producing an all-new House Party.

She's part of the crew that helps bail Kid out when he's jailed for fighting Stab and his crew, and the pair cap their night with a passionate kiss. Reginald Hudlin went on to direct “Boomerang”, produce the animated Adult Swim series “The Boondocks”, write for Marvel’s “Black Panther” as well as become President Of Entertainment for BET. He also co-wrote the highly slept on script turned graphic novel “The Birth Of A Nation” with Aaron McGruder. Once the Hudlins were no longer involved with the “House Party” franchise the films got further and further away from what initially made them resonate with audiences. There’s a reason why “House Party” still works 25 years after it was first released in theaters. Another interesting twist is after Will Smith & Jazzy Jeff turned down the lead roles in “House Party”, Quincy Jones and Benny Medina pitched them the idea of starring in a TV show instead.

Comedy show

Robin Harris was a rising star in the world of stand-up comedy at the time he was cast to play Pop, the father of Kid's protagonist in House Party. He'd already gotten his start in movies, appearing in late '80s classics like I'm Gonna Git You Sucka, Harlem Nights, and Do the Right Thing. As Pop, he was the hard-edged disciplinarian trying to keep his son out of trouble, and coming down hard when his rules weren't obeyed. He's last seen just before the credits roll, preparing to punish Kid for his night of debauchery. Martin Lawrence was a fresh-faced 25 year-old when he appeared in a supporting role in House Party, with his only previous film credit coming in Spike Lee's drama Do the Right Thing.

However, they do not do anything after realizing that Kid's only condom is too old to be used. When Sydney's parents come home – now revealed as one of the couples at the high-school reunion, including the man Kid ran into – Sydney helps Kid sneak out of the house. Rather than miss the party of the year, Kid sneaks out while Pop is sleeping. On his way to the party, Kid is stopped by the neighborhood police and runs into Stab and his brothers, jumps over a fence where a fat man named Roughouse is having sex.

Sure, its R-rating is earned—there is no shortage of raunchy jokes—but it feels true to Black teenage experience in a way that audiences hadn’t seen in a major film since Cooley High. These were young Black people who aren’t sanitized—they face issues like cop harassment, after all—but who also aren’t “at-risk” necessarily, and whose lives aren’t neatly divided into stereotypical boxes. The movie shows you Black kids from the projects and from middle-class suburbia—and they don’t seem all that far away from each other, geographically or culturally. But never looks or feels like the same backdrop as Boyz N the Hood or Colors; it feels like this story could be anywhere in Black America.

'Challengers' Heats Up: How Zendaya's Star Power and a Sexy Love Triangle Could Give Gen Z Its Next Movie Obsession

Kid and Play get into a dance contest with attractive girls Sydney and Sharane (originally it was Kid and Groove against Sydney and Sharane, but after Groove gets drunk and passes out, Play takes his place), then have a freestyle battle. Stab and his friends attempt to crash the party but are arrested a second time for attempting to burn the house down. At the very beginning of the movie, kids dance inside of a house, and the noise is so loud that it blows the roof off. The careless property damage might be worth it if there were any stakes or sense of narrative momentum to the script by Stephen Glover and Jamal Olori. Kevin keeps claiming he needs to throw the party to earn money for his daughter’s school (custody seems to be a factor), because his musty homemade beats aren’t making him any money, and his parents (Bill Bellamy and Nia Long in an unfortunately short appearance) are selling their home. Damon’s motivation seems to be that he just wants to floss in a borrowed mansion for the ’gram.

The Serious Health Scare That Nearly Cost Martin Lawrence His Life - MSN

The Serious Health Scare That Nearly Cost Martin Lawrence His Life.

Posted: Mon, 22 Apr 2024 21:46:40 GMT [source]

Christopher 'Kid' Reid

“Let’s get a new crew of young’uns up in there to tell it their way,” says Reid. Martin Lawrence had only appeared in one film, Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing, prior to being cast in House Party. He met his future Martin co-star Tisha Campbell while working on House Party. In his high-school cafeteria, Peter, also known as "Play," announces that he will be having a party at his house that night, as his parents are on vacation.

