Rappers with TV Shows

Rappers with TV shows include both established rappers who have transitioned onto the small screen to star in scripted and reality television series as well as actors who have made the leap from television to music.

Way before rappers like Diddy, T.I. and Flavor Flav were starring on reality television series on networks like MTV and VH1, one young rapper was killing it on the Billboard charts and the small screen. Will Smith was that rapper and actor as he rose to fame starring in "The Fresh Prince of Bel Air" and rapping as the Fresh Prince alongside DJ Jazzy Jeff. Smith went on to have a long and wildly successful entertainment career.

Just like Will Smith, many rappers made the move to acting and saw great success as a result. Ice-T brought his gangsta rap style to the long-running "Law & Order" series as a main cast member of "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit." LL Cool J, who also appeared in several movies, can now be seen as a lead on the CBS procedural "NCIS: Los Angeles." Rapper Common joined the AMC network with a role on the western series "Hell on Wheels."

For other rappers, the road to becoming a television star skipped the script in favor of reality TV. The likes of Diddy, T.I., 50 Cent, Snoop Dogg and Flavor Flav have all appeared on their own reality shows. While some shows were more successful than others, fans flocked to the chance to see inside the daily lives of their favorite rappers.

Not all of the crossovers were successful but each attempt allowed fans to see another side of the top '90s rappers and the top '00s rappers. Which rap star of today will be the next big thing in television? Stay tuned fans, as these various music-to-television transitions have shown us, anything is possible.