With the Oscar nominations being announced recently and the Academy Awards right around the corner, I thought it would be nice to take a look at the history of hip hop at the Oscars. 

Let’s start with the first rapper/actor to be nominated for an Oscar.  In 2001, Will Smith was nominated for his role in the acclaimed film Ali.  Although he would go on to lose to Denzel Washington (Training Day), Will’s role opened the gate for rappers’ presence at the Academy Awards.

In 2002, Queen Latifah was nominated for Best Supporting actress for her role as Matron “Mama” Morton in Chicago.  She also became the first rapper/actor to star in a film that won for Best Picture with Chicago, which Ludacris would also accomplish with 2005’s Best Motion Picture win for Crash.

 

The next rapper to be nominated for an Oscar was not in an acting category, but for Best Original Song.  In 2003 Eminem became the first rapper to win an Academy Award, winning a Best Song Oscar for his song “Lose Yourself” from the movie 8 Mile.  This lead many to speculate that Eminem opened the doors for rap to be accepted as important form of music in movies.

Rap group Three 6 Mafia became only the second rappers (the first African American hip hop group) to be nominated and win an Oscar for Best Original Song for “It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp” in the film Hustle & Flow.  In a funny moment after the award presentation, Academy Awards host Jon Stewart stated for the record, “Martin Scorsese: Zero, Three 6 Mafia: One.”

And now in 2007, Will Smith has again been nominated for Best Actor for his role in last year’s Pursuit of Happyness.  In the past 6 years, hip hop has made some incredible strides in Hollywood’s most famous award show.  While there hasn’t been a win for a rapper/actor in an acting category, there are more and more rappers gaining nominations, so that day may not be too far off.  Stay tuned.