Hit & Miss: Rappers Turned Actors

Andrew Hickey profiles rappers that made a successful transition to Hollywood and those who didn’t quite hit the mark

Words Andrew Hickey

SCROLL THROUGH to see the hits and misses of rappers turned actors.

HIT // WILL SMITH Big Willie, as his friends call him, is the prototype for which every wannabe rapper-turned-actor has patterned themselves on. While his work on the Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air is beloved it wasn’t a huge stretch as far as his acting skills. The goofy boy-next-door charm that he exuded in his music was a natural extension of his TV character. It was in weighty flicks like Six Degrees Of Separation and Ali that he had a chance to test himself. He proved his mettle and was able to translate his engaging presence into more substantial work. We know we would trust him to save the world if the aliens ever come.

MISS // JA RULE Jeffrey Atkins is like the little engine that could. Just as he had delusions of being the new Tupac in the rap world his ambitions also extended to acting. He starred alongside fellow personality vacuum Pras (of the Fugees) and British tough nut Jason Statham in 'Turn It Up'. He followed this magnum opus with a brief appearance in 'The Fast & The Furious'. His most challenging role to date, it reportedly required him to use a booster seat in order to appear taller and more menacing than he is. After learning some tools of the trade from Steven Seagal he is still keeping the flame burning, having most recently starred in epics like 'Wrong Side Of Town' with pro wrestlers Dave Batista and Rob Van Dam.

HIT // TUPAC Part philosopher part gangsta, Tupac Shakur was destined for the screen. As a walking contradiction he had the presence and range that was evident in troubled actors like James Dean. While his pure acting skills were not on the same level ‘Pac is as good as it gets when it comes to rappers-turned-actors. Having already spent time on the stage his talents were first brought to the screen in ‘Juice’. Sadly as the gangsta persona began to dominate his music the roles he was offered became increasingly one-dimensional. Even so he managed to make the most of his screen time, even in duds like 1996’s ‘Bullet’. His acting career is a case of what could have been.

MISS // COMMON Following the lead of Mos Def, Common has attempted to parlay his sensitive conscious rapper persona to the big screen. While it is evident that he does at least try, his acting performances have done little to distinguish him from just being a background player. Things got off to a bad start with his role (as himself) in the piss weak hood romance ‘Brown Sugar’. Remaining typecast as a bookish preacher/poet type he was able to explore a darker side in ‘Smokin’ Aces’ and attempt comedy in ‘Date Night’ as a buffoonish criminal. Apparently his acting was notable enough to get him a recurring role as a freed slave in the series ‘Hell On Wheels’.

HIT // KID N PLAY Thanks to their openly wholesome personas and dated appearance this dynamic duo has become the butt of many jokes. Unfairly lumped in with the cornball likes of Vanilla Ice, the tag team of Kid N Play succeeded by essentially playing themselves. While they arguably never produced a classic project on the music front, their ‘House Party’ series, well the first two films at least, still remain entertaining time capsules. They managed to dance and rap their way into a relatively short-lived but impactful career, which included a terrible Saturday morning cartoon. The fact that Kid was able to balance these skills while rocking his gravity-defying high top fade is even more impressive. Proving that the game isn’t fair people like Drake have successful careers while these two disappeared into obscurity.

MISS // MASTER P As the dirty south’s equivalent of Diddy, although he was there first, Master P has had his hand in every venture possible. His No Limit empire included clothing, communications and sports management. When he wasn’t a basketball player for the Charlotte Hornets and Toronto Raptors, he attempted to cash-in on the straight-to-video hood movie crazy of the 90s. Playing to the most base level stereotype,s he produced and starred in the comedic crime caper ‘I Got The Hook Up’, the ghetto gangsta flick ‘I’m Bout It’ and a host of others. These films allowed him to display his charm and charisma, which is equivalent to a sponge.

HIT // MOS DEF/YASIIN BEY This crazy cat can’t seem to make his mind up on what he wants to be. Unlike his counterparts Mos actually began his career as an actor before he was a rapper. You could assume that unfulfilling roles in made-for-TV movies and shows like the short-lived ‘Cosby Mysteries’ drove him to music. After getting his freak on with some eclectic recorded efforts he returned to acting. He has been successfully letting his music fans down ever since with his sporadic releases. Just like his music work Mos has proven his ability to adapt and poke fun at himself whether he’s playing a suburban simpleton in ‘Be Kind Rewind’ or a conflicted preacher in ‘Dexter’.

