Allister Harry in Hollywood
QUEEN LATIFAH is something of a repeat offender. The rapper-turned-actor repeatedly steals scenes from her co-stars Jada Pinkett and Vivica Fox in the new heist movie Set it Off, about four female bank robbers with attitude. Latifah is just one in a long line of rappers now making waves in Hollywood. “I’m not going to be a rapper for ever,” she says. “I’m capable of being an excellent actor but it’s not going to be easy.”
The ringleader of this trend is Will Smith, an exciting new Hollywood face and the man who memorably welcomes a stubborn alien to earth by punching it in the face in Independence Day. But before wise-cracking Will was punching out aliens he was making a living as the cute half of the award- winning rap duo DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince. With his partner in rhyme, Jazzy Jeff, Smith picked up two Grammy awards for his rap, including the first ever awarded for Best Rap Performance in 1988 for the single Parents Just Don’t Understand.
One person who parents never understood was murdered rap star Tupac Shakur. But for many of his fans Tupac lives on – on film at least. He appears in three films yet to be released, Gridlock’d (with Tim Roth and Thandie Newton and released in the United States last weekend), Bullet (with Mickey Rourke) and Gang Related (with James Earl Jones).
He first burst onto the acting scene like an uninvited party guest in 1992 playing Bishop in Ernest Dickerson’s Juice. And, although Tupac’s performance is now best remembered for his character’s ironic line “I am crazy. And I don’t give a fuck”, it was also the birth of a fine actor. In 1994 the critic Nelson George wrote: “On screen Shakur’s eyes light up and dominate the frame. If he survives his 20s, Shakur could one day emerge as a true movie star.”
Other graduates from the rap school of drama are Ice-T (Johnny Mnemonic), Ice Cube (Boyz N The Hood), Busta Rhymes (Higher Learning), Mark “Marky Mark” Wahlberg (Basketball Diaries), Tone Loc (Heat), LL Cool J (Toys) and Kid N Play (House Party). Even Public Enemy’s Chuck D, a godfather figure of rap, has crossed the tracks. He is going to make his movie debut opposite Coolio in Arthur Hiller’s An Alan Smithee Film, a satire on the Hollywood film industry, which is currently in production.
It’s easy to see why rappers have segued into film. After all, what is rap but high drama? The rap world is a stage with its heroes ambushed in epic battles: witness the feud between the west and east coast brands. But more often rappers shoot from the lip as if they’re in a western. Will Smith recognises the connection.
“Rap music is extremely theatrical. It’s about telling a story, which might be personal – but not necessarily so – and then playing out that drama,” he says. Generally, rap stars seem to make better actors than pop stars. Whitney Houston may be one of the most powerful women in Hollywood, but her acting is about as wooden as Sherwood Forest. And the Artist Formerly Known as Prince will never be known as The Actor Latterly Known as a Decent Actor.
By their nature, rappers are stars waiting to happen. Rarely short of charisma or ego, they’re at home in the spotlight. Just count the number – like Cube, Tupac and Ice-T – who’ve played themselves, or at least their rap personas, on screen.
Many rappers have developed their acting skills in increasingly cinematic rap videos. Tupac’s video for the hit California Love recreated Mad Max. And, although rap videos are sometimes associated with “bikinis and bums”, a number of young rap video directors have pushed them beyond the bikini line.
One of those is F Gary Gray, the 26-year- old director of Set It Off, who took four trophies at the 1995 MTV Music Video Awards, including Best Rap Video for Dr Dre’s Keep Their Heads Ringin’.
But rappers can also be thankful for the nous of directors like John Singleton and Mario Van Peebles who realised in the early 1980s that not only did rappers have large loyal followings, hence a ready-made audience, but the talent to do more than just cool cameos. Singleton gave Ice Cube the lead as Dough-boy in Boyz N The Hood and Tupac was co-star with Janet Jackson in Poetic Justice. Mario Van Peebles made a star of Ice-T in New Jack City, cast Tone Loc and Big Daddy Kane in Posse and Nefertiti in Panther. And once you get a rapper on a film set it’s a lot easier to get them to record a track for the mega- selling soundtrack.
All in all, rappers are good box-office. Set It Off cost $10-million to make and has taken $35-million in the United States. F Gary Gray’s 1995 directorial debut, Friday, starred Ice Cube. It cost less than $3- million to make, but grossed $30-million in the US. Will Smith’s Bad Boys made $66- million.
Of course, putting a rapper on a film set is not without its problems. The acting term “break a leg” may have been invented with Tupac in mind. He was sentenced to 15 days in jail for punching out director Allen Hughes, who with his brother Albert, dropped Tupac from the cast of Menace II Society. And prior to the start of filming on Poetic Justice Janet Jackson demanded Tupac take an HIV test before she did any kissing scenes.
For hip-hop generation directors like The Hughes Brothers, The Hudlin Brothers and F Gary Gray the risk is worth taking. Rappers bring attitude to their wry tales of the disaffected.
Next time you hear a film-director shout, “It’s a wrap!”, they may not mean quite what you think.
Set it Off opens on circuit across South Africa this Thursday, March 27