Hip hop was a revolution in the 80s and a growing part of American culture in the 90s. By the 2000s, it seemed that everyone was listening to and embracing the genre at a mass scale. Hip hop artist cameos by then could play off the enormity of fame and exposure these artists were receiving through MTV, radio play, news-making, and brand endorsements rather than a best-kept secret.
Further, directors and film studios were becoming more and more aware that these MCs weren’t just powerful entertainers capable of controlling a room of thousands, their presence and versatility on things from love to diss songs to actual music videos or skits meant they likely had to exercise some real acting chops. From DMX to Redman & Method Man to Ludacris, the 2000s were full of rappers taking a stab at acting.
Proof in 8 Mile
Eminem’s autobiographical starring vehicle 8 Mile has become a classic for its visceral realism and how it captured the MC at the peak of his powers. Though few realized it since Em fit and integrated so much of his personal experience into the role, the film is actually based on the early life of his childhood friend, eventual hypeman, and D12 bandmate Proof.
A fixture of the Detroit hip hop scene, Proof overcame his stage fright in the battle rap underground giving his appearance added significance. In the film playing Lil’ Tic, he doesn’t so much battle B Rabbit (Eminem) as he does destroy him with the out-of-place headphone-adorning rapper barely able to muster a sound. Amid Rabbit’s harrowing series of verses at the end of the film, Proof’s approving smile gives Rabbit’s arc a full-circle moment. It’s as if Proof is seeing himself overcome the struggle of winning over the room.
Snoop Dogg in Training Day
Following a string of South Central-set gangster films that defined L.A. cinema in the 90s, Training Day flipped the genre on its head entering the 2000s. Placing Denzel Washington as a crooked cop in the sunbaked ghettos of Los Angeles, the film seemed to mirror the transformation that G Funk took into the new millennium with albums like Dr. Dre’s 2001; it was more modern, harsher, and the values had shifted.
This ultimately made the appearances of not only “Still D.R.E.” as theme music, but both Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg in minor parts more significant. Snoop Dogg playing Wheelchair Jimmy makes the most out of his brief appearance in the film: bad-mouthing Officer Hoyt (Ethan Hawke), being chased into a Vietnamese business, undergoing an interrogation via ballpoint pen, and finally giving the whereabouts of Sandman (Scott Glenn). Aside from giving the film an added slice of West Coast authenticity, it’s a pretty great performance from the Long Beach icon.
RZA in American Gangster
Ridley Scott’s 70s gangster epic is part blaxploitation flick part police procedural based on the tête-à-tête between heroin smuggler Frank Lucas (Denzel Washington) and detective Richie Roberts (Russell Crowe). The film’s testosterone-filled ensemble cast features cameos from a number of rappers including Common and T.I. as Lucas’ family members in a bid to appeal to younger audiences with a Jay-Z album inspired by the film to boot.
Wu-Tang Clan mastermind RZA is cast here against type as narcotics cop Moses Jones. With the film’s 70s-obsessed subject, the RZA feels right at home playing Thelonious Monk on piano and amerced in a shootout. RZA and Crowe would later foster a close friendship with the former casting the latter in his directorial debut The Man With the Iron Fists.
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Fat Joe in Scary Movie 3
The third installment in the Scary Movie franchise was the first to scrap the involvement of its original brain trust in the Wayans Brothers and with the film’s cookie-cutter spoofing of the 2000s rap scene, it ain’t hard to tell. Made by David Zucker who cut his teeth with the pioneering parody films of the 80s like Airplane!, The Naked Gun, and Top Secret!, Scary Movie 3 follows a similar template which is more juvenile than the gross-out nature of the first two films.
Parodying 8 Mile, the film pairs Simon Rex, better known at the time as Dirt Nasty against a particularly intimidating Fat Joe in a parody of the iconic rap battle. The Terror Squad MC was still part of the cultural discourse at the moment and presents a terrifying scenario for the lesser-known rapper who goes by the name of George. Even more bizarre, comes the climactic shootout confrontation starring members of Wu-Tang and Macy Gray who eliminate themselves before they can help the FBI. Somehow, the subsequent films in the series are even more tone-deaf.
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Eminem in Funny People
A mid-life drama about comedians, Funny People came off the heels of a massive run of successful Judd Apatow films that many anticipated to be a masterwork. With a widely-maligned 146-minute runtime and a rare box office miss, it was strangely a disappointment while the power producer was still at his apex. But Funny People still carried profound outlooks on celebrity, career decisions, and how these two things affect relationships.
The Best Acting Performances by Famous Musicians
Eminem’s cameo as an acquaintance of Adam Sandler’s wandering retired comedian George Simmons is played straight for maximum laughs and the audience’s awareness of his famous temper and volatility. Though, looking at the rapper’s singles, about half carry a penchant for the cartoonish and edgy hilarity customary of a comedian’s routine. It plays into the film’s thematic elements as the uber-famous Eminem goes on a diatribe on the consequences of notoriety before having a tantrum on an oblivious Ray Romano.
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Ice-T in Leprechaun in the Hood
While the Leprechaun series began as a horror films, by the time its fifth rolled around it had been relegated to direct-to-video and incorporated more absurdly comedic elements. …In the Hood takes Lubdan (Warwick Davis) to South Central and places him at the center of the record industry, hitting bongs and even taking the mic for a song, “Lep in the Hood Come To Do No Good.”
A guilty pleasure, the film features gangster rap pioneer Ice-T as Mack Daddy O’Nasses who plays it as seriously as ever. A record producer whose finding of a magic gold flute puts the film’s events in motion and whose torso is later exploded by the Leprechaun’s magic, it was a strange casting decision since Ice-T had already held a fairly lucrative film career with New Jack City, Ricochet, and the Chris Rock hip hop satire CB4.
Kanye West in The Love Guru
It’s a testament to how much power Mike Myers held in the 2000s following a no-miss string of films that he was able to get The Love Guru made since the film is considered so problematic through a contemporary lens. Just look at the list of cameos he pulled to make his culturally appropriating screwball comedy: Stephen Colbert, Jessica Simpson, Daniel Tosh, Samantha Bee, Mariska Hargitay, Val Kilmer? Ben Kingsley?!
Kanye West who was between the releases of two blockbuster records in Graduation and 808s and Heartbreak makes an appearance as a silent walk-on at a Maple Leafs game alongside Mike Myers playing himself with both of them caught on a celebrity spotter jumbotron in jerseys and all. The cameo, like the rest of the film, doesn’t make much sense or hold much weight aside from the fact that the last prominent appearance of the two resulted in West’s rant against George W. Bush being cut to Chris Tucker at a Hurricane Katrina telethon to Myers’ visible discomfort. One can only assume that he owed him a favor.
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