Best & Worst Rappers-Turned-Actors

Grading the abundance of hip-hop thespians and wannabes

BY EMIL TIEDEMANN

These days it's almost expected of rappers to stray away from the recording studio and try their hand in the movie studio, whether they can act or--like in most cases--not! Whether they're barely into their first single from their first album, or are an established hip-hop act, it seems that they've all been bitten by the acting bug, though that bite can easily lead to an ugly infection. Case in point...Vanilla Ice, 50 Cent, Master P, and the countless other rap stars trying to break into Hollywood.

But I must admit, every now and again one of these rap stars find his/her niche in Tinsletown, bending the mould and catching us offguard with actual onscreen talent. Case in point...Will Smith, Queen Latifah, and the former Marky Mark. It's big names like these that have easily transitioned into the world of cinema, leaving their rap pasts in...well, the past!

Before we go any further with Hollywood's hip-hop elite, let's back up and take a glimpse at the history of rappers in film, which would take us all the way back to 1982's Wild Style. Bestowed as the "first hip-hop motion picture," Charlie Ahearn's Wild Style followed the daily lives of the era's top MCs, including Grandmaster Flash, Busy Bee, Fab 5 Freddy, and the Rock Steady Crew. The cult favourite opened the doors for the merger of these two formats, allowing a long line of follow-up ventures.

Over the next couple of years studios introduced other early hip-hop flicks, including Breakin' (1984) and the first rap biopic Krush Groove (1985), which told of Def Jam's arrival and genre dominance. By the '90s all kinds of rappers were reading scripts and taking on roles in straight-to-video movies, made-for-TV films, and even major motion pictures, including Ice-T (New Jack City), Ice Cube (Boys N the Hood), 2Pac (Juice), Will Smith (Bad Boys), and even Queen Latifah (Set It Off).

By the following decade any and all rappers were crossing over into the world of film, whether they had a thespian in 'em or not, from gangsta acts like Lil' Wayne (Baller Blockin') and 50 Cent (Righteous Kill) to basketball player-turned-rapper-turned-actor Shaquille O'Neal (Kazaam).

The phenomenon broke new ground when Will Smith raised the bar with an Academy Award nomination for his lead role in 2001's Ali, which made the box office giant the first rap act to achieve this. Since then both Mark Wahlberg and Queen Latifah have also garnered Oscar nods for their acting, while Eminem ("Lose Yourself") and Three Six Mafia ("It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp") have won for their music in hip-hop films 8 Mile (2002) and Hustle & Flow (2005), respectively.

Below are my personal choices for what I think are the best and the worst rappers-turned-actors so far, based particularly on their actual acting abilities, but also on the scripts they've accepted. I'm positive you'll have to disagree on any number of my choices, so feel free to post your grievances if you wish.

The Best...

10. Ice-T
Best Role: New Jack City (1991)
-Most film critics would claim Ice-T (born Tracy Morrow) peaked with his first feature, New Jack City (1991), but even if that was true, he's still had one of the most prolific movie careers for any rapper, appearing in dozens since. In addition to roles in Ricochet (1991), Tank Girl (1995), Johnny Mnemonic (1995), and 3000 Miles to Graceland (2001), Ice-T also landed an award-winning role on TV's Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (2000-09), as Detective Odafin Tutuola.

9. Ludacris
Best Role: Crash (2005)
-The former Christopher Bridges quietly dipped his toes in Tinsletown with a cameo in 2001's The Wash, and then a bit part in 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003), before being cast in the Oscar-winning Crash film (2005), which won a SAG Award for Outstanding Cast in a Motion Picture. He continued developing his new-found craft with parts in Hustle & Flow (2005), Fred Claus (2007), RocknRolla (2008), Max Payne (2008), and Gamer (2009), all the while remaining one of the most respected hip-hop hitmakers.

8. Ice Cube
Best Role: Boys N the Hood (1991)
-When you're first movie is John Singleton's Boys N the Hood (1991), you're bound for a lasting career in the industry, which is why we still see Ice Cube (b. O'Shea Jackson) on the big screen. The former N.W.A. and Westside Connection member continued making hip-hop records after shooting movies like Friday (1995), Anaconda (1997) and Three Kings (1999), but his musical ventures took a backseat by this point. Some of Cube's other big-budget features have included BarberShop (2002), Torque (2004), Are We There Yet? (2005), and the upcoming Janky Promoters (2009) (with Young Jeezy).

