:08:04
MAXINE: Excuse me. Excuse me.
Excuse me.
:08:12
MAXINE: Excuse me.
:08:13
EMCEE: Whoo!
Shake it! Shake it! Shake it!
:08:18
Go on, Big Mama.
:08:25
AHMAD: You see, right there--
that was just like Big Mama.
:08:29
Always knowin'
how to set things right.
:08:32
I used to think we had
a special connection...
:08:35
Iike we shared an inside joke
no one else was in on.
:08:39
Then I found out she had the
same connection with all of us.
:08:43
She was the rock
of the Joseph family...
:08:46
the one that held us
all together.
:08:48
the one that held us
all together.
:08:48
Reverend, that sure was
a good sermon today.
:08:50
AHMAD:
One reason we were so tight...
:08:52
is 'cause we always had
Sunday dinners at Big Mama's.
:08:55
That were a tradition
started down in Mississippi...
:08:58
when old folks met
at church to talk smack...
:09:01
and chow down
on some good old soul food.
:09:03
Big Mama kept the tradition...
:09:05
when she and Granddaddy
moved to Chicago.
:09:10
Holidays, of course,
were bigger.
:09:11
More folks, more eats,
more souls...
:09:14
more soul food.
:09:18
People would be rolling in
from all over.
:09:21
Like Uncle Remus, always hittin'
folks up 'cause he was broke.
:09:27
Before Granddaddy died,
he owned a barber shop...
:09:29
corner store, and a Laundromat.
:09:32
Not bad for a black man
in those days.
:09:34
Rumor has it Mama Joe's got
a big stash of loot hidden away.
:09:39
Mama says that's a myth.
:09:43
We used to always have
eating contests...
:09:46
which the Reverend
would always win.
:09:49
He'd split after he busted slops
with my mom and aunties.
:09:53
I can still see my dad...
:09:55
Iookin' like he wanted to break
Reverend Williams' neck.