Whenever I see a story about an artist crossing over into a new mode of expression – acting to singing, writing to acting, acting to directing – I tend to react with a mix of surprise, interest, and skepticism.
Perhaps that’s because I came of age in Chicago during that unfortunate moment when Michael Jordan decided he would not only be a legendary basketball player, but also a mediocre-to-bad minor league baseball player. It wasn’t Chicago’s best sports moment. Embarrassing athletes aside, there’s some tendency to compartmentalize creative types and, when they start deviating, it can be an uncomfortable surprise.
So reading that a hip-hop star is trying his hand at stand-up comedy naturally invites some pause. Positive K, a rapper most famous for early 90s songs “I Got a Man” and “I’m Not Havin’ It,” has decided that being a rapper is too taxing a job, so he’s switched to performing stand-up.
His act can be seen here. Though his set quickly moves into jokes on sexuality and lesbianism, he opens with some material on how some of his rapping peers have similarly gone off the beaten path. Thankfully, he also asks what we all want to know, and need to know: what the fuck is Coolio doing writing a cookbook? Indeed.
