Speaker 1: On Theme is a production of iHeartRadio and Fairweather Friends Media.
Speaker 1: As there are a lot of things that happened this
Speaker 1: year that were not on my twenty twenty three pop
Speaker 1: Culture Bengo.
Speaker 2: Card, like what Twitter changes its name to x.
Speaker 1: Or Congress holding a hearing on UFOs or UAPs or whatever.
Speaker 2: They're called, or that her submarine them jokes was flying.
Speaker 1: All things that got us in a tizzy. But one
Speaker 1: thing the people have been asking for, clinging on to
Speaker 1: hope for, was an outcast album and they didn't get that.
Speaker 1: But they did get new music from Andre three thousand.
Speaker 2: Yep, his first solo album at that, and being the
Speaker 2: king of unconventional that he is, there's not a single
Speaker 2: lyric on the album, an hour and thirty minutes of
Speaker 2: relaxing instrumental songs.
Speaker 1: The switch up, the pump fake clearly andres telling everybody
Speaker 1: to chill the hell out. But seriously, before New Blue Sun,
Speaker 1: it would have been fair to assume that he moved
Speaker 1: on from making and releasing his own music, that he,
Speaker 1: like so many of his musical peers, had gone Hollywood.
Speaker 2: It's a trajectory that Andre fluted, I mean flouted, but
Speaker 2: once so many other rappers happily embraced.
Speaker 3: Today's episode the Rap to Act pipeline.
Speaker 2: Many musicians keep on keeping on in their music careers,
Speaker 2: taking the stage well into their later years, but rap
Speaker 2: is a special beast. There seem to be some self
Speaker 2: and society impose limits on how long a rapper can
Speaker 2: keep spitting with integrity and relevance.
Speaker 4: Sometimes it feels inauthentic for me to rap because I
Speaker 4: don't have anything to talk about in that way, Like
Speaker 4: I'm forty eight year years old. And not to say
Speaker 4: that age is a thing that dictates what you rap about,
Speaker 4: but in a way it does, And like things that
Speaker 4: happen in my life, like what do you talk like?
Speaker 4: I gotta go get a colonostope? Like what do you like?
Speaker 4: What do you rap about it? You know what I mean?
Speaker 4: Like my eyesight, My eyesight is going bad.
Speaker 2: There's all this pressure to keep up with the latest trends,
Speaker 2: to collab with the hottest acts, and to keep putting
Speaker 2: out new fire, to feed the algorithm and exploit it
Speaker 2: to money making models for sure.
Speaker 1: And plenty of artists have commented on how they felt
Speaker 1: their rap careers had expiration dates that would come sooner
Speaker 1: rather than later, similar to high performing athletes contemplating how
Speaker 1: their bodies aren't always going to carry them to the Olympics.
Speaker 1: But this thought process isn't always the default for rappers.
Speaker 1: In a two thousand and nine interview in Xxale magazine,
Speaker 1: Jay Z said that quote people should make music as
Speaker 1: long as their heart isn't it.
Speaker 2: And sentiments have changed over time. Earlier this year, in
Speaker 2: a men's health Ludacris talked about how hip hop as
Speaker 2: an art form is young and that aging is a privilege.
Speaker 2: There's no you're too old, he said in the interview.
Speaker 1: So true, there's no definitive cap on how long rappers
Speaker 1: can keep rapping, but a fair few, including Luda himself
Speaker 1: to an extent, have switched lanes insert fast and furious
Speaker 1: joke here and made acting their main squeeze. So let's
Speaker 1: start with Queen Latifa, because so far we've only talked
Speaker 1: about the man's also ladies first. The Queen said it herself.
Speaker 4: I've always celebrated the woman because I was raised by
Speaker 4: a strong black woman.
Speaker 2: I raised my father who loves women.
Speaker 1: And she was actually the first female hip hop artist
Speaker 1: to be nominated for an OSCAR. It was for her
Speaker 1: role in the movie Chicago. Anyway, I gotta be honest.
Speaker 1: As a late millennial, I knew Queen Latifah as an
Speaker 1: actor before.
Speaker 3: I knew her as a rapper. I grew up.
Speaker 1: Watching Living Single, So at the time she was Khadija,
Speaker 1: and Kadija was her depression.
Speaker 3: Now that's when you sit around.
Speaker 2: All day and cookie dowing whying at you. Not a
Speaker 2: Nigro college fund commotions. Now, that's not me.
