Rudy Ray Moore, a raunchy 1970s comedian died Sunday evening at an Akron nursing home from complications of diabetes. He was eighty-one.

Moore, who featured as a fast talking pimp in a 1975 film called Dolemite, in later years also collaborated with 2 Live Crew, Big Daddy Kane and Snoop Dogg.  Featuring blunt sex routines onstage, his subject matter along with his style and swagger made him a cult figure in the world of hip-hop.  Yet, unlike his contemporaries - Eddie Murphy, Redd Foxx and Richard Pryor, he never quite managed to cross over to mainstream white audiences.

However, his blaxploitation films like ‘The Human Tornado’ and ‘Disco Godfather’, influenced an entire generation of hip-hop artists like Snoop Dogg, the Beastie Boys, 2 Live Crew, Busta Rhymes and Big Daddy Kane, who featured him on all their albums.

Moore is survived by his his daughter Yvette ‘Rusty’ Wesson, Lucille, his 98-year old mother, including four of his siblings.