Ice Cube is one of the forefathers of the iconic hip-hop subgenre gangsta rap. Moreover, he is one of the founding fathers of hip-hop in California. As the main MC of NWA during the 1980s, Ice Cube was effectively the face of LA hip-hop and made some monster hits. From ‘F**k Da Police’ to ‘Check Yo Self’, the rapper undoubtedly permanently impacted hip-hop and paved the way for the likes of Tupac Shakur and Snoop Dogg.
The Compton native (real name O’Shea Jackson) is one of the only artists in history who has thrived in hip-hop and successfully dominated Hollywood. Although the likes of 50 Cent have now done the same, Jackson was the first. The actor has appeared in a plethora of films, including, Boyz N the Hood, Friday, Ride Along, Are We There Yet and more. Due to his vast amounts of success within the world of acting as a former rapper, he is most definitely the most suitable individual an artist can go to if they’re looking to transition into the world of film and, on one occasion, Ice Cube even found himself giving advice to the Doggystyle rapper, Snoop Dogg.
Rappers and, on an even larger scale, African-Americans frequently come up against the Hollywood phenomenon of typecasting, and it seems Snoop (real name Calvin Broadus) did as well. Whether it be the local drug dealer, criminal or a character working some menial job, sometimes actors of colour are only called upon to fulfil particular roles. Musicians, just like actors, often want to challenge themselves, step outside their comfort zone and not be continuously cast to play the antagonist. Due to typecasting and his renown as a rapper, Broadus grew frustrated with the movie roles he was receiving.
Snoop unveiled that concerning casting, producers were stereotypical and lacked creativity considering the scope of potential characters that he could play. Speaking to the online film publication Coming Soon, Broadus angrily pointed out, “You never see a new rapper coming into a movie role where’s he’s playing an orthodontist or a top-notch lawyer. He’s always gonna come in with a gun in his hand, talkin’ sh*t and getting killed! That’s the intro for the rapper. Until he can step out of it and do some comedy or do something that’s far-fetched from your imagination where you didn’t feel he could do it, then he gets respected as an actor!”
Seeing his annoyances play out, Jackson imparted some knowledge to the ‘Drop It Like It’s Hot’ rapper. With knowledge about how the industry works and how it most likely wouldn’t change Ice Cube suggested that Broadus, on his end, should better assess his roles to improve his respect in the film industry. Disclosing the advice that Jackson gave him, Snoop told The Coming, “A lot of bad roles were coming my way, and I had spoke to Ice Cube, and he had told me some good sh*t. He was like man; you gotta make better decisions. You can’t just take every role that’s given to you. You gotta take the roles that best set up your next move.”
Broadus revealed that, upon entering Hollywood, he was just so happy to be there he was willing to take anything just to stay. Elaborating on his initial entry into the film industry the Long Beach musician explained, “I was caught up with just happy to be in a movie. There’s a hundred rappers in the movie? I don’t give a f*ck, I’m in the movie with them, just throwing myself out there and not really getting the value of myself and not really learning how to become the actor that I wanted to be. But you gotta go through a lot of different things in order to find out who you are.” Snoop has done a number of interesting films including the Eddie Murphy spin of Dolemite Is My Name as well as the Netflix film Day Shift alongside Jamie Foxx. You can watch the trailer for the latter in the video below.