He manages to get out of another scrape with Stab and his brothers, and they all end up in a jail cell. Kid entertains the rest of the men in the cell by rapping, distracting them long enough for Play, Sharane, Bilal, and Sydney to arrive and bail him out. After Play and Bilal drop him off, Kid sneaks in the house and gets undressed. As he is about to get into bed, he looks up to find Pop holding a belt as he prepares to spank him. Several pivotal scenes for ‘House Party’ were taped in Los Angeles County, the most populous county in California and the United States. The production team of the HBO Max movie set up camp in South Central Los Angeles, a region in southern Los Angeles County, to record some important sequences.

Play went into business for himself as well, founding Playground Solutionz, a multimedia company. John Witherspoon, already a legend in Hudlin’s eyes, was cast off his work in I’m Gonna Git You Sucka, Hollywood Shuffle, and The Richard Pryor Show. And Hudlin, a huge Parliament-Funkadelic fan, wrote a role specifically for George Clinton—the funk deity has a cameo as a fast-talking DJ at a bougie affair—so he might have the chance to meet him. Full Force, who were already known for their own music as well as writing and producing for Kurtis Blow and Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam, wound up in House Party as the bullies because the script already included descriptions of them. “It said something like, They get accosted by three bullies with great physiques and Jheri curls, somebody like Full Force,” says singer Lou “Bowlegged Lou” George, who played Pee-Wee. ‘House Party’ was filmed in California and Georgia, especially in Los Angeles County and Atlanta.

He gives Kid a beat to rap over while Kid is trying to avoid Stab and his brothers. Throughout "House Party," two white cops stop most of the major characters and hassle them. Played by Barry Diamond and Michael Pniewski, they're only referred to as "Cop #1" and "Cop #2" in the credits, though Robin Harris' Pops reads their badge names as Boyd and what sounds like Warnoski.

In an interview with DJ Vlad in 2017, Lou said he rewrote a scene—including adding Pee-Wee's high-pitch nasally voice and his infamous sing-songy declaration to "kick your f--king aa-ass" and showed it to the Hudlin brothers. "We killed it and Warrington Hudlin looked at us and said, 'Keep it!'…. After that, I changed all of our f--king scenes in there," with his brothers' help, Lou said. Stab, Pee-Wee and Zilla aka the bullies who tormented and chased Kid throughout the entire movie and then tried to light Play's brick house on fire, were played by Full Force (Paul Anthony, Bowlegged Lou and B-Fine). But Lou, who'd been a theater buff, said their bully roles were "kinda plain, kinda bland, kinda like with no personality," so they re-worked them to give them some personality. The Hudlin brothers were just striking while the iron was hot using the momentum generated by recent films made by Black filmmakers. Little did they know how integral their film would become to not only helping to make Rap music and Hip Hop culture break into the mainstream in 1990 but pave the way for what would be regarded as a Black film renaissance the following year.

She showed up again at cinemas in '90s fare like New Jack City, Doc Hollywood, and The People Under the Stairs, and in episodic spots on shows like Sibs, Martin, and ER. Nowadays, she doesn't do much acting, choosing instead to focus on her work as a designer of handbags. While Kid 'n Play were the headliners in House Party, the rest of its appealing cast helped sell Hudlin's hilarious vision as well. Harris previously appeared in Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing with Martin Lawrence, and his last onscreen appearance was in Lee’s film Mo’ Better Blues (which was completed before House Party). While Lawrence is undoubtedly hilarious, he also had an “in” that most likely helped him land the role—he is Christopher “Play” Martin’s cousin. He served as the president of the BET network and received a Best Picture nomination for working as a producer on Quentin Tarantino’s 2012 film Django Unchained.