Hip-hop at the movies: rappers produce reel profits on the silver screen - The hip-hop economy: part 2 of a series - Industry Overview

Black Enterprise, July, 2002 by Sakina P. Spruell

FADE IN: THE EXTERIOR OF A MOVIE THEATER AT A SUBURBAN MALL. SCORES OF young black and white moviegoers stand in a block-long line, anxiously waiting to see the latest action-adventure flick. The movie is Exit Wounds, a cops-and-drug-dealers shoot 'em up. Not surprisingly, the film features martial artist Steven Seagal. But this time the audience is not buying tickets to see the action icon. They've come for the star who shares top billing: DMX, the craggy-voiced, chart-busting rapper who possesses much attitude--and fans to boot.

When the film was released last year. DMX had produced more action off screen. Exit Wounds, budgeted at $20 million, grossed $52 million in domestic box office receipts and another $34.2 million in video rentals. As a result. DMX, a platinum-selling hip-hop artist, emerged as a bona fide action hero, which is clear by his recent movie offers and $4 million asking price.

DMX represents the latest wave of hip-hop artists who have taken Hollywood by storm. This summer, and in months to come, expect a repeat of Exit Wounds' success as long lines of young fans wait to see the next film spotlighting rappers who moonlight as actors. Hip-hop artists such as Ja Rule, Naughty By Nature's Treach, Busta Rhymes, Queen Latifah, Lil' Bow Wow. and LL Cool J will be coming to a theater near you in everything from thrillers to romantic comedies. Why are these performers getting so much screen time? They sell tickets--loads of them.

As part of BLACK ENTERPRISE'S series on the Hip-Hop Economy, this second installment explores the culture's expanding influence on the $8.4 billion movie industry. In a business where studio execs covet a sure thing, hip-hop artists bring hordes of young black, white, and Latino moviegoers to urban and suburban theaters. In fact, hip-hop artists have appeared in some of the highest grossing and most profitable films in Hollywood (see chart). "Studios are finding out that rappers have a persona and a built-in following." says Ben Ramsey, a movie director who uses hip-hop artists in his films.

Moreover, rappers usually appear on a film's sound track, enabling producers to use hip-hop music to market the movie as well us generate hefty ancillary revenues through CD sales (see chart). Asserts filmmaker Michael McCants about the tie-in between marketing and casting: "[Studios] get to knock off two birds with one stone."

LIGHTS! CAMERA! RAPPERS!

Hip-hop's influence on film can be traced as tar back as 1982 when the rap classic Wild Style, starring Fab Five Freddy and the Rock Steady Crew, was released. But movies didn't become a commercial vehicle for hip-hop artists until 1985 with the release of Krush Groove. Loosely based on the genesis of rap mogul Russell Simmons' Def Jam Records, the movie was designed, in part, to promote then-fledgling acts LL Cool J and Run-DMC. The movie's smash success was quickly followed by such fare as Beat Street, which featured Doug E. Fresh and DJ Kool Herc, and Disorderlies, which starred the Fat Boys in a hip-hop equivalent of The Three Stooges. Those films, however, were mostly targeted to African American audiences. And at that point, hip-hop's impact on mainstream films had been limited to rap music featured on motion picture sound tracks.

Then in 1990 House Party, which starred the high-spirited and lively Kid 'n Play, demonstrated the mass appeal and cinematic reach of the hip-hop community. Released by New Line Cinema, the teen film grossed more than $26 million on a $2.5 million budget. Not bad considering director Reginald Hudlin had to persuade rap-shy executives to cast the hip-hop duo.

Movies such as House Party and a string of films set in the hood, including Juice, New Jack City, and Boyz N the Hood, turned into a profitable market. House Party 2 and 3 made more than $19 million each. The series still lives on in the direct-to-video market with House Party 4. in which the now-geriatric Kid 'n Play have been replaced by the youthful R&B act IMX.

Over the last decade, studio executives have not only become more comfortable with casting rappers, they've become downright insistent. Hip-hop artists give films a built-in audience, as did former football stars Fred Williamson and Jim Brown for '70s "blaxploitation" films, and comedians Richard Pryor, Eddie Murphy, and Whoopi Goldberg for comedies during the late '70s and early '80s. Rappers, however, bring the Hip-Hop Economy--a worldwide multicultural youth segment. And it is the audience that movie studios live and die by.

For filmmakers, the added bonus of using hip-hop acts is that, as a result of creating personas through music videos, a number of rappers have developed substantial acting chops. "In the case of Kid 'n Play. they had what I think rap tends to have an abundance of--natural actors," says Hudlin. "Rapping [requires] a lot of the same talents that you look for in a good actor."

STEALING THE SHOW

Today hip-hop is having such an impact on the movie industry that inclusion of a rap artist may mean the difference between a studio executive green lighting a film or shelving a project. This summer, for example, Screen Gems is releasing the crime drama Love and a Bullet as a vehicle for Treach, who co-starred in the 1994 film Jason's Lyric. "Having Treach absolutely helped to get Screen Gems to pick up the movie," says Ramsey, co-director of the independent project.