ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, October 23, 1996 TAG: 9610230024
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JENNIFER BOWLES ASSOCIATED PRESS
Suddenly, it seems that there are more rappers on TV than there are back in the 'hood. Programmers are looking to rap stars to help reach the young and hip audiences advertisers love.
``Any presold commodity is a good thing,'' says Janeen Bjork, vice president of Seltel, which advises station clients on program purchases. ``A rap star with a following brings some added benefit that distinguishes one show from the other.''
Advice duly noted by Ralph Farquhar, producer of UPN's hot sitcom ``Moesha,'' starring R&B vocalist Brandy Norwood as the very cool 15-year-old Moesha Mitchell.
This season, Farquhar brought in young Fredro Starr from the hard-core rap group Onyx as Moesha's boyfriend.
``Much like Brandy, he has an audience already through his group and the fact that he's a superb actor is a producer's dream come true,'' Farquhar says.
``When you put them on TV you bring that huge audience they have and as we get more competitive, we're all competing for that 18-34 demographic. You got to get a leg up,'' he says. ``Those are the hardest ones to get because they don't watch much TV.''
Aside from Starr, other TV rappers include LL Cool J of UPN's ``In the House,'' and Queen Latifah of Fox's ``Living Single.''
And Tone Loc, the gravelly voiced rapper behind the 1989 hit ``Wild Thing,'' is now the voice of an animated bear in ``C-Bear and Jamal,'' which premiered this fall on the Fox Children's Network.
Coolio, the wild-braided rapper whose hit ``Gangsta's Paradise'' was used in the film ``Dangerous Minds,'' appeared as a human-development counselor on this season's pilot of the ABC-TV series.
The show's producers, a spokeswoman said, are trying to arrange more guest shots for Coolio around his rapping obligations.
``It seems to be an easy transition into acting because rappers deal with the spoken word in their particular art form,'' Farquhar says.
With no acting lessons, ``Moesha's'' 22-year-old Starr had previously appeared in the movie ``Sunset Park'' and had bit parts in other feature films.
``Rappers bring a natural feeling to the TV screen,'' Starr says. ``Most rappers were the most popular kid in high school and they're just taking it to another level on the screen.''
Starr's rapping talents are used on the show, although he'll be a bystander during a two-part concert episode airing Nov. 5 featuring rappers A Tribe Called Quest and MC Lyte, along with several hip-hop and R&B acts.
Will Smith was actually the first rapper with his own TV series - ``Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,'' which ended a six-year run in May. Queen Latifah got her first taste of TV as a guest on ``Fresh Prince'' before she landed a spot on ``Living Single,'' now in its fourth year.
``This was an adjustment,'' Latifah says, ``because people were writing for me and they were putting words in my mouth instead of me.''
Rappers, though, have ``such animated personas so you become someone else. You also have to act in your rap performance, and rappers have a rhythm and acting is all timing and rhythm.''
The demand for rappers also puts more blacks on TV, although not necessarily on the more established networks. Since ``In the House,'' went to UPN this season, NBC doesn't have any shows that star blacks.
The fledgling networks, says Bjork, ``are more likely to seek out a young audience because they're trying to reach the unserved and be focused and targeted.
``They know there's too much white bread over there,'' she says of the other networks.
Latifah hopes that won't last long.
``The more that we work,'' she says, ``the more we'll get respect as actors.''
LENGTH: Medium: 74 linesby CNB