Top 5 Rapper Turned Actors?

Seeing that Will Smith has a new movie coming out, "The Pursuit of Happyness", it's a good time to examine some rapper turned actor roles floating around... 1)Will Smith as Ali - Top actor easily, he was even nominated for the best actor grammy award, showing that Smith has great acting range. He's done other successful roles including "Men in Black" (1 and 2), "Independence Day" and "I, Robot". He got his start as himself on the hit TV show "Fresh Prince of Bel Air", which still airs on reruns on TV Land now and is still one of the funnier sitcoms around. 2)Ludacris in "Hustle N Flow" & "Crash" - Ludacris is showing that he can be a very promising actor. His performances in the aforementioned movies were both solid. He hasn't had many roles above the gangsta, hustler or criminal type character yet, so we aren't too sure what he's got. He also hosted SNL recently. Despite the show's recent downhill sketches, Luda held his own. 3)Ice T as Detective Tutuolo on Law and Order: SVU - Ice plays a rather straight role here; the tough-guy detective with street sense. He doesnt really show a ton of dynamic range, but he's been successful for many seasons now in this role and hasn't been "kicked off", so he can't be all that bad. Many love Ice as the hard-nosed street style cop in "New Jack City" as well. Ice has been mostly doing episodes of SVU lately, aside from his "reality project" on VH1. 4)2PAC - Would probably be up at the 2 spot if his life hadn't been cut so short. He's been in great roles in Poetic Justice, Above the Rim, Grid Lock'd and several others. RIP to a true legend in rap and entertainment. 5)Ice Cube & Eminem - tie - Cube hasn't exactly had a hugely successful role yet. "XXX" was a letdown in terms of cheesy, unbelievable special efx and the overall plot and revenue made. "Are We There Yet?" I have not seen and don't plan to, so I won't comment. Cube was in the hugely successful movie "Barbershop" so he does show promise as an actor, so keep an eye out for better roles in the future. Slim Shady received rave reviews off this performance, his only one so far. It should be interesting to see if he gives more in the future, or if this was his "1 shot". I wouldn't be surprised to see him doing more acting and even directing/producing in the future. So can Will Smith turns in another solid performance in his latest film, opening, December 15, 2006 in theaters. He is also the most mainstream rapper of the list (in terms of household name/popularity, etc), but to leave him out of a valid discussion of the roots of hip-hop and especially its comedic side would be to ignore one part of hip-hop completely.