Spike Lee praises A$AP Rocky’s acting opposite Denzel Washington
A$AP Rocky stars in Spike Lee’s new movie Highest 2 Lowest, which will be released in cinemas on August 15th. Before its release, Lee praised the Harlem rapper for his acting ability.
The film stars Rocky alongside the legendary Denzel Washington, Jeffrey Wright, and another New York rapper, Ice Spice.
During his appearance on The Tonight Show, the director claimed Rocky’s performance was on par with Denzel’s, despite his lack of screen appearances.
“Yeah, don’t sleep on A$AP,” he said. “In this film, Denzel and A$AP go toe-to-toe. What’s interesting is, even before I got involved with this film, I always thought that A$AP looked like he could be Denzel’s son. There’s a big resemblance. So when you see it on the screen, it adds an element of father and son.
“Don’t sleep on A$AP. I’ve done five films with Denzel, and a lot of times when he’s in a scene with somebody, they just get overwhelmed. He’s one of the greatest living actors today, but A$AP wasn’t having that. Toe-to-toe, I mean, they were going at it.”
Earlier this year, Rocky reflected on working with Denzel. “It was an honour, man,” he said. “It’s Denzel, he’s one of the greatest actors of all time. Just take race out of it, take gender out of it, he’s just one of the greatest.”
He also described Denzel as a “hip-hop encyclopaedia,” revealing he listens to Memphis rappers like Pooh Shiesty, Moneybagg Yo, and NLE Choppa.
“People think I’m lying – people think I’m saying this shit to sound cool and make headlines,” he said. “I’m dead fucking serious, this is what the dude do. I ain’t one of them type of guys. That’s what he’s on. And I find it fascinating and relatable that this man, who is 70 years old, is like, he’s not curious, he’s of the culture.”