Yahoo News Moonlight Oscar winner Mahershala Ali raps too
On Sunday night, Mahershala Ali cemented his position as a permanent fixture in major movies with an Oscar for Supporting Actor in Moonlight.
Moonlight was far from a breakout role, with Ali having given memorable performances in House of Cards, The Hunger Games series, Luke Cage and more, but before his TV and film career started popping, he dabbled in hip-hop.
Under the name Prince Ali, Mahershala released a couple of records in the mid-2000s and scored a feature on Rakaa Iriscience of Dilated Peoples’ album Curb Side Service.
You can hear him in action below from 0:55, his flow having a little Killer Mike and even Andre 3000 to it (allowing me to forgive the low budget video production).
Ali might have ended up focusing on acting, but hip-hop remains ingrained in him (he still makes a playlist for each character he portrays).
Last year her told XXL:
“Hip-hop has definitely had a strong, perhaps the strongest influence on my life. I don’t think I’m at all unique with that. I think there’s so many people of color, and even White kids, that have been tolerating the stresses of their own problems and what not and were able to navigate so many things through the culture of hip-hop and create jobs, have opportunities and been able to express themselves and finding their identity in. I think that’s true with so many people, definitely with me. It’s an appendage. It’s a part of me.”
