Rockin' in the free world

Arizona Daily Wildcat Chris Rock performs at Centennial Hall on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. Doors open at 6:30 p.m., tickets are $25 for UA students in advance, $28 general admission, and $30 on the day of show. Call Centennial Hall at 621-3341 for more information

These are only some of the epithets ascribed to actor/comedian Chris Rock. You've seen him on television in such Saturday Night Live sketches as "Nat X" and "I'm Chillin'." He's graced the silver screen in Lethal Weapon 4 and the upcoming Kevin Smith flick, Dogma. Then there was the best-selling book, the HBO special, and the CD. His fearless style and decidedly anti-PC irreverence have made him one of Brooklyn's best exports since the Beastie Boys.

What would YOU do? KAMP Radio sponsored a contest to see who would do the wildest, craziest thing for free Chris Rock tickets. Here are some of the most unique responses. I will go out with the ugliest guy in KAMP student radio, said Sarah Becker. So, all you ugly guys better get a job over at KAMP now, it may be your best chance to get a date. While it's a scary mental picture, Justin DeBlasio volunteered to, strip down naked, duct tape my whole body, and have it ripped off on the mall. He's apparently very hairy. I'd spit in Mike Tyson's face, Alok Mehta. Not to be outdone his roommate, Drew Davis would, spit in Mike Tyson's face and smack him afterward. ASUA President Tara Taylor would step down as president on May 1st. Finally, Jen Harwell would ride naked on the guy who's running for Sheriff, holding his flag, while singing the ¾Star Spangled Banner.'

However, it was the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York where Rock grew up that shaped much of his life. The oldest of seven children, Rock was bused to school in a poor white neighborhood, while living in a predominantly black area. Of the people he went to school with he said in USAWeekend magazine, "They weren't white trash; they were white toxic waste." His father, Julius, a union trucker who delivered the New York Daily News, always supported him. As a kid he idolized boxer Sugar Ray Leonard and comedian Eddie Murphy, and since he "can't fight," he turned to comedy as a means for success.

By the tender age of 17, Rock had dropped out of high school and was working for minimum wage at Red Lobster. One night he was in line for tickets to an Eddie Murphy show when he noticed a sign about an open-mike night at a nearby club. After a few gigs he joined the Manhattan club circuit until he was discovered, ironically enough, by Eddie Murphy. The rest, as they say, is history.

Notorious for his unabashed look at race relations in America, liberally sprinkled with creative profanity, Rock has examined everything in his routine. From racism to poverty to infidelity to phone sex, it's all fair game, and usually it's all hilarious. As a response to the overwhelming tight-assed attitudes of political correctness, Rock makes a target of virtually every group, including other African-American people, saying, "Racism's hysterical ... When you laugh at it, you forget about it."

Yet Rock cannot be pigeon-holed into the stereotypical "angry black man shares his beefs up on the stage" category. He is intelligent, insightful, loves the artist formerly known as "Prince," and, oddly enough, Woody Allen. Of the latter he has said, "Woody's work is the most daring comedic stuff I've seen ... In the romantic-comedy genre he threw the notion of the leading man ... out the window."

Upcoming projects for Rock include Kevin Smith's latest project Dogma, with Ben Affleck and Linda Fiorentino. In Nurse Betty, Rock, along with Morgan Freeman, will play a hit-man who is trying to kill Renee Zellweger after she witnessed a hit. Finally, he is collaborating with Howard University to create a humor magazine based on the Harvard Lampoon for young black comedy writers.