When Ru says it gets better, believe him. He worked from the bottom, he climbed to the top from his early days in New York. He talks about 1988 being a dark year for him and makes no bones about it, he was sleeping on friends' couches, battling addiction, losing friends to the AIDS crisis. He's a true inspiration about fighting for your dreams.
@Great Lakes You're preaching sex. But you yourself said whatever they do is no one's business so why make it your personal business to try to make it something horrible? Why does it bother you so much when it has no effect in YOUR life.
You gotta remember Ru was working in NYC in the village on the lower east side of Manhattan. These things were more or less common practice more so in the eighties and especially in the village. I grew up on the lower east side of Manhattan so I know first hand. After 8:00 pm u would see a drag Queen or four and it wasn’t weird or crazy. My mother actually used to party at the club that RuPaul used to dance in called the Pyramid. It was round that time period too. The mid to late eighties. I always heard my mother and her friends talking about it and watched them get ready on the weekends to go clubbing.
The struggle was real back then. There was no Divine's Drag Race; she had already passed by this time. RuPaul changed the game, but here she is just another girl of the world with dreams for something better, trying to make ends meet. I have so much respect for this legendary mother.
+alfred arroyo I can handle the crown of a King....although, as a female, it may be a little big....I do thank you for enjoying my smackdown though..😜🤘
I don’t know why but seeing Rupaul lip syncing to the radio in the convenience store in the middle of the night looking rough but sounding so sweet and soft just makes me cry.
He looks so lost and alone in this clip, we've all been there those early morning hours leaving a club feeling awful, every emotion amplified. He looks more happy and vibrant now in 2021 than he did there. Good job Ru for becoming a healthier happier person x
@@NarcFreedom I BEG of you to do an ounce of research before you try to criticize someone about shit you know nothing about. He didn’t ”invest in fracking”. His husband inherited a ranch, where companies are fracking for oil. Legally majority of landowners in the state don’t have the rights to minerals under the land they own. So oil companies can frack on their land without permission, and there’s not much Rupaul or his husband can do about it. The least the companies can, and will do, is pay the landowners for the trouble.
this is the type of things the young drag race fans need to see. Theres so much to rupaul than what's on the show.. He went all of this hard life and created a safe place for drag queens to work and thrive. Much respect to mother.
Really sad, actually. :( Ru was complaining how he let men touch him so he can pay his bills- not because he wanted to be touched. "It doesn't matter now," is a coping mechanism- to no longer think about the things that hurt you and act like it doesn't. I'm glad Ru seems much happier, stronger, and more secure now.
I think bc it's so natural, candid. It's a slice of real life. You're observing moments through someone else's eyes, so I think that's why these home videos can feel so endearing and familiar. It feels like you're there too, at times. It also has a lot to do with Nelson, because he's so present when he films. He's not doing it for the views, the clicks, he's doing it to show you what his life was like and all the interesting people in it.. and that is (what I think) makes these so special
The shops workers smile. I love how genuinely friendly and curious people were back then. Not afraid of eye contact and interactions with strangers. A society with out the extreme social anxiety we show today even in social settings. Sometimes I get mad when strangers talk to me.
That's true. I grew up in a time of transition from w/o the internet mainstream, and the beginning of it. Most people were not at a school stop waiting for the bus, looking on their phones. So! Wow is it so weird for me to see it , in a way. I feel like, if you had social anxiety in those days, it was rough. But social anxiety in any day is hard. I do feel that people talked more to each other in those days tho.
Ain’t NO WAY ur saying this under a clip that shows how hard queer people had it in the 80s. People were not all filled with innocent friendly curiosity, they hate crimes anyone visibly queer in the streets and murdered them.
I do too! Whatever Ru wears, she makes it look gorgeous. Ru is a wholesome queen that came from rags to riches. This video makes me appreciate her even more!
@@ioanabbb5563 because unfortunately there's a lot of hateful people in the world. I do agree it should be unnecessary, but not all people are accepting or welcoming.
Nelson video taped everything. It's so funny seeing people react to him with his camera. It was probably really rare to see someone walking around videoing normal stuff.
