rises from the ashes as a rapper - The Ampersand

Remember when Joaquin Phoenix announced that he was quitting acting last October? And that he was doing it to become a musician?

Well, a bearded and bedraggled Phoenix performed his first announced concert over the weekend, according to Las Vegas Review-Journal columnist Doug Elfman.  It was a real head-scratcher too, seeing has how Phoneix rapped (you read that correctly – rapped) the whole time.

It was also a head-scratcher because nobody’s sure if this is some kind of strange hoax a-la Andy Kaufman or if Phoenix is actually trying to build viability as a musician. It doesn’t help that the entire escapade is being documented on film by his brother-in-law, Casey Affleck.

But Phoenix personally told Elfman that this is no hoax, that he is actually putting himself out there, risking outright rejection, to pursue what he wants to do: “I have to be true to myself,” he said.

Reactions to Phoenix’s performance were mixed, Elfman writes, with some people cheering and others saying “he sounded like Big Bird.”

Still, Elfman is offering this sage advice to Phoenix:

“Do the art you want to do; if you compromise and fail, you’ll hate yourself.”