Rapper/Actors (1 Viewer)

[JohnnyHa]

How do you guys feel about all the rappers becoming actors? I remember seeing Chingy and Lil Jon in Scary Movie 4, and thinking they were really funny. Think the trend will continue?

 

[TravisR]

Some rappers can act. Unfortunately, it seems like every rapper thinks that ability to rap translates into ability to act. The biggest thing is that they have to stick to what they can do.

In my mind, rappers should primarily stick to comedic stuff. That being said, I think Eminem is great in 8 Mile. People can say that he's only playing himself but go play yourself in a movie and see how well you do. It probably won't come off as good as Eminem. And Ludacris did OK in Crash, Ice Cube is good in Three Kings and Boyz N The Hood and Andre 3000 had a small part in an episode of The Shield. I just don't see many other rappers being able to make the jump to drama.

 

[Carl Miller]

It's a pretty old trend..Ice Cube in Boyz in The Hood, Tupac was in a couple of movies a pretty long time ago. Juice was one of them. Both date back to 1991 or 1992.

I think they end up pretty much type casted, with a few exceptions and I personally don't take too many of them seriously as dramatic actors because of the roles they take on.

I'd kind of like to see Ice Cube in more dramatic roles to see what he can do because I think he's been very good in quite a few movie roles.
Mos Def was excellent in 16 Blocks, and he's another I'd like to see more of.

 

[Aaron Silverman]

IMO Mos Def has a lot more acting talent than musical talent.

Music artists getting into acting is nothing new -- just be thankful that the reverse trend, which was big in the '60s and '70s, is long gone. We still have William Shatner to remind us of that!

 

[Craig S]

Mos Def has done some good work. He was superb in a small role in the Kevin Bacon vehicle The Woodsman. OTOH, casting him in Hitchhiker's Guide was an interesting choice, but in the end it didn't work. He didn't have the right kind of energy to play Ford Prefect.

I've enjoyed Ice Cube & Ice T in many of their projects.

I will give Eminem props for 8 Mile. He more than held his own.

Queen Latifah is always fun to watch - I just wish she chose better films. Her Oscar nomination for Chicago was well-deserved.

Any conversation about rappers acting has to include Will Smith, who is arguably the biggest movie star today. He has the natural screen presence of all the top stars. Word is he shows off some serious acting chops as well in his upcoming film The Pursuit Of Happyness.

On the other end of the spectrum is Snoop. He can be funny in small doses, but he's always just Snoop. He's doomed to doing cameos, I'm afraid.

 

[Will_B]

I don't mind, because I wouldn't know which actor was a rap artist. CraigS, I agree about Mos Def in HHGG. So there are problems when the casting is just a publicity stunt. Acting talent should trump celebrity status.

 

[Don Giro]

Anyone else find it interesting that rapper Ice-T achieved a great deal of notoriety for his track "Cop Killer," and he mostly plays cops as an actor?

 

[Chad Erickson]

Mos Def was also very, very good in Something that Lord Made on HBO.