7. L.L. Cool J
Best Role: Any Given Sunday (1999)
-Ladies Love Cool James not only for his rapping chops and bodybuilder physique, but also for the 41-year-old's acting talents. The Grammy-winning L.L. Cool J (b. James Smith) started with smaller roles (The Hard Way, Toys), but soon landed his own NBC/UPN TV sitcom, In the House (1995-99), which ran five seasons. He made a name for himself in Hollwood with theatrical flicks like Halloween H2O (1998), Deep Blue Sea (1999), Any Given Sunday (1999), S.W.A.T. (2003), and Last Holiday (2006), the latter of which also featured fellow rap legend Queen Latifah.

6. 2Pac
Best Role: Juice (1992)
-Declared time and time again as the greatest rapper of all-time, 2Pac (b. Tupac Shakur) falls short on the list of greatest rapper-actors of all-time, but put up quite a fight in his short stay. The late legend came out running with an acclaimed lead in the R-rated Juice (1992), and continued winning over moviegoers with roles in Poetic Justice (1993) (with Janet Jackson), Above the Rim (1994), Bullet (1996), Gridlock'd (1997), and his final feature Gang Related (1997). 2Pac's life and times was later archived for a 2003 documentary titled Tupac: Resurrection, and footage was also used for this year's Notorious film.

5. Common
Best Role: Street Kings (2008)
-Although he's only just begun his movie career, Grammy-winning alt-rap MC Common (b. Lonnie Lynn, Jr.) has that spark that assures he'll have a lengthy pursuit in acting. Following appearances in TV shows like Girlfriends (2003) and One on One (2004), Common teamed with Ben Affleck & Alicia Keys in 2007's Smokin' Aces, and then proved his abilities in American Gangster (2007) (with RZA), Street Kings (2008) (with The Game), Wanted (2008) (with Angelina Jolie), and the current #2 movie Terminator: Salvation (2009) (with Christian Bale).

4. Mos Def
Best Role: Something the Lord Made (2004)
-Mos Def (b. Dante Smith) kinda breaks the rule of this list, because technically, he is an actor-turned-rapper, going pro when he was just 14-years-old with a role in the Canadian TV movie God Bless the Child (1988). Def tallied up a decent film and TV resume before he ever broke into the music industry (1998), but it was after that that he accepted notable roles in Bamboozled (2000), Monster's Ball (2001), The Italian Job (2003), and Cadillac Records (2008). He also earned Golden Globe, Emmy and Image Award nods for his part in HBO's Something the Lord Made (2004).

3. Queen Latifah
Best Role: Chicago (2002)
-All hailed the "Queen" as the top lady in rap, but when her heydays had passed, Latifah (b. Dana Owens) left the music scene--for now--and gave acting a shot with bit parts in Jungle Fever (1991), House Party 2 (1991), and a couple episodes of The Fresh Prince (1991). She was finally taken serious when she played a gay bank robber in 1996's Set It Off, which she filmed in the midst of her own Fox TV series Living Single (1993-98). In 2002 Latifah, 39, was up for an Academy Award for her supporting role in the musical Chicago, which paved the way for her leading lady parts in comedies Bringing Down the House (2003), Taxi (2003), Beauty Shop (2005), and Mad Money (2007).

2. Mark Wahlberg
Best Role: The Departed (2006)
-White rappers never exactly got the respect they craved (excluding Eminem, The Beastie Boys), but Mark Wahlberg didn't even bother trying, shifting gears and venturing away from his one-hit wonder status (1991's chart-topping "Good Vibrations") to become a Calvin Klein underwear model and then a respected actor. Debuting with 1993's TV movie The Substitute, the former "Marky Mark" built on his roles in The Basketball Diaries (1995) and Fear (1996), rising to a new fame playing a porn star in 1997's Boogie Nights. Wahlberg, who quickly shed his stage name, maintained a streak of box office hits (The Perfect Storm, Planet of the Apes), before he was nominated for his first Oscar for 2006's The Departed.

1. Will Smith
Best Role: Ali (2001)
-Mr. Smith, 40, set the standard when it came to rappers acting, leaving behind one of the most impressive hip-hop careers behind for one of the most impressive acting careers to date. Smith first graced the small screen, starring in six seasons of NBC's Emmy-winning TV sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel Air (1990-96), before he switched to the big screen in smaller parts (Made in America, Six Degrees of Separation). In 1995 he went big time with Bad Boys, and then hit paydirt with blockbusters like Independence Day (1996), Men in Black (1997), and Enemy of the State (1998). In 2001 he was nominated for an Oscar for his portrayal of boxing legend Muhammad Ali, in the aptly titled Ali. Another nod came for 2006's The Pursuit of Happyness, and his movies have grossed more than $5.6 billion around the world, making him one of the most bankable faces in the industry.

