Doug E. Fresh is known as a musical genius, one of the world’s greatest entertainers, and affectionately as “The Human Beat Box.” The 53-year-old artist recently forced us to add spiritual guru to his list of monikers when he dropped a word in a panel during ESSENCE’s Dear Black Men, We Love You virtual experience with lifestyle specialist Kenny Burns, Bevel founder Tristan Walker, actor Leon and DJ D-Nice.
As the men discussed grooming, and specifically how men’s hair and body grooming in the Black community plays a part in grooming for life and success, Doug gave us all something to think about, and a reason to fall in love with him even more.
“Grooming is not just in the way that we look on the outside, but who we are on the inside,” said the performer. “One of the things that we have to do is teach our kids to have higher levels of self-esteem. For so long a lot of us were trying to be something that we weren’t instead of being ourselves. I’ve always tried to make sure that in hip hop that I was an original. I tried to show that as an example to just be confident about who you are.”
Rightfully, his testimony garnered an applause from the other men, who shared their own stories about grooming and bonding experiences associated with it.
Earlier in the conversation D-Nice joked about Doug’s tenacity for eating healthy (lettuce sandwiches) and being fit (push-ups, anyone?) when they were on the road together back in the day. And the other gentlemen talked about the glow of his skin, commenting that he looks like he’s aging backwards.
However he’s aging, he looks incredible. But now we know that a lot of that drip is due to the inside work he’s been doing.
Carry on, Doug.