A video of Nas’ audition for Paid in Full has surfaced online. In the clip, the legendary New York rapper reads for the character of Rico. He ended up losing the role to fellow rapper Cam’ron. The film was released in 2002, and while unsuccessful at the box office at the time, has since developed a cult following.
Fans had mixed reactions to Nas’ performance in his audition. One user argued they were glad he lost out to Cam’ron. They wrote: “Nobody could’ve played that role better than Cam….thank God Nas ain’t get it!” Another critiqued: “An introvert trying to be extroverted.”
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One user on Twitter brought up the rapper later being cast in Hype Williams’ film, Belly. They joked: “Hype Williams ego had to be the size of Texas to look at this audition tape and think ‘I’m going to make Nas an even bigger star.'” As for Belly, he played the character Sincere and starred opposite DMX, Taral Hicks, Method Man, T-Boz, and more. Check out his audition tape for Paid In Full below.
Nas Auditions For “Paid In Full”
<p dir=”ltr” lang=”en”>Nas Paid In Full audition tape for the role of Rico …I know Dame Dash was dying laughing in Nas face. Nas ran up out of there and went home and wrote Ether pic.twitter.com/rVxQnbYgdk
— BIG MALCOLM X PLAY COUSIN (@Omowale99949437)
While Nas’ acting career may have never panned out, over two decades into his music career, he’s still on a roll. He recently finished up both his King’s Disease and Magic trilogies with Hit-Boy. The first King’s Disease album notched Nas his first win at the Grammy Awards after taking home Best Rap Album. Be on the lookout for further updates on Nas on HotNewHipHop.
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