So we all knew that Spike Lee inquired about Common and Kanye West being apart of the “Chi-raq” cast, but now we learned that the two actually turned the roles down. Rappers Rhymefest and Twista were able to spill the tea on how that all went down.
The two artist claim that they did not take the part because it was “wack.” Rhymefest also says that Chance TheRapper turned down a role too, which is quite funny seeing that Chance and Spike have been going toe to toe over comments made about the movie.
Rhymesfest told Sway,
“I can tell you who wasn’t in the movie. The guy who was supposed to play Chi-Raq was named Kanye West. When Kanye West read that script—Why wasn’t Kanye West in the movie? Cause the shit was wack. Yo, then he went to Common. ‘Common, get in the movie, man.’ Why wasn’t Common in the movie? Cause the shit was wack. So, the people who are closer to the streets and closer to understanding where we are in Chicago, declined to be in the movie. Does Spike Lee want to talk about why? When Kanye asked Spike Lee ‘Yo, can we get some Chicago writers on this, so we can have some more authentic voices?’ Spike Lee said ‘Nah, I just want you to act.’”
Twista also had a lot to say about the movie. Twista wasn’t really feeling the movie being called a “satire.” He also said that Chicago was trying to do away with the name “Chi-raq.”
“A lot of the stuff Rhymefest was saying, He was pretty much saying a lot of it. One of the main things I had a problem with was that it was a satire, instead of something serious. I felt like the city of Chicago deserved a good movie about something serious like that. Instead of something like a satire. And then just going back into the name Chi-Raq. We were just coming out of that vibe. Even the young cats themselves had decided to come out of the whole vibe of calling the city that. And he just resurrected that whole thing.”
Source: HipHopDX
