It seems loving bad bitches is not 2 Chainz’s only problem. Apparently, the Georgia rapper has long struggled with stomach issues, so he’s taken the logical next step of releasing his sophomore album B.O.A.T.S. II: Me Time, slated to drop this Wednesday, with a companion cookbook. “I just want to come probably with my own little array of swag aprons with the cookbook. That will probably get me on The View or something like that,” he told XXL Mag. On the menu? Dishes like “a swagged out take” on Eggs Benedict—with low-fat turkey bacon.
It turns out 2 Chainz isn’t alone in discovering the joy of cooking (and not just as a reference to making crack that crops up in many a hip-hop verse). It’s been more than 15 years since Biggie rapped about chocolate milk and butter crunch cookies on “Sky’s the Limit.” From Action Bronson to Questlove and Three Six Mafia, we round up the best (and weirdest) forays into the kitchen.
Snoop Makes Martha’s Mom’s Mashed Potatoes
In this staple of the “rappers cooking” genre, Snoop Lion (né Dogg) makes mashed potatoes with iconic homemaker Martha Stewart, long before her day-drinking-with-Michael-Cera days. Snoop has come prepared with a bottle of cognac shaped like a curvy lady. One disgruntled commenter on Martha’s blog writes, “Martha, yesterday [sic] show with Snoop Dogg was confusing to me. Is this the new language for our teens? Hey, but I loved your mothers mashed potatoes. Groovy!” Groovy, indeed.
Bonus: Snoop makes brownies with Martha Stewart but can’t contain his frustration that they’re missing “the most important part of the brownies.” Martha plays coy, but she knows what’s up.
Wale Barbecues with Models
In case you weren’t aware, Jay Z curates a YouTube channel, “JAY Z’S Life + Times,” which he describes as a “digital experience.” It features “Well Dunn with Jourdan Dunn,” a cooking show based mainly on the Hot Girls Doing Stuff model of entertainment (see also: Kate Upton). Here, Dunn is joined by the rapper Wale, who teaches her how to pronounce the word “molasses,” and the pair cook chicken while dressed in seasonally inappropriate beanies. Wale doesn’t know much about cooking, but he learns by asking the heavy-hitting questions, like “Which one is the tablespoon?”
Lil B Does the Cooking Dance
Lil B is a mystery wrapped in an enigma wrapped in a song about Ellen Degeneres. He is also the force behind the “cooking dance,” which he says is not about drugs and has been performed by the likes of Diddy and a sizable portion of the NFL. Lil B maintains that he has the power to promote people through the ranks of head chef, top chef, and master chef, spawning many cooking videos across the Internet. What does it take to become a master chef? Only Lil B can say.
Raekwon the Chef Seasons Salmon
Given the frequency of drug references on Raekwon the Chef’s Only Built 4 Cuban Linx, it’s widely believed that the Wu-Tang rapper’s name isn’t actually a reference to food—but he clearly picked up some skills in all his time spent in the kitchen. Here, he seasons salmon like a pro and dishes out lessons about the importance of cleanliness and seasoning. Raekwon also knows his way around a piece of chicken, living up to his name.
Flavor Flav Fries the Perfect Chicken
Flavor Flav of Public Enemy fame has spent most of his recent time in the spotlight looking for love on the three seasons of VH1’s Flavor of Love. But Flav is also a cooking school veteran with a passion for chicken that led him to open Flav’s Fried Chicken in Iowa, House of Flavor in Vegas, and Flavor Flav’s Chicken & Ribs. Here, he explains the secret to the perfect chicken—but considering none of the restaurants lasted too long, you might want to take it with a grain of salt.
Action Bronson Sears some Ahi Tuna
Before his career in hip-hop took off, Action Bronson went to culinary school and worked in a restaurant; this explains why he’s probably the only rapper around who would rap about organic produce in the same verse as “your grandma’s butt.” Along with describing his farm-fresh ingredients and “figs at the peak of their ripeness” on his track “Tapas.” Action has a YouTube cooking show “Action in the Kitchen,” where he cooks things like “sushi-grade seared Ahi tuna.” Action don’t play around. But hey, if you don’t like it, you can always do as he advises and “take your ass back to Red Lobster.”
