Emperor of the World
After a successful stint as an R&B king, most notably as the performer of the hit “Mother in Law“, Ernie K-Doe hit a rough patch he dubbed an “alcohol haze” that lasted a couple decades.
Rather than giving up, though he came back, with better hair than ever, a flamboyant enthusiasm for himself and New Orleans, a new self proclaimed nick name: “The Emperor of the World”, a hopping music venue called The Mother In Law Lounge, and a posthumous faux run for Mayor headed by his loving wife.
A true original and eccentric, his cape wearing, entertaining antics made him a symbol of New Orleans. When his lounge was severely damaged after Katrina, the Hands on Network came in to help it reopen in 2008.
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When I get an email from my friend Brandon that says “you just need to see this” I know it's going to be good. And this is.
I might not be giving enough credit to the idiots in other countries, but I believe that terrible, drunken jam rocking by a dude wearing a cat in the hat hat is uniquely American.