Hip-Hop Stars who Rule Hollywood
Many hip-hop artistes have now taken up acting and now hold sway in Hollywood. This revolution was started by the black producers in the late 80s, especially John Singleton and Spike Lee, who produces low budgeted films with high societal impact and big financial rewards. Spike Lee produced “Juicy Black” and college oriented movies like “Do The Right Thing”, “No Better Blues,” ‘School Daze’ and ‘Jungle Fever’ among others.
While John Singleton produced “Boys in the Hood”, a movie made with a budget of $6 million but went ahead to make over $40 million at the Box Office. This is the film that gave Supper Ice Cube his first role and since then, he has been a force to reckon with in Hollywood, having starred in hit films like Anaconda, ‘Torgue’, ‘Are We There yet’’ ‘Three Kings,’ XXX2 and many more.
Will Smith is another success story who made his name as a rapper, charmed the audience in the TV series, ‘The Fresh prince of Bell Air’ and then went on to become a bankable star on the big screen in block busters, including ‘Independence day”, ‘Hitch’, ‘Ali’, Men In Black I and II, Robbot and Bad Boys i and II.
Queen Latifah is also a hip-hop star that has made her mark in Hollywood. She clocked up an Oscar nomination for best supporting actress in 2002 in her role in ‘Bringing Down The House’. You can’t also forget her daring role in ‘Set It Off’ and Taxi.
Ja Rule, an international rapper, has made multi-platinum albums and is fast becoming a hot face in Hollywood, having starred in ‘Half Past Dead’ alongside Stephen Seagal. Even the late Tupac appeared in movies such as ‘Gridlocked,’ Juice’ and ‘Poetic Justice,’ among others.
Another successful rapper that had made his mark at the box office is LL Cool J. Unlce L has made sterling appearances in movies such as in ‘Too Deep’, Kingdom Come and Deliver US from Eva among others.
DMX made his mark in ‘Craddle 2 Grave’ and ‘Romeo Must Die’. Ludacris starred in 2 Fast, 2 Furious. Eve has also received good reviews for her role in the Sitcom Eve as well as for her parts in XXX, ‘Barber Shop’ and Barber Shop 2.’ Hip-hop sensational white rapper Eminem also starred in Block buster 8 Mile.