These days going to the movies feels an awful lot like watching MTV: Mos Def and P. Diddy star in Monster's Ball, Snoop Dogg appears in Training Day, Bow Wow headlines Like Mike, Ja Rule is cast in The Fast and The Furious, L.L. Cool J in Rollerball, Busta Rhymes in Halloween: Resurrection—and the list goes on. Recently, Samuel L. Jackson sparked a controversy when he told Jay Leno that he would never appear in a film in which a rap star was the main attraction, calling the crossover of rappers to movie stars "an aberration" and saying, "There's some young actor sitting in New York or L.A. who's spent half his life learning how to act and sacrificing to learn his craft, but isn't going to get his opportunity… because of some actor who's been created."
Can rap stars also be legitimate actors, or are they pawns of producers and studios eager to cash in on their bankability? Maybe it's both.
Casting director Reno Logan recently finished casting the feature film Guns and Roses, an urban Western that stars Bobby Brown, Pras, and Li'l Kim. Logan explained, "We didn't set out to cast rappers; we just wanted people who we thought would do the best job."
Though he admitted that lesser-known actors were never considered for the role, Logan said the financial incentives of his casting choices were too sizeable to ignore. "If you find a person like Ice Cube, or Jay Z or Snoop, who have mass appeal on both coasts, and you cast them in a movie, even if no one has ever seen them on-screen, the studios really support it, because it's a bankable commodity, a well-known star, who will receive press and reach a target demographic of moviegoers and music buyers. Sometimes the soundtracks do better than the movie, so you're making double the money, you're covering all your bases. Basically, the more faces that are familiar, the better. You can take a film that people normally wouldn't even be interested in, and just because it has Ja Rule in it, they'll come see it. Recognizable names and faces represent money, so of course we want them in our films."
Tracy Christian, film agent to such musical giants as Busta Rhymes and Nelly, believes acting is simply a natural extension for most rappers.
"One of the errors in entertainment is, they look at rappers in a very marginalized way," said Christian. "First and foremost they are entertainers, more in line with someone like Frank Sinatra, Elvis, or Barbra Streisand. These [rappers] have the same kind of vision for themselves. They don't see their musical success as an opportunity to parlay an acting career, they see it as a part of themselves to begin with. Most of the affectation and the persona that you see in the music video is an acting performance like any other. Rap in particular is a lot different from other musical genres. When you listen to Bruce Springsteen, you really sense that he's a real guy and what you see onstage is who he is. Rap is very different. They are storytellers by definition."
Christian maintains that her clients aren't just falling into acting on a whim. Rhymes retains an acting coach he works with full time when he is not in the studio. Nelly has been actively studying film and directors and is learning how to analyze and breakdown scripts. Said Christian, "Part of my decision of who I'm going to represent is how willing the performer is to invest himself into the artistic end of acting. I'm not interested in people who have a hit album, and some studio plucks them up and places them in a movie where they essentially play themselves—and then a year later they're on VH-1 Where Are They Now? I don't want to have a client who is just limited to being cast in XXX as a pop icon. Busta is completely invested, just like any of my other clients who have graduated from Juilliard or Yale. He just has a different past."
Cube Roots
This week MGM pictures is releasing Barbershop, starring Ice Cube, Eve, Anthony Anderson, and Cedric the Entertainer. A film about a poor Chicago barbershop may seem like an unlikely vehicle for rap stars, but co-star Anderson, who has been a working actor since 1995, says it's his castmates who are getting the bad rap.
"I'm not going to lie, I do have issues with rappers becoming actors sometimes," said Anderson. "But I have bigger issues with the studios, because that's where the decision comes from. They equate box-office sales with album sales. The 10 million people who bought an album aren't necessarily going to be the same 10 million people who are going to come sit and watch a rap star in the theatre, but that's how the studio looks at it. It doesn't work like that. Just because someone became famous from rapping doesn't mean that he doesn't have aspirations of being something else."
Barbershop is Ice Cube's 20th film, and he is a classic example of someone who has successfully made the transition from music to film. Said Cube, "The beauty of film is, you could get your message across in a visual way, not just audio. I have fun doing music, but movies are more of a challenge for me." While casting director Logan maintains that most rappers don't step too far from the image they've established, Cube is increasingly broadening his range. Said Cube, "I just want to do a lot of good projects. When you see Ice Cube's name, it should be worth your time to check it out. So if there is a role that is able to show a little range, I'm going to jump at it. It's all about being involved with projects that you're going to be proud of."