Speaker 1: But by the time I was born, she had already
Speaker 1: been nominated three times for a Grammy for Best Rap
Speaker 1: Solo Performance, and in nineteen ninety five she won that
Speaker 1: Grammy for the song You and I t Y A
Speaker 1: bop with a positive message.
Speaker 3: Yep.
Speaker 2: She was all about women's empowerment from the jump. She
Speaker 2: started singing when she was a child, and when she
Speaker 2: was in high school she really fell in love with
Speaker 2: hip hop. Her first album, All Hell the Queen, came
Speaker 2: out in nineteen eighty nine. On the cover, Queen Latifa
Speaker 2: stands proudly next to an image of the African continent,
Speaker 2: flaked by her name and album title in the colors red, black,
Speaker 2: and green.
Speaker 1: Yeah, nobody had to ask her what she was about.
Speaker 1: It was right there in her wraps, on her album
Speaker 1: covers and the clothes she wore, and in her name.
Speaker 1: Ever since she first started putting out music in the
Speaker 1: late nineteen eighties, she's been an inspiration to other artists
Speaker 1: like Eve, Lauren Hill, and Missy Elliott. But in nineteen
Speaker 1: ninety one, after racking up some screen time and music videos,
Speaker 1: she took her first role on the big screen, a
Speaker 1: supporting role in the movie Jungle Fever. Then came House
Speaker 1: Party two and Juice and her first starring role, Cleo
Speaker 1: and set it Off.
Speaker 3: Fuck you, I know you ain't fitna back down on
Speaker 3: us now that we need you. I want more motherfucking money.
Speaker 1: And Set it Off was a hit, not a sleeper hit,
Speaker 1: not a cult classic, I mean a hit. As soon
Speaker 1: as it dropped in theaters. Queen Latifa went on to
Speaker 1: become Mama Morton, Gina Norris, Georgia Byrd, and Sasha Franklin.
Speaker 1: And those are just some of her film roles. She
Speaker 1: has her fair share of awards and nominations for her
Speaker 1: work on TV as well, but a lot of her
Speaker 1: characters across the board are really on brand for Queen Latifa.
Speaker 1: Take her starring role as the blues singer Bessie Smith
Speaker 1: in the twenty fifteen HBO film Bessie, or her leading
Speaker 1: role as a charming woman with a terminal diagnosis and
Speaker 1: plans to live the rest of her life to the
Speaker 1: fullest in the rom com Last Holiday. The characters she
Speaker 1: plays are often determined, funny, strong willed, loving, bold and straightforward.
Speaker 1: Now they can be flawed. It's not a positive vibes
Speaker 1: only situation. She's definitely not the perfect mother or business
Speaker 1: woman in the Fox show Stars, but the story she
Speaker 1: chooses to tell usually give ladies first. She's often cast
Speaker 1: alongside a bunch of other women who would be considered
Speaker 1: strong female characters. Think of Girls Trip and the twenty
Speaker 1: twelve version of Steel Magnolia's. Her intentions to uplift women
Speaker 1: are apparent throughout her art, even when it's not so explicit.
Speaker 2: I can definitely see that pattern. So what you're saying
Speaker 2: is that Que Latifah is a crossover connoisseur, a movie maven,
Speaker 2: a true pioneer when it comes to women in rap
Speaker 2: and women in rap who took their talents to tinseltown.
Speaker 3: Yep.
Speaker 1: And when we come back from the break, we'll get
Speaker 1: into some other hip hop heavyweights who dove headfirst into
Speaker 1: their acting careers.
Speaker 2: All right, Eves, Who's up next? Next up is iced
Speaker 2: Tea girl, a prestigeal mainstay at this point.
Speaker 1: I mean, not a scene stealer or show stopper, but
Speaker 1: a true and faithful detective for sure. He's been playing Fantutuola,
Speaker 1: a detective and then sergeant on Law and Order Special
Speaker 1: Victims Unit since the year of Our Lord two thousand.
Speaker 1: The irony of him decrying police brutality in songs then
Speaker 1: choosing to play a cop in hundreds of TV episodes
Speaker 1: is not lost on anybody, not least all the interviewers
Speaker 1: who got a good chuckle out of bringing it up.
Speaker 2: But one thing we can't say is that he's not
Speaker 2: committed to his roles.
