In honor of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Incorporated Founders Day we spotlight five celebrities you might or might not have known were members of the organization.
Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Incorporated is celebrating 113 years of achievement. Kappa Alpha Psi was the fraternity to be incorporated in the United States. In honor of Founder’s Day here is a list of five notable Nupes.
Cedric the Entertainer
Did you know that one of the Original Kings of Comedy was a Nupe? Cedric Kyles better known by his stage name Cedric the Entertainer is a stand-up comedian, actor, and television host.
The Missouri native has had a successful career in entertainment for over 30 years. Starting as a stand-up comedian, Kyles eventually moved into acting during the mid-1990s. His first role was The Cowardly Lion in the 1995 Apollo Theater revival of The Wiz. His career began to take off when he joined The Steve Harvey Show, along with friend and fellow comedian, Steve Harvey.
As his acting career continued to grow Kyles continued to perform stand-up comedy. In 2000, he headlined the Kings of Comedy Tour alongside Steve Harvey, D.L. Hughley, and the late Bernie Mac. The tour was later turned into a film, The Original Kings of Comedy, directed and produced by Spike Lee.
Kyles has starred in several films including, Johnson Family Vacation, the Barbershop and Madagascar franchises, and Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins alongside Martin Lawrence. He has also had roles on several popular television shows including Power, The Soul Man, The Last O.G, The Proud Family, and its reboot The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder.He currently plays Calvin Butler on the CBS series, The Neighborhood.
In 2018, the city of St. Louis honored Kyles by renaming the street in front of the Kappa Alpha Psi Alumni House, Cedric the Entertainer Way.
Kyles crossed the Mu Zeta chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi during his time at Southeast Missouri State University.
John Singleton
John Singleton was a director, screenwriter, and producer best known for his film Boyz n the Hood. He was considered one of the most successful directors in Black cinema.
Singleton was a native of Los Angeles, California. In an interview with DIRT Magazine in the early 90s, Singleton mentioned that comic books, video games, and movies were his buffer from all of the drugs and partying that surrounded his environment. Singleton graduated from the University of Southern California in 1990.
Just a year later, Singleton made his film debut with Boyz n the Hood a coming-of-age drama about three childhood friends growing up in South Central LA. The film starred Ice Cube, Cuba Gooding Jr. Morris Chestnut, Nia Long, and many others. The film earned him Academy Award nominations for Best Original Screenplay and Best Director. He became the youngest person ever nominated for Best Director and the first Black person to be nominated for the award.
Two years later Singleton wrote and directed the romantic drama, Poetic Justice starring Janet Jackson and the late Tupac Shakur. Poetic Justice became a cult classic within the Black community and is considered one of his most enduring films. Singleton has written and directed several films including Higher Learning, Rosewood, Shaft, Hustle and Flow, Four Brothers, 2 Fast 2 Furious, and BET’s favorite movie Baby Boy (IYKYK).
Years later Singleton would transition from film to television. He directed episodes of the Fox drama Empire, American Crime Story, and Rebel on BET. In 2017, Singleton co-created and executively produced the FX crime-drama series, Snowfall. Snowfall starring Damson Idris, tells the story of how the crack epidemic affected Black communities during the 1980s.
Many of Singleton’s projects examined the themes of Black masculinity, violence, racism, ethnicity, and trauma. Singleton was also known for frequently casting rappers and musicians in his films such as Ice Cube, Snoop Dogg, Ludacris, Janet Jackson, and Andre 3000.
Sadly, Singleton passed away from a stroke in 2019. His legacy as one of the greatest directors of Black cinema continues to live on.
Singleton was a Spring 87 initiate of the Beta Omega chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi.
Lance Gross
Lance Gross is everyone’s favorite pretty boy (you see what we did there). But before he became a member of Kappa Alpha Psi, he shimmied his way into our hearts as Calvin on Tyler Perry’s House of Payne.
Gross’s journey to the entertainment industry began during his time at Howard University. He earned himself a full ride on a track and field scholarship and that is where he realized that he wanted a career in acting. Before he began acting Gross worked as a fit model, modeling for brands such as Sean John.
After graduating Gross moved to LA to pursue his acting career full time. While living in LA Gross trained at the Ivanna Chubbuck Studio and began taking acting classes taught by actress, Tasha Smith. One day Smith invited Tyler Perry to sit in on a class and the rest was history.
Gross played Calvin on House of Payne for 10 seasons and reprised his role in the show’s recent reboot.
He has starred in several other film and television projects such as Our Family Wedding, Meet the Browns, Star, Crisis, and Our Kind of People.
Gross joined the San Fernando-San Clarita Alumni chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi in 2021.
Robert Johnson
Robert “Bob” Johnson is an entrepreneur, media magnate, executive, philanthropist, and investor. He is best known for being the co-founder of Black Entertainment Television (BET).
Johnson grew up in Hickory, Mississippi, he and his family later moved to Freeport, Illinois. He graduated from the University of Illinois in 1968 with a degree in social studies. Then in 1972 graduated with a master’s degree in public affairs from the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University.
After graduating from Princeton, Johnson moved to Washington D.C this is where he was introduced the television industry. He served as the public affairs director for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. He also became the director of communications for the Washington D.C. office of the National Urban League.
In 1979, Johnson left his job at the National Cable and Television Association (NCTA) to create BET, the first cable television network geared towards Black people. The network officially launched in 1980 and became a full-fledged cable channel in 1983.
In 1991, BET was the first Black-controlled company listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Johnson sold BET to Viacom in 2001 for $3 billion, he earned over $1 million from the sale. This made him the first Black billionaire. Johnson remained CEO of BET until 2006.
After leaving BET, Johnson founded The RLJ Companies, a holding company with a diverse portfolio including real estate investments, asset management, and sports and entertainment.
He became the first Black majority club owner of a major American sports league team when he purchased the Charlotte Bobcats in 2002. In 2014, he partnered with AMC Networks to launch his streaming service, the Urban Movie Channel.
Johnson crossed the Beta chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi during his time at the University of Illinois.
Colin Kaepernick
If there is anywho who upholds the standards of what a Kappa man is it’s Colin Kaepernick. The free-agent quarterback has used his platform to speak out against racial injustice.
Kaepernick began playing sports when he was eight years old. Growing up he played three sports, basketball, football, and baseball. While in high school Kaepernick received most of his sports accolades as a baseball pitcher. Although he excelled in that position, he wanted to play college football.
Despite his talent as a football player Kaepernick only received one scholarship offer to play football from the University of Nevada Reno. In 2009, he entered the Major League Baseball Draft and was selected in the 43rd round by the Chicago Cubs. He decided to continue playing college football and not sign with the Cubs. At the end of his collegiate career, Kaepernick had 10,098 passing yards, 82 passing touchdowns, 24 interceptions, 4,112 rushing yards, and 59 touchdowns. He entered the NFL Draft in 2011.
Kaepernick joined the San Francisco 49ers in 2011 as the 36th overall draft pick. He played with the 49ers for six seasons. In 2016, Kaepernick began kneeling during the national anthem as a way to protest police brutality and racial inequality. Kaepernick parted ways with the 49ers in 2016, and since then has not been signed to another team.
Despite the backlash he received from his protests Kaepernick has continued to be a civil rights activist and speak out against racial injustice. In 2016, Kaepernick and his longtime girlfriend Nessa founded the “Know Your Rights Camp”, an organization that offers free seminars to disadvantaged youths to teach them self-empowerment, American history, and legal rights.
Kaepernick crossed the Xi Phi chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi during his time at the University of Nevada Reno.