Azealia Banks To Star In 8 Mile-Style Rap Drama Directed By RZA

Add "actress" to Azealia Banks' résumé of rapper, singer, and professional shit-talker. The Hollywood Reporter says that Banks has been tapped to star in It Doesn't Have To Rhyme, which they describe as being "similar in tone to 8 Mile." The film will be directed by RZA, who made his directorial debut in 2012 with the Russell Crowe-starring The Man With The Iron Fists. Banks will play a college student/rapper who enrolls in a poetry course in improve her skills, but gets drawn into the world of slam poetry instead. She joins a cast that also includes Common, Jill Scott, and Lorraine Toussaint. It starts shooting in New York this week.