September 18, 2016
Source/Motown Records
Kevin Hart's "WHAT NOW?" coincides with the premiere of a live comedy performance at Lincoln Financial Field, which hits theaters Oct. 13.
At the infamous roast of Justin Bieber in 2015, Natasha Leggero told Philly-born superstar Kevin Hart that he looks like 50 Cent got put in a dryer. Well, Hart must have taken that to heart.
Last month, the actor signed with Motown Records for a rap deal under the moniker Chocolate Droppa, an alter-ego he's riffed with in the past. The label gave Hart free rein to produce a mixtape, "WHAT NOW?", that pairs him with such luminaries as T.I. and Migos in the first Atlanta-style single, "Baller Alert." (Note: Song contains explicit lyrics and themes).
At the time of the record deal announcement, Hart released a video on Instagram outside Motown's Capitol Records building in Los Angeles. We'll just link to it here because Hart gets a little wild. He calls out the big dogs in Drake, Jay Z, Future, 2 Chainz, etc. In videos since, Droppa has, with a straight face, claimed all of these dudes are biting off him and he's here to show everyone what's real.
Among the endless projects Hart has undertaken, this one is actually riskier than most of his movies, specials and hosting gigs. Rap parodies are notoriously hard to execute. Some would argue New Kids on the Block and Vanilla Ice were parodies with minimal self-awareness. Then you had Weird Al reprising Coolio, The Offspring working with Red Man, "Mom's Spaghetti" playing off Eminem, and king of kings Dave Chapelle doing his legendary Rick James "Turn 'Em Up" skit.
These things can also go horribly wrong in a serious way. The recent controversy at Apple was caused in part by male employees obliviously quoting lyrics from a parody with overt references to rape, all in a work chat shared with women.
Hart is obviously a family man invested in community work and a guy who will take every opportunity to bask in the spotlight he's earned. It's hard to predict what the rest of "WHAT NOW?" will have to offer, but if he wants it to be memorable, he better have studied Chapelle's masquerade inside and out.
