The Good, The Bad, The Ugly: Rappers in Movies

Good guys, villains, and horrific deaths.

Belly\r - In this edgy 1998 hip hop film classic, Method Man plays Shameek, an enforcer on a mission to infiltrate an Omaha street gang. Most memorable line: "Knowledge bone, what's the science?"\r(Photo: Courtesy Everett Collection)
The Ugly — Diddy as Lawrence Musgrove in Monster's Ball - Here’s an unlikely violent death played out by a rapper. Rather than get gunned down or play a drug dealer, Sean “Diddy” Combs, then known as “Puffy,” had a small role in the film Monster’s Ball as Halle Berry’s on-screen husband. Diddy was on death row and died by electrocution. Ouch.\r(Photo: Courtesy: Everett Collection)\r 
The Bad — Big Boi as Marcus in ATL - Big Boi plays the role of Marcus, the slick-talking, fancy-dressing, gun-toting drug dealer who recruits Rashad's (T.I.'s) little brother, Ant (Evan Ross), to hit the corner in 2006's ATL. Boy, stop!(Photo: Courtesy: Everett Collection)
The Good — Bow Wow as Calvin in Like Mike\r \r  - Back when Bow Wow still had the Lil' affixed to his name he played Calvin Cambridge, a teenage orphan with hoop dreams, in the PG film Like Mike. The star-studded, rags-to-riches film finds Bow Wow channeling previously unknown basketball skills that earn him a contract in this adorable fairy tale for kids. \r\r(Photo:Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation)The Good — Mos Def as Vivien Thomas in Something the Lord Made\r - Not that Mos Def is the most gangster dude in real life, but his role as Vivien Thomas, a lab assistant turned heart surgeon, in 2004's Something the Lord Made was surprising nonetheless. What's more heartwarming than a rapper saving lives?\r\r(Photo: Courtesy: Everett Collection)

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The Ugly — Diddy as Lawrence Musgrove in Monster's Ball - Here’s an unlikely violent death played out by a rapper. Rather than get gunned down or play a drug dealer, Sean “Diddy” Combs, then known as “Puffy,” had a small role in the film Monster’s Ball as Halle Berry’s on-screen husband. Diddy was on death row and died by electrocution. Ouch.\r(Photo: Courtesy: Everett Collection)\r 

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