Rap music continues to be a catalyst for various creative mediums, including rap artists who cross over to film and television.
RAP TO CINEMA: Hip Hop Music Artists Who Cross Over to Film is a topical reference book that includes film biographies of rap artists who venture into filmmaking.
The film enthusiast will appreciate descriptions of positions in the film industry: actor, executive producer, producer, director, screenwriter, and cinematographer. Included are film resumes for each profiled rap artist, and a list of definitive hip hop and rap movies, domestic and international. The index allows for the immediate page location of a specific profile.
Although rap artists are known to proclaim, they are not role models; they are. Young impressionable minds look to their poetic example as a way of creative expression and a pathway to success.
Collective profile interests include involvement in entrepreneurial and philanthropical endeavors. Another consistent characteristic is focus, discipline, strategy, and will to succeed.
For artists such as Queen Latifah, LL Cool J, Ice Cube, Eve, Bow Wow, Niki Minaj, MC Hammer, Common, T.I., and countless others able to navigate the transition, stardom went from mega to stratospheric.
The criterion for the rap artists profiled in this book is an established relationship to cinema. Rap musicians have film soundtrack credits that include music projects that were recorded hits before being attached or included in a film or television project. For that reason, soundtrack and other music resumes are not listed. The focus for this topical reference book will be on the film resume. Television projects are listed only if cinema projects are included. Selected film projects and awards are mentioned