While his major label debut remains in limbo, West Coast G-Unit representative Spider Loc will add one more performance to his growing resume as an actor.
The Compton-native will join the cast of popular TNT drama Saving Grace for the show’s summer finale tonight (August 18) at 10pm EST.
Spider, born Curtis Williams, will appear in the Oklahoma City-based police drama as Marquise in an episode titled “Am I Gonna Die Tonight?”
Details about the character or how he relates to the title character, Police Detective Grace Hanadarko, played by Academy Award winner Holly Hunter, have not been released.
Since making his debut in 2004 in the heist comedy Bank Brothers, Spider Loc has appeared in several high-profile television shows, including Showtime’s Weeds, CBS’s Numb3rs and a two episode arc on CBS’s Cold Case.
Despite immediately landing rolls on a-list shows, Spider says he hasn’t been able to fully explore his talent.
“It’s been natural for me to clown or mimic people, thoughts, and ideas all my life,” the 30-year-old told AllHipHop.com. “I haven’t really gotten the chance to display the range of my ability since the street image [of] my music career seems to lead agents into a path of type casting me. “I’ve just recently began to deny different things and make a demand for a broader choice of characters,” the rapper revealed. “Initially it’s like “f**k it, it’s a check.” And it’s still “f**k it’s a check,” but it’s like “F**k that, where the other checks?” It’s not the only check I want.”
Continuing his search for more challenging material, Spider Loc will appear in two movies this year – the crime thriller Rollers about a group of Arizona State University students who operate a major drug ring by night; and the romantic comedy Doesn’t Texas Ever End, which is currently still in production. Next year he is set to appear in the satire Hollywont.
“I’m anticipating the opportunity to explore deeper into my ability as an actor,” Spider shared. “It’s funny because now that I have acted a handful of times, I watch TV and movies from a whole other angle. Instead of focusing on just the story, I’m constantly aware and thinking about the fact that they are repeating lines, that there are a lot of more people in the room that we don’t see, and I’m critiquing the actors on their performance.”
The Hollywood aspirations have not taken the gritty rapper away from his music. He is currently prepping the release of his 20-th mixtape in as many months, in an effort to bypass the “traffic jam” created by label bureaucracy.
“At this point, I’m looking at the rap game like I did before I got a deal,” he explained. “What I mean by that is every time I got into a position to battle a n***a or to display my MC’in skills, I not only wanted to say the dopest s**t, but also have more of it than anybody else…just wondering when folks are gonna take the time to listen and keep it real and give me more than Crip credit. I fully fulfilled the requirements to hold that title, it was far less difficult to do than most may imagine. There is so much more to Spi than that.”
Spider Loc’s full “Mixtape a Month Madness” catalogue can be found online at www.spiindastreets.com.
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