WARNING: This Article May Contain Spoilers
Born O’Shea Jackson Jr, OMG is an American rapper turned actor. If his birth name is familiar to any of you – it should be. He is the son of another subject of this section, Ice Cube, and he genuinely looks like his father. Talk about following in his footsteps, the fact that their careers seem to mirror each other.
Den of Thieves
I actually originally decided to watch this film for 50 Cent but that turned out to be a pretty pointless idea – however it opened up this opportunity. Jackson’s character of Donnie reminds me of the role played by Tom Hardy in The Drop, a good guy caught up in a bad world. Of course, he’s not perfect which is how he ends up in the situation he’s in but he tries to make the best out of it. Unfortunately this leaves him caught between the Devil and the deep blue sea – the gang leader Merrimen and Big Nick, Lieutenant of the LA Sheriff’s Department. Well, I say this so that I don’t give too much away but prepare yourself for a twist in the tale. With this being only his third feature length film – it’s difficult to comment on exactly how good an actor he is but it’s good to see him taking on more serious roles instead of taking the comedic route like his father.
Long Shot
Is it wrong that because his character of Lance is partnered up with Seth Rogen’s part of the story, I actually didn’t care too much about O’Shea’s part in this film. However, the fact that Lance is basically Fred’s hype-man and best friend, it’s the only thing that makes Seth Rogan’s character reasonably bearable. Unfortunately, this also means that his character is also a small role in comparison to the rest of the film so I have basically said everything I can say about him. Now, none of this means that I don’t like the premise of this film because I do (even though it’s quite clearly supposed to be a rom-com) – it’s all about the presidential run of Charlotte Field in becoming the first female President of America. It was apt timing for the film as well as it was around the time of Hilary Clinton vs Donald Trump.
Straight Outta Compton
You know how I mentioned right at the very beginning that O’Shea is Ice Cube’s son…well I wonder if you can figure out who he played in this film? Well, if you guessed that he plays his own father then you would be absolutely right. The likeness is so bang on that I didn’t need them to bring up his name to know who he was! This film depicts the rise and fall of the N.W.A – the hip hop group that Ice Cube was part of along with Dr Dre, DJ Yella and Eazy-E – but this also helps document the rise of Ice Cube. In the beginning, there is a subtext of gang crime and all that comes with it. Including the discrimination by the police assuming that all the black kids they see are “gang-bangers”. This was actually O’Shea’s first full credit in a film. The crazier part is – when you first hear O’Shea rap, I honestly think he sounds like his dad too. They also stick to the fact that Ice Cube was already in a group when Dre was trying was to set up the N.W.A. Of course because Eazy-E and Dre were the founding members they have the bigger roles in the film but they still give fair representation to the other members.
Honorary Mentions
Funnily enough, outside of Ingrid Goes West, these three films are actually his earliest credits! In the same year as Long Shot, O’Shea starred in Godzilla: King of Monsters and Just Mercy after which he took a four year break before his next film role in Cocaine Bear. If you haven’t seen it – definitely worth a watch. In the meantime, he starred in TV Series such as Obi-Wan Kenobi and The Now.
