Entertainment

Kendrick Lamar wins raves for his 'Power' appearance

Kendrick Lamar has already won multiple Grammy Awards and Pulitzer. Now there is speculation that an Emmy could be in his future following the rapper's primetime acting debut Sunday on the Starz drama "Power."

Posted Updated

By
Lisa Respers France (CNN)

Kendrick Lamar has already won multiple Grammy Awards and Pulitzer. Now there is speculation that an Emmy could be in his future following the rapper's primetime acting debut Sunday on the Starz drama "Power."

Lamar portrayed a homeless drug addict named Laces who assists 50 Cent's character.

"Power" viewers, famous and otherwise, hailed K. Dot's performance.

Anthony "Top Dawg" Tiffith, the president of Lamar's record label, dubbed the rapper "Kenzel," merging his name with esteemed actor Denzel Washington.

That led to Lamar jokingly being called "Kenzel Comptington" -- as he is famously from Compton, California.

The Wrap reported that "Power" showrunner Courtney Kemp said Lamar told his friend 50 Cent -- who is also one of the show's producers -- he was interested in appearing on the series.

"And then I got on the phone with Kendrick and said, 'What do you want to play?' 'Cause that's my favorite thing to ask an actor," Kemp recalled. "'What do you want to do that you've never done before?' That's my favorite question. And then he said, 'You know, I'd like to play' -- well, he didn't say 'drug addict,' but he used a different word [laughs]. But so then we created the character Laces."

Copyright 2024 by Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company. All rights reserved.