Vibe.com, May 7th, 2004
The Great White Way has recently gotten a splash of color and a brand new audience thanks to hip hop pioneers who continue to push the definition of urban beyond our wildest imagination. We can give a standing ovation to P. Diddy's solid and ambitious sold-out performance in Lorriane Hansberry's 1959 revival of A Raisin In The Sun now on Broadway, Russell Simmon's 2003 Tony Award winning production Def Poetry Jam, and Mos Def's 2002 critically acclaimed theatrical turn in Suzan Lori-Parks' Top Dog/Under Dog. Is theater the new Hollywood? Or just a better way to build acting chops. It seems that rappers and R&B; singers are now raising the bar and the curtain on Old Broadway.
Spoken Word: The cast of Def Poetry Jam gave a multi-culti perspective in the 2003 Tony Award (it's the Grammy of theater) winning presentation complete with a deejay on stage. Adapted from Simmon's HBO series of the same name, this play proved that young people do enjoy theater,
More Drama: Mary J. Blige's Off-Broadway run of The Exonerated, about former death row inmates who were later proven innocent, got rave reviews. The Queen of Hip Hop Soul is rumored to be inundated with Hollywood offers ever since.
Hate Me Now: Diddy does it again and proves the "haters" wrong. His debut performance as Walter Lee in A Raisin In The Sun is buoyed by stand-out performances by veteran actors Phylicia Rashad, Audra McDonald, and Sanaa Lathan.
The Most: Top Dog/Under Dog received critical acclaim due to the break-out acting of Mos Def opposite Jeffery Wright in a complicated tale of two brothers. At the time Mos was also in a hit film called Monster's Ball and later went on to appear in The Italian Job and Brown Sugar. He will appear in the HBO Film Something The Lord Made, as well as the feature film The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, this summer.
Song Birds: Aida is a musical about the love triangle between Aida, a Nubian princess stolen from her country, Amnaris, and Egyptian princess, and Radames, the soldier they both love, co-written and co-produced by Sir Elton John. In fact, it's where Grammy-nominated singer Heather Headley was discovered before being signed to RCA. Since then, Toni Braxton, Michelle Williams of Destiny's Child, and Deborah Cox have hit Broadway to star in the lead role.
New York, New York: If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere. Other notable performances (all not necessarily from hip hop and R&B; stars): Angie Stone in Chicago; former Scary Spice Girl, Mel B is taking on the lead in Rent; John Leguizamo in Spic O-Rama, Sexholix and Freak"; Rosie Perez in Frankie and Johnny and The Vagina Monologues; Savion Glover in Bring In the Noise, Bring In the Funk; and Anna Deacere-Smith in Twilight .