2:08 for some reason this guy made me really smile. I think it’s the sentimentality of the fact that back then, seeing someone recording something as they go about their life was rare.
Going around filming in 1988 was such a different experience, look how excited that guy was at 2:06. Now every asshole has a smart phone and nobody cares anymore.
He knows them. That part was shot in the very large korean market directly across the street from the Pyramid and next-door to King Tut's Wa Wa hut. These guys would been in that market on a regular basis.
This is amazing one of the queens that really changed the game. The fact that so many queens can make thousands now for doing drag is amazing. What a lot kids don’t know is that drag queens would make like $50 - $75 a night just so they could get food in their mouth. Rupaul is a legend for the empire he has built.
I actually kinda love Rus look here. Yeah, its not polished and that hairline is so clockable. BUT even after the show, she's givng good face, she's giving 80s punk-club New York circuit. Tall and slender and even withoit polished makeup she looks 80s femme. Makeup in the 80s had a totally different aesthetic to now. Harsher colors and blush lines (even for bio women). Absolutely loving this glimpse back into 80s NYC, seeing the actual fashions and hair and makeup, how gritty NYC was... And you can see how modern films have tried and sometimes succeeded to capture this essence in making films set in the 80s,
Everybody starts somewhere. Of course he's going to look completely different today than he did practically 30 years ago. Life isn't always a bed of roses. I don't mind Ru's appearance here; surely, it's gritty but it was also a reflection of the times he lived in. Although, it is sad to hear him talk about it, I actually appreciate seeing clips such as these because it's another inspirational story of how the struggles people face can really pay off. He specifically recalled the age of 28 as being one of the most darkest moments of his life. Having been born in 1960, these are some of the nightmarish events in 1988. The progress and differences he's made are remarkable and he has so earned the amounts of success. Love you, Ru! Fierce, fierce, fierce.
freshprincess I could not have said it better .. Thankyou for having a head on your shoulders :)) We proud of our Mamma Ru. She made it through the worst years to be in the club scene .. it's seriously quite remarkable. With regards to her "get up" He always said he used to do "street walkers" .. the working girl tellin it like it is & all that. He grew up in all of this like you say, so I totally get what you're saying. So well written. Thankyou :))
Omg I had never in my life till this very day, seen Rupaul looking soooooo busted ever. Like so 1988 grimey New York City realness lol. Literally to the point that he’s talking about how he basically let folks touch him for money damn! The rent is due and what he supposed to do? It makes you realize how so many people that we admire literally have to claw their way to the top. That he never gave up and look at him today. And I know it wasn’t easy at all. This video shows the struggle for real! Thanks for sharing! When I feel like giving up I’ll just watch this video!😄
Wow. Just wow Ru. Look at him. He really did earn his place at the table. Even through that suffering and addiction you can still see that Ru that was love in there.
Love seeing Rupaul break into lip sync while Crystal Gayle's "Don't it make my Brown Eye's Blue?" is playing in the store. Drag queens have such a deep respect for dance and music that it makes you love them even more!
In the 80's everyone was a Hot Mess ..some made it thru and others just fell by the wayside. Applause too you Ru and all you've accomplished and more to come your way...
Ru Paul, totally 80s. Glad He made it out of the 80s, when so many didn't. Beautiful back then and now. What an Icon. The way He speaks then, sounds no different from today, very poised and proper. He Owns it. I Love Ru.
2:10 was just so beautiful, i wonder were he is now. another times, another days.. where people would greet you with a legitimate warm smile on their faces. i really felt it. to think he might be gone by now..
I have so much respect for the older gays. They *really* had it rough and helped pave the way for us younger gens to have it easier. Specially Ru. I remember watching her on this old show called “The Truth About Jane”. Ru was the mothers best friend and helped her come to accept her daughters sexuality. Means a lot.
My heart goes to baby Ru. Working so hard, trying to numb themself and just surviving. But what made them a star is through all that haze they kept reaching, connecting and planning.
