TK Kirkland: I Got Banned on Tour with N.W.A. for Racist Joke
[youtube ytid=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwblV97F_SM?autoplay=1&w=580&h=385″ ]
Many may not know TK Kirkland’s story, but the stand-up comedian’s tales are definitely ones worth hearing. During the early 90’s TK was given the opportunity to tour with N.W.A. after inviting members of the collective to one of his shows. “They always carried guns with them you know, and that was my introduction to the Compton lifestyle because I had never seen nothing like that,” he recalled. “So by hanging with them, I took their DNA. And what I mean by that is to be a reporter of the streets, to tell it like it is and I took that philosophy, applied it to my stand-up comedy and that’s how we came up with T to the motherf**king K.”
With Suge Knight as his bodyguard Kirkland hit the ground running, though at one point he was banned along with N.W.A. after making a racist remark in his routine related to 1988’s crime thriller Mississippi Burning. Toward the end of the interview TK spoke on the #OscarsSoWhite…Again controversy and explained why Ice Cube and Dr. Dre have never been concerned with award shows but rather business ventures, referring to it as the “Ice Cube mentality.” “A lot of people don’t know that when Uber started they came to Dr. Dre first, and Dr. Dre turned it down. He gets lucky on certain things,” Kirkland revealed. “A lot of people don’t know that [Beats By Dre] was really for Kanye West.”
Watch the clip above to find out why ‘Ye turned down the opportunity and how TK made it acceptable for comedians to dress more street.
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