MISS // CAM’RON Having an entertaining personality on record and translating that to the screen are two different things. This is a lesson that both Cam’ron and his fans learned the hard way. After toiling away for a few years, Cam’s signing with Roc-A-Fella Records allowed him to expose the world to his twisted hood tales and his acting ‘talents’. After appearing in ‘Paid In Full’, Cam unleashed his filmic classic ‘Killa Season’. Once DVD becomes a completely obsolete format the future of many hip hop-related films could be straight-to-YouTube. With its below sub-par production values and high school calibre acting, ‘Killa Season’ is perfect for watching on a computer screen.

HIT // METHOD MAN Clearly a student of the Kid N Play acting school, Methical has kept it real when it comes to his acting forays. Already establishing himself as a weed smoking, shit talking caricature, Method Man’s persona was almost tailor-made for the screen. Best known for his work in the Oscar nominated How High he also brought his herb-infused flavour to the overly symbolic gangster flick ‘Belly’. He stole the show as flamboyant drug dealer Father Sha while also delivering an injection of realness in a range of genres, from introspective indie (‘Garden State’) to brain-dead comedy (‘Soul Plane’, ‘Scary Movie 3’).

MISS // 50 CENT 50 Cent’s acting ventures prove that an eventful personal history doesn’t make for compelling viewing. Basically playing the same character every time with different names, aka Nicolas Cage syndrome, he first brought his skills to the screen with the semi-autobiographical Get Rich Or Die Tryin’. His mush-mouthed delivery and wooden on-screen persona could not keep up with the epic grandure the film was attempting to create. 50 Cent has likened himself to the Ferrari F-50 and when it comes to acting he only knows one setting, stereotypical. While he can at times be charismatic, that still doesn’t make up for his acting sins, which include all 90 minutes of ‘Before I Self Destruct’.

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The rapper-turned-actor is an exotic creature. When not in its natural habitat of the recording studio it can be found lingering around the set of typically low budget ‘films’, for lack of a better word. The only instance in which they are able to overcome this straight-to-DVD hell is through playing a token role in a big budget epic.

The phenomenon began, like most epidemics, innocently enough. In its formative days hip-hop, believe it or not, had a unique mysterious aura. Little was known about it and it proved to be fertile terrain for filmmakers to explore, resulting in undisputed classics such as Style Wars and Wildstyle. Things started to pick up steam however when Def Jam became the first powerhouse rap label and decided to wield its power by producing a charming little flick called Krush Groove. Featuring a mostly-rapper cast including Run-DMC and the Beastie Boys, it succeeded because its pseudo documentary style didn’t demand much real acting. This opened the door for hip hop-oriented films like House Party and helped give birth to the ‘hood movie’, a genre that includes legit efforts like Boyz N Tha Hood but mostly steaming garbage being passed off as films.

“Movies have killed more rap careers than bullets,” Chris Rock said in a recent radio interview. The wiry comedian went on to raise a bigger point. If you have any aspirations of being a successful rapper naturally you would need to dedicate a large portion of your time to developing your craft, as pointed out by the efforts of rapping celebrities, featured in last week’s Hit & Miss. The same applies to acting. As much as Ludacris and his counterparts probably stand in the mirror and practice their scowl, something tells me their acting development doesn’t go beyond that. Back in 2002 Samuel L. Jackson, a man who’s never met a film script he didn’t like, made himself the most prominent opponent of rapper thespians. ”It’s not my job to lend credibility to so-and-so rapper who’s just coming into the business,” the Go The Fuck To Sleep narrator exclaimed. Mr. Snakes On A Plane has a reason to gripe, having worked with seemingly every rapper-turned-actor including Ice Cube (xXx: State of the Union), Queen Latifah (Sphere) and LL Cool J (Deep Blue Sea).

To play devil’s advocate a bulk of these roles are specially created and wouldn’t benefit the career of a legit actor. It is the entertainment industry after all and these rappers deserve their chance to half-arse themselves through as many ventures as they want. It may actually be in the U.S. Constitution. As has been proven rapper appearances in movies only work in small doses, except in the case of Cool As Ice, which is a work of art. MC Eiht played his role of a gangbanger to perfection in Menace II Society because he was playing himself. For every Eminem in 8 Mile there is Silkk The Shocker in 1999’s Corrupt. Here we look at those acting rappers that have succeeded and those that failed. Miss anybody? Let us know!