Speaker 1: Okay, iced Tea have been robbing banks, in jewelry stores,
Speaker 1: stealing car parts, trying to pimp. As he's put it
Speaker 1: in Split Decision his memoir with his friend and former
Speaker 1: Rhyme Syndicate member Spike, he says he was a quote
Speaker 1: career criminal, a player, a hustler, a street dude who
Speaker 1: felt he had nothing to fucking lose. He only saw
Speaker 1: himself living fast, and dying young or living slow in prison.
Speaker 1: But he eventually realized that he was garnering too much
Speaker 1: fame to stay in the game, so he abandoned his
Speaker 1: street life and his debut album, Ryan Pays came out
Speaker 1: in nineteen eighty seven.
Speaker 2: And he's an og when it comes to political rap,
Speaker 2: gangster rap, and rap about life in the hood. He
Speaker 2: had a lot to say about South Central and violence
Speaker 2: and his everyday struggles.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he called it reality rap in a nineteen ninety
Speaker 1: four interview with Terry Gross. All In all, he released
Speaker 1: eight solo rap albums, but at the same time he
Speaker 1: was breaking into the rap scene, he was also breaking
Speaker 1: into Hollywood with Well the movies Break In and Break
Speaker 1: Into Electric Boogaloo in nineteen eighty four. Acting work really
Speaker 1: picked up for him in the nineties, and ever since
Speaker 1: he's been earning his chops as a screen and voice
Speaker 1: actor in movies, live and animated TV shows, and video games.
Speaker 1: Ic Ty has released some singles recently, but he hasn't
Speaker 1: released a full length solo rap project since two thousand
Speaker 1: and six. That said, he is still consistently putting out
Speaker 1: music with his heavy metal band body Count. They even
Speaker 1: want a Grammy for Best Metal Performance in twenty twenty one.
Speaker 2: Hip hop really seemed to be a pathway for a
Speaker 2: better life for him.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he gets into the finer points of his transformation
Speaker 1: and his memoir, but he definitely views his evolution from
Speaker 1: crime live to musician an actor as a come up.
Speaker 1: It's right there in the title of the book, Ice
Speaker 1: a memoir of gangster life and redption from South Central to.
Speaker 2: Hollywood, an influence for so many people in rap and
Speaker 2: a model for the rap to act pipeline trail blazers.
Speaker 2: Speaking of who else you got in the short list?
Speaker 1: Now, this last person on the list is undoubtedly the
Speaker 1: most controversial star we'll talk about today, and he has
Speaker 1: some of the most questionable wrap tracks in his ouvra.
Speaker 2: Let me guess ice Cube.
Speaker 3: Nope, but good guess.
Speaker 1: Because he's had a lot of acting roles and folks
Speaker 1: love to talk about how he put his thing down,
Speaker 1: flipped it, and reversed it from gangster rap to feel
Speaker 1: good comedies. He definitely could be on this list, but
Speaker 1: he didn't make the cut. Plus one, Ice is good enough,
Speaker 1: fair fair, Okay, I'll give you a hint, but you'll
Speaker 1: have to wait till.
Speaker 3: After the break.
Speaker 2: Okay, we've all been waiting. What's the hint?
Speaker 3: How come he don't vote me?
Speaker 2: Man Will Smith exactly?
Speaker 3: I mean, do I even need to speak?
Speaker 1: On the expanse of his acting career, That scene with
Speaker 1: his dad and uncle Phil and the fresh Prince of
Speaker 1: bel Air was one of many iconic moments to come.
Speaker 1: We got bad boys and men in black, all of
Speaker 1: them Independence Day, while Wild West, which he took over
Speaker 1: playing Neo in the Matrix, I robot, I am Legend
Speaker 1: the Pursuit of Happiness, King Richard. Okay, I'll let the
Speaker 1: numbers talk here for a second. Though he holds the
Speaker 1: record for the most consecutive films to make over one
Speaker 1: hundred million dollars at the US box office, and films
Speaker 1: he's start in have grossed over nine billion dollars worldwide.
Speaker 2: He said that he told his manager that he wanted
Speaker 2: to be the biggest movie star in the world, and
Speaker 2: he's not the biggest based on stats, but nobody can
Speaker 2: deny his stature and impact. Folks make roles for him,
Speaker 2: Folks go to see movies because he's in them. Of course,
Speaker 2: it hasn't always been this way though.