VioletDiva Yass , late 80's .. Cocain was going out of fashion, heroin & new designer drugs were in .. made for a big mess in the 90' s ... I can tell ya .. I don't care if Ru was on anything, it's not like he's ever hidden the fact. The thing to focus on he his RISE!!! Clean & epic & a business mogul. I love Ru ru so much Aaaahh! I can't stand it! ❤️️❤️️❤️️❤️️🙏🙌
I always come back to it and watch it when I'm on hard times. It's inspirational to know what Ru went through and to see where's he at. And it pains me to see these New fans try to tear him down now.
watching this gives me such a weird feeling. it's like you can oddly compare it to watching your mother get ready for work and stopping by the corner store to get snacks to eat and a drink before you get dropped off at another relative's house to be taken care of for the day.
Nelson was a cousin of mine I never got to meet he died when I was literally a baby I only got to grow up watching Home Videos and hearing about him now he's famous again and I try to keep his memory alive as much as I can
I love Ru. These experiences just encourage me to overcome difficulties in my life right now. If you have a dream and work for it, the dream will come true.
Rupaul is such an inspiration to me. After watching this video and seeing the hard times he had, he inspires me even more. It just goes to show that if you are strong and keep trying, you could go from the street to being an Emmy award winning trailblazer. I have never heard RuPaul say he had these hard times either. He focuses on now. That makes me respect him even more.
He has openly talked about addiction and poverty a lot in the past. It’s just that he’s had 40 years to process it so nowadays he just listens to the next generation talk about their trauma and advises them.
I feel like young/new Drag Race fans should watch this. I feel like many of them don't really know Ru's history/struggles. Ru really is a self-made queen who deserves to enjoy his success and privacy.
the part from 1:29 to 1:40 is such a beautiful camera sequence. nelson sullivan really is an amazing cinematographer, even for a video as simple as this one
Someone who struggled so much like RuPaul did then using her hard-earned success to pave the way for people just like her so they don’t have to suffer the same hurt she did. Truly inspirational.
jehouse61 same here! I wonder if we knew each other back then. He would go go on a low box because he is so tall. Ha. I would chat with him at the bar when he would take breaks.
These videos documentaries Nelson created are true masterpieces of history and art. I wonder if RuPaul has sat down and watched all the old videos of her or if she knows of her old friend Nelson’s channel.
It always amazes me seeing Ru back then and now. ALWAYS a lady. Graceful, poise, and a queen. Even thru struggle RU made way not just for himself but all of those who struggled and still struggle with who they are as well. He is truly a devine diva and quintessential queen. What a beauty to the world and a gift.
You know, I think she would.. Ru has this uncanny ability to believe in herself so much, she wasn't gonna stop until she made it to the top. So so much respect to her 💗 mother of all mothers !
I actually kinda like this Ru more. Unadulterated and entirely unassuming. Just being himself, walking down the streets of New York crossdressing in 1988 and expecting the world to accept him. There's something so battered yet so naive, I adore it.
I feel like ru when reviewing the casting (or shown the final selection) for each season, finds something in each girl that's in him. Because really I think every girl as a trait of his own, especially the winners. Like this is an odd combination of Aja and Tyra and maybe a hint of Shangela.
I’ve always loved her, ever since I was 10 and saw her in The Brady Bunch movie and then on VH1 a year later. She is a bright beacon of the optimistic 90s and one of America’s national treasures. Ru… continue to slay.
In the mid to late eighties my mother and her two best friends used to party at the club that RuPaul danced in. It was called the Pyramid. I used to over hear them talking about it and watched them get ready to go clubbing when I was little.
This is so mesmerizing to watch. The truth, the boldness, the heart. Even though some controversy swung his way recently (fracking & stuff), I'm thankful for his effort and his platform. He's a visionary and still helps to push the art of other performers into the mainstream, a great work for our community.
Monique Heart: Naomi Smalls, Legs u are known for, however you should be known for toes, cause they're always hangin up. You know like in that 90's video Ru? When you were in the Bodega? Ru: Security!
When I 1st moved to Atlanta in the early 80's, I had no idea who rupaul was. My apt in midtown had her name carved out on one of the doors. I later found out it was once hee apt. I should have saved the door.lol
