Complex Blog » Harvey Keitel

Marcy To Hollywood: 10 Actor Cameos In Jay-Z Videos

intern — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 22:20:21 +0000

One of the few bright spots of last night’s BET Awards actually happened after the show was over. That moment would be the post-show premiere of Jay-Z’s video for “Death Of Autotune” (which we featured as today’s Wake N’ Watch video).

In classic Hov fashion, the clip features some heavy cameos, most notably celebrated actor Harvey Keitel, who joins the rapper for a mafia-style game of cards. But this is nothing new—Jay has a history of scoring actors to appear in his videos. Take a look back at 10 of Hov’s Best Hollywood Cameos…

ACTRESS: Carmen Electra
VIDEO: “Girls, Girls, Girls” [Watch It]
ROLE: Channeling Bo Derek as a “French chick that loves to French kiss.” Taraji P. Henson and Tamala Jones also show up.

ACTOR: Chris Penn
VIDEO: “Can I Get A…” [Watch It]
ROLE: The now deceased Reservoir Dogs actor (and brother of Sean Penn) keeps the drinks flowing as a dancing bartender in this clip.

ACTOR: John Witherspoon
VIDEO: “I Just Wanna Love U (Give It 2 Me)” [Watch It]
ROLE: Doesn’t it seem like he’s been in a million rap videos? This time he’s the nosy neighbor who can’t stand the constant partying. Bang bang bang bang!

ACTRESS: Kelly Ripa
VIDEO: “Change Clothes” [Watch It]
ROLE: Mostly known as a TV personality these days, Ripa got her start in soap operas and sitcoms. In this video, she sits by the runway at a fashion show with her husband (who probably came to keep Peedi Crakk away from his wife).

ACTOR: Lance Reddick
VIDEO: “‘03 Bonnie & Clyde” [Watch It]
ROLE: Similar to his role in The Wire, Reddick plays a cop.

ACTRESS: Pamela Anderson
VIDEO: “Hey Papi” [Watch It]
ROLE: Before ‘Ye snagged her for the “Touch The Sky” video, big brother Hov used the ultimate blond bombshell as eye candy in this soundtrack jam.

ACTOR: Michael Rapaport
VIDEO: “City Is Mine” [Watch It]
ROLE: Another actor in a Jay-Z video, another cop role. This just in: Michael Rapaport loves hip-hop.

ACTOR: Joe Torry
VIDEO: “Who You Wit” [Watch It]
ROLE: This record was on the Sprung soundtrack, so it’s only right that it featured Torry (who starred in the film) as the announcer at Hov’s Player’s Ball.

ACTOR: Hassan Johnson
VIDEO: “Anything” [Watch It]
ROLE: Another guy from The Wire, but this time he’s playing a guy who prospers from the projects to spoil his mom, not a pig.

ACTOR: Zoe Kravitz
VIDEO: “I Know” [Watch It]
ROLE: Lenny Kravitz and Lisa Bonet’s smoking hot daughter does what she does best in this video: Walking around while looking hot.

Wake N’ Watch: Jay-Z “D.O.A. (Death of Autotune)” Video

bfred — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 12:00:21 +0000

First Jay comes out for a surprise performance at the BET Awards (Puff looked like he wanted to sing along if only he didn’t have an Autotune album dropping in 3 months), then he drops the world premiere of the “D.O.A.” video on us during the After Party. The Anthony Mandler-directed clip has everything you’d expect from a back-to-basics Hov banger: shit being blown up, a card game with Harvey Keitel and some one-on-one with LeBron. Oh, wow…wow!

There’s A New Bad Lieutenant In Town

prubin — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 16:59:56 +0000

Variety is reporting that Val Kilmer and Xzibit are the latest to sign on to Werner Herzog’s update of Abel Ferrara’s 1992 crooked-cop classic Bad Lieutenant. The new version'which Herzog is claiming is not a remake, but a continuation'stars Nic Cage, though we doubt Ol’ Melty Face can hold a candle to Harvey Keitel’s original performance.

Keitel’s drugged-out, alcoholic, minor-raping, compulsively gambling scumbag paved the way for Denzel’s Training Day tour de force and reinforced what quite a few of us already thought about the boys in blue (word to Spider Loc). After the jump, check out a few famous moments from the original flick, as well as the Schoolly D banger “Signifying Rapper,” which was featured prominently in the movie (and was ultimately cut from the VHS version after Jimmy Page’s bitch ass complained about the same “Kashmir” sample that he later gave to Puffy).

Schoolly D “Signifying Rapper”

Harvey Keitel gets heated with Daryl Strawberry:

Smoking bones in the staircase:

The bodega chronicles:

[Variety]