Speaker 1: Nah, definitely not rap is where the story starts. DJ
Speaker 1: Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince released five albums together
Speaker 1: from nineteen eighty seven to nineteen ninety three. Will Smith
Speaker 1: made a lot of money, and then he spent a
Speaker 1: lot of money, and then the government took a lot
Speaker 1: of his stuff because he owed a lot of money.
Speaker 1: Then he met Benny Medina and Quincy Jones, and and
Speaker 1: he landed a whole television show based on his own
Speaker 1: rap persona.
Speaker 2: As a solo artist, Will Smith released four albums from
Speaker 2: ninety seven to two thousand and five. But by the
Speaker 2: time he even started making solo music, he was already
Speaker 2: starring in films, and actually his first single, Men in Black,
Speaker 2: was a vehicle to promote a film that helped catapult
Speaker 2: his status as a blockbuster phenom.
Speaker 1: As true as t Pain is a rapper turn sanga,
Speaker 1: Will Smith is a rapper turned actor. So what do
Speaker 1: we have to learn from all these reinventions? I think
Speaker 1: Will Smith is interesting. It's l al that you said
Speaker 1: he's the most controversial. Do you disagree with that he's
Speaker 1: the most controversial on this list?
Speaker 2: No, okay, but it is interesting that you say he's
Speaker 2: the most controversial, because I think he goes out of
Speaker 2: his way to be the least controversial.
Speaker 3: Yeah, he always tried to clean stuff up.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I remember he was beefy with Eminem's talking about, oh,
Speaker 2: I don't have to curse in my rhymes, and like
Speaker 2: he at one point was like dissing gangster rap because
Speaker 2: that was a big thing. He's like, I don't cuz
Speaker 2: like I rap about loving my son and stuff like that.
Speaker 3: But I'm sorry.
Speaker 1: It just made me think because I think it might
Speaker 1: have been in that the one the interview with jay
Speaker 1: Z that I brought up where he actually brings up
Speaker 1: Will Smith and because the interviewer asked him about his
Speaker 1: kinds of raps and he was like, yeah, I'm not
Speaker 1: dissing party rapping everything, but I don't do that stuff
Speaker 1: Will Smith.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it went back.
Speaker 2: It was like he wanted to set himself apart. I
Speaker 2: feel as like this safe black person to work with,
Speaker 2: and of course in recent years that has gone off
Speaker 2: the rails a little bit because of his personal life.
Speaker 2: But I think in his rapping and his acting, like
Speaker 2: his you know, clean rap aesthetic and persona helped him
Speaker 2: get all the acting gigs. So he's the type of
Speaker 2: actor who he's very clearly black, but he doesn't always
Speaker 2: play black roles. He plays Will Smith like how Ojay
Speaker 2: was like, I'm not black, I'm OJA.
Speaker 3: Well, I'm not black, I'm oji.
Speaker 2: I feel like Will Smith has been on that tip
Speaker 2: a little bit.
Speaker 1: Well, he did straight up say that when he was
Speaker 1: trying to create a formula when he was talking to
Speaker 1: his manager of the types of movies that he would
Speaker 1: choose to be in, because those are the things that
Speaker 1: were going to propel him to start them. So they
Speaker 1: had to have a certain certain elements, like they had
Speaker 1: to have a love story or a love interest, and
Speaker 1: they had to have some sort of monster, they had
Speaker 1: to have a certain amount of CGI and this was
Speaker 1: the formula that they were following to be able to
Speaker 1: choose the next roles that he was going to be in,
Speaker 1: and those were going to be the things that would
Speaker 1: help prop his career up. So he definitely was intentional
Speaker 1: about it. So I don't know. I can't speak for
Speaker 1: Will Smith, but I wonder if he would cop to
Speaker 1: that and say, yeah, I did it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Because you think about it, rap hip hop is
Speaker 2: a predominantly black genre, and then acting isn't. And there's
Speaker 2: a lot of like black famous actors, and I think
Speaker 2: he was very intentional about not being black famous, so
Speaker 2: going from this majority black art form to acting, but
Speaker 2: also making sure that you are the leading man, right
Speaker 2: because like, when you think about it, Hitch didn't need
Speaker 2: to be a black person. Hitch could have been any race.
Speaker 2: But they have Will Smith. He's this, you know, international superstar.
