Casting Scarface With Houston Rappers

The hip-hop world is a less than sensible place - lots of times, you're even required to clarify when bad means bad and when bad means good - so once a week we're going to get with a rapper and ask them to explain things. Have something you always wanted to ask a rapper? Email it to introducingliston@gmail.com.

This Week's Subject(s): Casting Scarface with Houston Rappers

At the tail end of last week's Guide To Which Houston Rappers You Should And Should Not Fight, there was a little blurb that said to email us if you were a rapper and were left off of the list but wanted to be included.

Now, the list was more than 70 rappers long, so you can imagine our surprise when our inbox filled up with emails from a seemingly uncountable number of guys and girls who had been left off. Most of them we knew about, or have known about, but left them off because they stink. But one email stood out a little more than the rest. It was Thurogood Wordsmith, who happens to be a thoroughly good wordsmith (Ehh, ehh, you see what we did there?).

A few others will be added in due time, but he absolutely should've been on the original. That was a mistake. As an amends, we hit him up and asked him to answer one question for us for this week's Ask A Rapper.

Ask A Rapper: Devin the Dude is apparently going to have a pretty hefty role in an upcoming movie called Hillbilly Highway. The premise of it makes it sound like Harold and Kumar go to White Castle, except with black people. First impressions: We don't think there's any way that it can be bad. But it brings up another topic that we wanted to talk about.

You don't see too many Houston rappers venture into the acting world. So let's do this. Let's film our own movie. And let's only use rappers to fill the role. And since we're using rappers, that movie would have to be Scarface. We'll throw the parts out to you, you tell us who should play them and why. Ready? Bam.

Note: As always, our notes are underneath in italics.

Why: Because he represents a rise to the top and eventual exit from the established yet emerging Houston rap scene. And just like Tony and Manny, Pimp and Bun came from Cuba.....err, Port Arthur with the motivation to rise from the Underground to become Kings of a new trade.

This is exactly who we picked as well, for exactly the same reason.

Manny Ribera: Bun B

Why: He's the likable gangster with rationale and intelligence. Plus, Pimp C is Tony so it's only natural that Bun is Manny.

True. Also, Bun is short for "Bunny," which is pretty close to "Manny."

Frank Lopez: J.Prince

Why: A true O.G. who is well-established on the scene, J. Prince has garnered a reputation for working with politicians and criminals at the same time. These two play both sides of the fence to get ahead.

Nice pick here, but perhaps nicer than even he had intended. Remember in the movie when Frank sets up that assassination attempt on Montana, only it doesn't happen like it was supposed to? One of the longstanding Rap-A-Lot rumors among hip-hop heads is that J-Prince once had Master P scoop up Pimp C, throw him in the trunk of a car and threaten his life. Of course, that has never been substantiated.