Kendrick Lamar Tore Up The Small Screen With His Acting Debut
It looks like Kung Fu Kenny can also be Emmy Kenny after his official television acting debut on the latest episode of 'Power'. The episode titled 'Happy Birthday' features the rapper playing a drug addict; fast-talking, dishevelled and opposite to 50 Cent’s character Kanan. Fans, critics and everyone in between are raving about Kendrick's performance.
Laces, Kendrick's character, partners up with Kanan throughout the episodes with the pretence of Laces being able to distract Kanan's targets, making them easier for Kanan to take out.
According to the creator Courtney A. Kemp, Kendrick was able to land a role on the show not just because he would up ratings. “No, it wasn’t an idea of we need big guest stars or we’re trying to get more eyeballs. It was not that at all. It was much more about, here’s an artist that we respect and he wants to come play in our sandbox, let’s give him the best quality sand, buckets and shovels we can. Let’s all get in there, yeah let’s play. We love to play here, you know?”
Kemp said that 50 Cent facilitated the casting as he knew Kendrick was interested in being on the show. “He said, ‘You know, I’d like to play’—well, he didn’t say ‘drug addict,’ but he used a different word. But so then we created the character Laces. We had already broken part of the season, and we were always going to have 50’s character use someone else to kill a bunch of ‘tinos. So those two things came together very naturally. We already had the idea in place. And then Sophia Derry wrote this incredible script and this incredible character in Laces, for Kendrick to play. And he showed up to win, you know?”
📺 Kendrick Lamar Makes A Cameo Appearance On #PowerTV Season 5 Episode 5 As A Crackhead Alongside 50 Cent pic.twitter.com/GqAiqcxcbg
— Street Talk LDN (@StreetTalkLDN) 29 July 2018
Kendrick Lamar On #POWER 🤞🏽🤞🏽pic.twitter.com/cIg45LwJJ5
— Team Ab-Soul TDE (@abdashsoulTDE) 29 July 2018
Is Kendrick Lamar the next Rapper/Actor? 🤔
— HipHopDX (@HipHopDX) 29 July 2018
Check out a clip of Kung Fu Kenny’s acting debut on #PowerTV . pic.twitter.com/tT9VPDj4me
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