Speaker 2: A lot of his roles are like that, but they
Speaker 2: did make him play slave after he slapped Chris.
Speaker 3: Rock in Emancipation.
Speaker 1: Do you think that's the case for the other people
Speaker 1: that are on the list, like they could their roles
Speaker 1: wouldn't necessarily need to.
Speaker 3: Be black people.
Speaker 2: No, because Queen Latifa from the movies that I've seen
Speaker 2: with Queen Latifah, like bringing down the House at Last
Speaker 2: Holiday Beauty Shop too, she's black, like you need to
Speaker 2: be black, you know what I'm saying. And of course
Speaker 2: Will Smith is also a much bigger actor than she is.
Speaker 2: But yeah, I feel like Queen Latifa, like you said,
Speaker 2: she stayed in the Ladies first lane in a lot
Speaker 2: of her roles, but she's also stayed in I don't
Speaker 2: want to say black empowerment because a lot of them
Speaker 2: are just like feel good movies generally, but like the
Speaker 2: black comedy you know, bag. But I'm trying to think
Speaker 2: of a role that she's done where any race could
Speaker 2: play it, and none is coming to mind for me.
Speaker 1: So do you think there is a respectable way to
Speaker 1: do the rap to act pipeline in an unrespectable way
Speaker 1: to do the rap to act pipeline?
Speaker 2: I say, get it how you live like. It's worked
Speaker 2: for both of them in their different ways. I mean,
Speaker 2: there's a lot of things about will Smith that it
Speaker 2: makes sense that Hollywood would pick you to be like
Speaker 2: the raceless leading man in some cases, you know, like
Speaker 2: you are capable of well he did play Ali, true,
Speaker 2: but you know you're tall, you can be fit.
Speaker 1: But it's easy to do when it's a biopic. I mean,
Speaker 1: you gotta be a black you gotta be a black man.
Speaker 2: I don't know because they had Zoey sound out and
Speaker 2: playing Nina Smount.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, we're talking about skin color though there right.
Speaker 2: Well she be hollering that she not really black too.
Speaker 3: Well, there's that cut that it's been enough shade in
Speaker 3: the episodes.
Speaker 2: No, but I mean, I think there's a lot of
Speaker 2: different ways to do it. We've seen literally three different ways,
Speaker 2: from Queen Latifa staying in her black Lady's first lane
Speaker 2: to Iced Tea kind of being like the working man's
Speaker 2: actor playing you know what, does he play a detective?
Speaker 2: A cop? And then Wilsonith being like the superstar and
Speaker 2: kind of quote unquote transcending race and a lot of
Speaker 2: his that's the way to put it. A lot of
Speaker 2: his and in a lot of his roles.
Speaker 1: So yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean it's clear that I
Speaker 1: don't know these people personally and why they made the
Speaker 1: decisions that they did. But there can be a range
Speaker 1: of decisions as to why a person goes into acting.
Speaker 1: It can be because it's something that they've always wanted
Speaker 1: to do and they knew that and we didn't know
Speaker 1: that because they don't share their hopes and dreams with
Speaker 1: us from jump. Or it can be something that they
Speaker 1: realize that they are drawn to once they start rapping,
Speaker 1: something that they realize that they're good at something a
Speaker 1: different way they want to get their message by. So
Speaker 1: here on one thing, we talk about all the different
Speaker 1: modes of black storytelling, and so it can be really
Speaker 1: inspiring to see people try different things in different avenues,
Speaker 1: regardless of whether or not they're good at it, regardless
Speaker 1: of whether they wanted to do it in the first place.
Speaker 1: I think seeing all these different elements, in all the
Speaker 1: different ways that the people we talked about chose to
Speaker 1: move forward in their acting careers, I think just gives
Speaker 1: a little bit more visibility to the kinds of breath
Speaker 1: that the black storytellers that we look up to half
Speaker 1: in the work that they do and what we are
Speaker 1: capable of and what we can be willing to do
Speaker 1: and learning.
Speaker 2: I do think it's telling that they don't play rappers
Speaker 2: or like anything really adjacent to them. Besides, you talked
Speaker 2: about Will Smith The Fresh Prince was based on his
Speaker 2: rappers ona, yeah, but after that, it doesn't really come
Speaker 2: up for any of these former rappers, right, yeah. But
Speaker 2: I do think it has to do with the age thing,
Speaker 2: because you know, they're all at this point middle age,
Speaker 2: so it wouldn't probably ring too true if they were
Speaker 2: playing rappers or kind of any in the vicinity of
Speaker 2: rappers too, because like you said, the people who are
Speaker 2: you know, the young adults who are going to see
Speaker 2: them in the movies, are streaming their movies, probably don't
Speaker 2: really know about.