The Worst...

10. Master P
-He directs, he produces, he scripts, and he acts, but no one ever said he was good at any of these. Just look at the titles of some of the movies Masper P (b. Percy Miller) has worked on: Popcorn Shrimp (2001), Paroled (2007), Black Superman (2007), Soccer Man (2008), Internet Dating (2008), and the upcoming The Pig People (2009)! Enough said.

9. The Game
-Some artists are fine at what they do and have no business moonlighting elsewhere, but The Game (b. Jayceon Taylor) was clearly unaware of this when he accepted parts in Waist Deep (2006), Tournament of Dreams (2007), Street Kings (2008), and the direct-to-video Belly 2: Millionaire Boyz Club (2009).

8. Xzibit
-Hosting MTV's Pimp My Ride (2004-07) should've been the closest thing to acting Xzibit (b. Alvin Joiner) got, but unfortunately he made it into theatres in xXx: State of the Union (2005), Derailed (2005), and The X-Files: I Want to Believe (2008), as well as several other flops (with the acception of a brief scene in 2002's 8 Mile).

7. Diddy
-A.k.a. "Sean Combs," "Sean John," "P. Diddy," "Puff Daddy," "Puffy," etc., etc., etc., Diddy did himself no favours when he, unsurprisingly, shifted into acting in 2001's Made, 2005's Carolito's Way: Rise to Power (2005), and in a couple episodes of CSI: Miami (2009), alongside fellow jackass David Caruso.

6. Shaquille O'Neal
-Yeah, yeah, I know, he's a basketball player, but Shaq recorded his first of four rap albums during the '90s, before he delved into acting as well. His credits have included flops like Blue Chips (1994), Steel (1997), Freddy Got Fingered (2001), and as a genie, yes a genie, in Kazaam (1996).

5. Ja Rule
-The good news is that Ja Rule (b. Jeffrey Atkins) has nearly given up on his record career, but the bad news is that it allows him to focus on his "acting." His trainwrecks have included Turn It Up (2000), Half Past Dead (2002), and Scary Movie 3 (2003), as well as a dreadful bit in the 2001 summer hit The Fast and the Furious.

4. Jay-Z
-One of the greatest MCs he may be, but when it comes to his drama "skills," there's nothing great about it. Jay-Z (b. Shawn Carter) knows better, fortunately, so has only embarrassed himself briefly in State Property and Paper Soldiers, two forgettable...scratch that, forgotten...films from 2002.

3. Dr. Dre
-"Don't quit your day job" would be the best advice for rap mogul Dr. Dre (b. Andre Young), who left nothing to be desired with small parts in good films like Set It Off (1996) and the Oscar-winning Training Day (2001). He's also appeared in lesser known movies like Whiteboyz (1999) and The Wash (2001), not to mention those Eminem videos.

2. 50 Cent
-Eminem did it, so why not 50 Cent? After Em hit the mark with his semi-autobiographical 8 Mile in 2002, 50 Cent (b. Curtis Jackson) thought he could do it, too, but his lead in Get Rich or Die Tryin' (2005) was laughable. Still, that didn't hinder casting directors from hiring 50 for 2008's Righteous Kill, and eight other films currently in production!

1. Vanilla Ice
-The butt of many jokes, a one-hit wonder (1990's "Ice Ice Baby"), and Madonna's ex he is, but an actor? No chance, but leave it to Universal Pictures to bite the bullet and take advantage of his overnight stardom, casting Vanilla Ice (b. Robert Van Winkle) in a movie written around the rapper, Cool as Ice, which was both his premiere and his swan song.

And the Rest....

I know, I know, you're yelling at your computer screen, wondering why I've left out this guy or that guy, but it's only a Top TEN list! No Eminem (8 Mile) or T.I. (ATL) on the "best" list? And what about Snoop Dogg (Soul Plane), Bow Wow (Like Mike), DMX (Exit Wounds), or Nelly (The Longest Yard) not making the cut for the "worst"? There's plenty of nominees, but only limited space, so feel free to give me your feedback on what you think I fucked up on, and why.