rap Tagged Articles at Cinematical

I'm all for people looking to expand their creative horizons, but I know -- like most of you -- that when news first hit that Joaquin Phoenix was retiring from acting to focus on a hip-hop career, my first reaction was: Are you kidding me? Well, it looks like there's a very good possibility that's exactly what the celebrated actor is trying to do. Over at EW, a source is reporting that Casey Affleck and Phoenix are the orchestrators of a massive hoax. According to EW, Phoenix told the unnamed source, "It's a put-on. I'm going to pretend to have a meltdown and change careers, and Casey is going to film it."

EW wasn't the first to cry 'bull' at Phoenix's antics; Defamer had gotten in early on the act, and when video footage surfaced of Phoenix falling off stage and slurring his way through a rap tune in Vegas, it convinced a lot of people that his new "career change" was nothing but a big joke or gimmick ... or next year's most talked-about secret Sundance film. To be fair, it's not like this was the first time Phoenix had behaved a little strangely, so once The Hollywood Reporter announced that Affleck would be making a documentary chronicling his brother in law's music career, it gave the news a bit more weight. Meanwhile, reps for both Phoenix and Sean 'Diddy' Combs (who was apparently going to produce Phoenix's album) have declined to comment on EW's story.

For the first time in the history of the Academy Awards show, a rap song will be performed during the show's telecast. This was a surprise to me, because I could have sworn Eminem performed "Lose Yourself" when it was nominated, but apparently that was just me hallucinating. This year, several members of the rap group Three 6 Mafia - Jordan "Juicy J" Houston, Paul "DJ Paul" Beauregard and Darnell "Crunchy Black" Carlton - will perform Beauregard and Houston's nominated song, "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp", from Hustle and Flow. I can't wait to see whoever is presenting the award say that song title while trying to keep a straight face.

 

Patrick Swayze is going around telling hip hop magazines that he wants to be a rapper.

(Should I just let that one sink in?)

Yup, it's true. Swayze, you'll remember, was the biggest star in the world in 1987, when the surprise smash success of Dirty Dancing turned She's Like the Wind, a little slice of Swayze from the film's soundtrack, into a huge hit. 19 years later, he's apparently trying to relive that glory by recording a rap single. He told allhiphop.com [via Page Six, who are leading this morning with the headline, "Is Patrick Swayze Crazy?") that he's got a song in the theoretical works that will prove "rap rhythms [are] an emotional undercurrent for ballads."  But don't hold your breath, Swayze fanatics – the sometime star says he doesn't yet have a "timeline" for the no-doubt revolutionary single's release.