Speaker 3: Them rapping like that I was thinking about.
Speaker 2: So it would be like, wait, what is Will Smith doing?
Speaker 2: What is what is the queen doing right now?
Speaker 1: Well that's a good point too, like the serving as
Speaker 1: models of being able to do the thing that so
Speaker 1: many artists want to do if they feel like they've
Speaker 1: been pigeonholed into a certain stereotype or a certain lane
Speaker 1: doesn't even have to be a stereotype if they've been
Speaker 1: pigeon holed in any way. This gives them the opportunity
Speaker 1: to distance themselves easily from the other thing that they
Speaker 1: were doing. And so I think that's another reason why
Speaker 1: they may not play rappers like they did before, because
Speaker 1: it's like I've moved on, yeah, and not saying that
Speaker 1: they don't care about music anymore. That's the thing about
Speaker 1: all these people we talked about today, Like they might
Speaker 1: still make music tomorrow, they might come out with another
Speaker 1: rap album and that's up to them. But it is
Speaker 1: like a redefinition I think, and that I guess that
Speaker 1: can be pretty empowering too.
Speaker 2: And might still be rapping, just not letting us hear it.
Speaker 3: They are amateur rappers again.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the fir Love. One thing I was thinking about
Speaker 2: was Queen Latifa and set it off is how it's
Speaker 2: referenced in our culture. And the one line I have
Speaker 2: to givebout is Drake saying about to set it off
Speaker 2: in this Bitch Queen Latifa. But I feel like I
Speaker 2: always say that, like if I say it like I'm
Speaker 2: about to set it off, it's Queen Latifa. Mind you,
Speaker 2: there were many other people in that movie setting it off,
Speaker 2: but Queen Lativa did her thing. She set it off,
Speaker 2: you know what I mean? And like that being such
Speaker 2: amazed day in Black culture and just like Black vernacular,
Speaker 2: it's like, are people referencing her as a rapper more
Speaker 2: now or as an actor? You know what I mean?
Speaker 1: I think that people are referencing her more as an
Speaker 1: actor just because at this point her body of work
Speaker 1: and acting is much larger than her body of work
Speaker 1: and music is. And I think maybe I think they
Speaker 1: are like you and I t u y, that's something
Speaker 1: we still say a lot. But just because of how
Speaker 1: much work she does have in the acting realm, there's
Speaker 1: so much more, so many more flashpoints, so many more
Speaker 1: big moments to pull from that are memorable. I think
Speaker 1: that can become memes in ways. I think maybe it's
Speaker 1: acting at this point. For Queen Latifah and.
Speaker 2: For Will Smith, he had the goal of being the
Speaker 2: biggest actor in the world, but he also produces movies,
Speaker 2: and he produces some of the ones that he starts in,
Speaker 2: but then also produces ones that he's not in. So
Speaker 2: I think as far as like the storytelling aspect of
Speaker 2: going for rapper actor and producer, having more of a
Speaker 2: say of what stories are getting out there is interesting
Speaker 2: for Will Smith. So can you guess some of the
Speaker 2: movies he's produced? Hitch, Yes, King Richard, Yes, Aladdin. I
Speaker 2: don't see that one on this list.
Speaker 3: Okay, that's all I got.
Speaker 2: There's some more that he's been in so Bad Boys.
Speaker 3: Oh, okay, that makes sense.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Emancipation okay, the First Suit of Happiness. Okay, this
Speaker 2: one might be surprising. Atl Oh, I.
Speaker 3: Don't think I knew that.
Speaker 1: I guess there also might be a subsect of people
Speaker 1: who have been on the wrap tag pipeline, but their
Speaker 1: acting roles aren't huge acting roles that maybe we would
Speaker 1: know about.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 1: I think that's cool too that people can still do
Speaker 1: it in these ways where they don't have to be
Speaker 1: the biggest actor. They don't have to be the loudest
Speaker 1: one in the room, but they're still doing a thing
Speaker 1: that maybe they love or that feeds their family at
Speaker 1: the end of the day. And I know, in an
Speaker 1: episode before, you talked about how rapping is a job too,
Speaker 1: and acting is also a job, so in a way,
Speaker 1: it's still it's like, yes, it's an artistic and creative job,
Speaker 1: but it's just like all of us other working folks
Speaker 1: who have switches in our careers and choose to change
Speaker 1: up because honestly, I feel like there's a lot of
Speaker 1: I don't know if it's hostility or negativity when people
Speaker 1: talk about rappers who turn to actors.
