DeRay Davis

CTL-E-5718 · Person · other · 1982–present

VERIFIED evidence grade — build store (JSON graph)

Combined Graph record U-06993 · provenance: build store (JSON graph), record CTL-E-5718.

DeRay Davis, born Antoine DeRay Davis on February 26, 1982, in Chicago, Illinois, is an American stand-up comedian and actor from the city's South Side. He built his act in Chicago clubs, broke through at Laffapalooza, and won Comedy Central's Laugh Riots, going on to Def Comedy Jam, ComicView, Comedy Central Presents, Showtime's Power Play, and the 2017 Netflix special How to Act Black. On screen he is best known as Ray “the Hustle Guy” in Barbershop (2002) and its sequels Barbershop 2 and The Next Cut, with further roles in 21 Jump Street and Semi-Pro and a recurring turn as Peaches on FX's Snowfall. Davis hosted the VH1 revival of Hip Hop Squares and the GSN game show Mind of a Man, is a regular on MTV's Wild 'n Out, and performed the skit voice work on Kanye West's albums The College Dropout and Late Registration. He hosts the “Mo Better Mondays” (Monderays) night at the Hollywood Improv.

The record

• Also known as: Antoine DeRay Davis

Notes

Staged 2026-10-16 under CTL-GOV-006 (Fill 500 Lists Wave 4, Tier 1 — 747 Program). Gate A (2026-10-16): no DeRay Davis entity in the live graph at 3,409 entities (exact/normalized/alias + token containment); ID CTL-E-5718 free. Supply: 747 Supply Ledger, Fill 500 Comedians gap #24 — an actual comedian, one of the bucket's names that matches its label. Vital status: LIVING — verified by 2026 touring coverage (WCBE) and no death report in any source consulted. STATISTICS (sourced, dated): Netflix special How to Act Black released November 2017; Barbershop film debut 2002 — Wikipedia, accessed 2026-10-16. MEDIA: photo HELD (candidate named in the packet); chart FILLED; video HELD; audio HELD (his specials are network/streamer material; no CTL-cleared audio located). The collaborated_with edge to Kanye West (CTL-E-0057) rests on the documented skit voice work on two albums, not on namesake proximity. Blocked edges documented in the packet: the Barbershop films (no Work entities in the graph for them). MEDIA LAYER (staged 2026-10-16; full per-asset PHOTO-001 records + embed specs in the packet's staged JSON, Drive packet folder): map = N/A (Persons receive no maps (media-layer rule carried from the CULTGRAPH packets).) | visual_assets = HELD: No Commons file page could be read at file-page level in this pass, so the slot is HELD rather than cleared on | chart = FILLED (Built only from this record's own sourced, dated facts; data table printed in the packet.) | video = HELD (No CTL Short for this subject — checked against the CTL Shorts Link Map catalog (2026-10-15) by full name and ) | audio = HELD (No matching-entity audio with a verified rights basis located in this pass. Davis's specials and album skits a)

Relationships

• Kanye West — collaborated with
  Davis performed the skit voice work on Kanye West's albums The College Dropout (2004) and Late Registration (2005).

Sources

• Wikipedia, “DeRay Davis” — born Antoine DeRay Davis, February 26, 1982, Chicago (South Side); Laffapalooza breakthrough; Laugh Riots winner; Def Comedy Jam, ComicView, Comedy Central Presents, Power Play; How to Act Black (Netflix, November 2017); Barbershop (2002), Barbershop 2, The Next Cut; 21 Jump Street; Semi-Pro; Snowfall (Peaches); Hip Hop Squares and Mind of a Man hosting; Wild 'n Out; skit voice work on West's The College Dropout and Late Registration; Hollywood Improv Mondays — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DeRay_Davis (build store)
• All American Speakers, DeRay Davis profile — Chicago stand-up origins and career corroboration, accessed 2026-10-16 (build store)
• WCBE (NPR affiliate) event coverage — Davis touring and performing in 2026; vital-status evidence, accessed 2026-10-16 (build store)

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Record CTL-E-5718 · Combined Graph record U-06993 · CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph · 3 sources · 1 mapped relationship.
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Researched and maintained by the CultureTechLens research program · CultureTechLens Combined Graph, Release 2026-11-04. Corrections are public: the corrections log.

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