While Cube is going back to his roots—he began working on the third installment of Friday in August—he said he's happy that it's finally getting easier to get involved in bigger movies with bigger directors and better scripts. Said Cube, "There is definitely a progression—people can feel what I'm trying to do with my career. I learned by experience, watching great actors. I've had a chance to work with Laurence Fishburne, Cuba Gooding Jr., and Jon Voight. I've been able to work with some pretty good actors, just watching how they prepare, watching how serious they take it and how they learn how to do it. I never wanted to go to any kind of school or classes, because I thought I would lose the natural ability that I had. My hope is that I will continue to show more range in movies to come."
Barbershop is rap star Eve's second venture into acting—coincidentally her first appearance was a small part in XXX, which also starred Sam Jackson—and, she said, it was never her intention to be a movie star.
"I didn't want to [act] at first, and then, as corny as it sounds, I was really inspired by Sling Blade," Eve said. "I have an acting coach, and she was with me on-set and she helped me with the script—the readings and everything—so I'm very serious about it." While Eve has been working intensely with a coach to hone her craft, she said she sympathizes with struggling actors who may already be more well trained. "I totally respect their opinion. I understand a lot of actors have been training since they were young and that it has been a passion their whole lives to act. But at the same time, it's a business, and these people see these mainstream artists, and they say, 'Let's put them in a movie so we can fill up our seats in the theatre.' That's the way of the world."
Eve maintains that preconceived prejudices about rappers-turned-actors have made her work twice as hard as any classically trained actor.
"I didn't want to do acting if it was going to be half-assed," she said. "That's why I do have a coach. I want to be respected. When people hear that I'm a rapper, they immediately think something negative. I have to work double, I have to be on time and professional and hold my own for them to be able to respect me. It was a challenge."
Old School
Aaron Speiser, a private acting coach, has trained a host of musical talents, including Jennifer Lopez, Brian McKnight, Ja Rule, Heavy D, Sean "Puffy" Combs, and L.L. Cool J. Speiser agreed that generalizations can be tricky but that musicians, like many actors, have different needs and goals, and that is reflected in their commitment level. Said Speiser, "Some of these musicians I work with truly want to be great actors and are willing to put the kind of time in to work on their craft. I've been working with Jennifer Lopez for years. L.L. Cool J is dedicated to becoming a serious actor and has flown me throughout the world to be with him on-set, as well as coming to classes and private coaching. They both show tremendous commitment. Then my other clients, like Ja Rule and P. Diddy, are more interested in training for a very specific time, for a very specific role. They neither have the time nor the desire at this point to take a deeper commitment on."
During the intensive weeks Ja Rule and P. Diddy were working with Speiser, they learned about acting methods, not just delivering the lines, Speiser said. "In order to really learn about the craft, you must continue to study or work. They just didn't have that kind of time to put in that level of commitment. Still, there's no doubt that these are real actors. Primarily they feel that they are artists, and their artistry can transfer to many different avenues."
So what exactly is the appeal? Why are more rappers than ever being cast in starring roles? Agent Tracy Christian agrees that when you get down to it, it's mostly about the numbers.
"I believe that, largely, African-Americans create what is the pop culture," said Christian. "And a very quick way to invite a younger demographic into your project is to cast a rap star. It lends a certain hipness, it's au courant, and if someone like Nelly has sold near 30 million albums, you can figure that a fair number of those consumers who are willing to pay $20 for his CD will also pay $10 to see him in a movie."
While she allows that the music industry is far too broad to generalize about credibility and talent, she said, "You certainly have to respect the commitment actors make to their craft. I think that what Sam Jackson was talking about is the kind of entertainers who take the path of least resistance—the flavor of the month who haven't paid their dues in any way, don't know anything about acting, and yet some desperate producer is putting them in to get a few more 16-year-olds to come to the movie. Those people may have a place in movies, but not all rappers are like that. Many are really in it for the long haul."
In the vast spectrum that is the movie business, perhaps there is a place for everyone: the seasoned actor who works his way up the ranks, and the pop icon who symbolizes a certain moment in time and then disappears. While there's no doubt that it can be frustrating, even enraging, for struggling artists to see casting directors beating down the door of the most recent Billboard topper, CD Reno Logan advised, "Eventually the choice is yours. It's the audiences who ultimately make the artist into an actor. If Will Smith was not well received, he wouldn't be making movies today. It's the masses who make the artist great. Rappers didn't steal jobs from actors—audiences gave rappers an acting career and they took it. If you're an actor, don't put your efforts in competing with an entirely different breed. Just make wiser choices as a consumer." BSW