Speaker 3: It's not always the most positive thing.
Speaker 1: Like when we're in discourse on the internet, you know,
Speaker 1: or in conversations with people, it's like can they.
Speaker 3: Even do this?
Speaker 1: Or why are they doing this? Or they're just doing
Speaker 1: it for a check, as if that's.
Speaker 3: A bad thing.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think one of the things that is so
Speaker 2: different about rapping, or the perception of rapping versus acting,
Speaker 2: is rapping is supposed to be like from the heart,
Speaker 2: like so real, like so authentic, and then acting you're
Speaker 2: literally making up something, so it's like you're being fake
Speaker 2: right now, And that's like a cardinal sin in rap
Speaker 2: is like, oh, like you ain't shooting them guns you
Speaker 2: said you shot, Like you don't got the bodies you
Speaker 2: said you got, you know, and then acting is like, yeah,
Speaker 2: I'm lying right now.
Speaker 1: That is such a fair and astute point because people
Speaker 1: make a big deal out of people not writing their
Speaker 1: own wraps. You got to write it yourself or see,
Speaker 1: you're not the MC. You know, you're not the lyricist,
Speaker 1: and acting is people literally writing your words for you.
Speaker 3: And then you'd being like.
Speaker 2: I got telling you how to move your body, what
Speaker 2: intonation to use for a certain lines. So it's just
Speaker 2: you are a different thing, or it's perceived as a
Speaker 2: different way because I mean, I imagine there are rappers
Speaker 2: out there who people are writing their lines, people are
Speaker 2: telling them how to deliver them, how to move and
Speaker 2: all that. But it's with this veneer of like, oh
Speaker 2: that's all mem.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's a really good point.
Speaker 1: And there were some other artists that we could think
Speaker 1: of that could really fit the wrap to act Bill
Speaker 1: for example, Eve or fifty cent, and we love to
Speaker 1: hear some of the people that you can think of
Speaker 1: that followed this route, So let us know on Instagram
Speaker 1: at on Themeshow or email us at hello at on
Speaker 1: Theme dot Show.
Speaker 2: And now it's time for role credits, where we give
Speaker 2: credit to a person, place, or thing that we encountered
Speaker 2: during the week.
Speaker 1: Eaves Takeaway Today, I would like to give credit to
Speaker 1: Black nature poets. I have been reading a book about
Speaker 1: Black nature poets, and you know how I love to
Speaker 1: be out in nature. I'm always thinking about what nature means,
Speaker 1: what it means in relation to blackness in the United States,
Speaker 1: specifically in the South, specifically, what my relationship to nature
Speaker 1: has been over the course of my life, and Black
Speaker 1: nature poetry has been a way for me to connect
Speaker 1: to it in a way that I connect to nature
Speaker 1: in real life, like just the feeling, the touching, the imagery,
Speaker 1: the depths, and the resonance of black nature poetry and
Speaker 1: how I actually experience it and have been thinking about
Speaker 1: it in the world. I want to give credit to
Speaker 1: Black nature poets today because I really value and respect
Speaker 1: the work that they do and I love it.
Speaker 3: That's cool.
Speaker 2: I'm going to check out some black nature colature. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I would like to give credit to cousins. It's a
Speaker 2: nice relationship It's like extended family, but sometimes like siblings.
Speaker 2: Be anything you make it. That's very true.
Speaker 3: I love that.
Speaker 2: And that's all for this week. See you next time,
Speaker 2: Bye bye.
Speaker 1: On Theme is a production of iHeartRadio and Fairweather Friends Media.
Speaker 1: This episode was written by Eves Jeffco and Katie Mitchell.
Speaker 1: It was edited and produced by Tari Harrison.
Speaker 2: Follow us on.
Speaker 1: Instagram at on Themeshow. You can also send us an
Speaker 1: email at hello at on Theme dot show. For more
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Speaker 1: wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Fo