Can we take a moment to acknowledge the brilliance of R. Kelly? This must seem entirely out of left field, but trust me. After watching parts his magnum opus, "Trapped in the Closet," there is no doubt in my mind that Kelly is the best narrator ever. ... Well, at least the best berretta−toting, falsetto−singing narrator to ever find an adulterous midget in his kitchen cabinet.
Watching Kelly's performance reminded me of all the other rappers who pursued acting careers. While musicians of other genres occasionally cross over into acting — Frank "Ol' Blue Eyes" Sinatra or Justin "Dick in a Box" Timberlake come to mind — it is the hip−hop genre that attracts the most crossover artists. Just this week, RZA was cast in Quentin Tarantino's upcoming film "DjangoUnchained."
There's an expression that goes, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." I'm fairly certain that no rapper has ever heard this phrase. If they had, we wouldn't end up with albums like Lil Wayne's attempt at punk rock, "Rebirth" (2010). Wayne once proclaimed himself to be "the s−−t" and all other rappers as merely "poop stains." Sorry Weezy, your album was plain s−−t, and no amount of Lysol is going to clean up that stank.
Now, though this column's name sounds like a cooking show hosted by Paula Deen, it's a movie column, and at the end of the day, movies are my trade. So don't expect me to dig too deep into the rap world — I'm just looking at its influence on Hollywood.
A lot of this started in 1991. It was a frigid year for movies: Ice−T and Ice Cube appeared in "New Jack City" (1991) and "Boyz N the Hood" (1991), respectively. Ice Cube's role as Darin "Doughboy" Baker was an extension of his rap persona — a guy trying to survive in the hood — whereas Ice−T's portrayal of a cop directly contradicted his rapper tendencies. In fact, Ice−T wanted to be cast as the drug lord, played instead by Wesley Snipes. Either way, both "New Jack City" and "Boyz N the Hood" address the same topics and ideas with rap music: Acting was merely a change in style, not in substance.
These two rappers used gritty acting roles to supplement their thuggish personas, and this method has essentially become the standard rapper−cum−acting career path. Think of Ludacris' roles in "2 Fast 2 Furious" (2003) and "Crash" (2004) — in both films, his characters engage in unlawful conduct.
Alternatively, rappers use movies to retell their beginnings as fledgling rappers. Think of Eminem's sole lead−acting role. "8 Mile" (2002) can be seen in two ways: either as an extension of one of his songs that recounts his start in Detroit, or as a 90−minute music video prelude to his Oscar−winning song, "Lose Yourself."
50 Cent made a similar Hollywood debut in "Get Rich or Die Tryin'" (2005). Since then, he's made more unsuccessful forays into Hollywood with "Home of the Brave" (2006) and "Righteous Kill" (2008). But there might be hope for him. His role in "All Things Fall Apart" (2011) bucks the tough−guy trend. In the film, 50 Cent plays a football player with a crippling disease that slowly eats away at his body. To prepare for the role, he lost over 50 pounds! Maybe he should've drunk more Vitamin Water…
Given these examples, it's safe to say that most rappers are incapable of acting in front of a film. André 3000 once said that many rappers move to acting because hip−hop is ruled by the youth. As rappers get older, he argues, they obsolesce. If that's the case, he'd better get working — I can't imagine all the "Hey Ya" dividends can make up for the box−office failure that was "Semi−Pro" (2008).
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