Bow Wow sought advice from Ice Cube when he was up for a role in the Big Momma’s House franchise.
The rapper and actor was a guest on the Wednesday (February 4) episode of podcast Effective Immediately, where he reflected on auditioning for the role of Trent Pierce in Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son. The franchise starred actor-comedian Martin Lawrence in the lead role of Malcolm Turner/Big Momma, while Brandon T. Jackson would take over the role as Pierce, succeeding Jascha Washington.
Around the 1:04:00 mark of the episode, Bow Wow recounted that he ran into Jackson at the screen test after they starred in comedy Lottery Ticket. “And then you know what's crazy is, you know how Hollywood works. I call Cube. Lottery ticket went out. … What up, man? I need some advice. I never call for advice, but I need you on this.”
Bow Wow added that he thought being in Big Mommas would solidify his acting career “for the long haul,” which the former N.W.A. member pushed back on. Cube also played in Lottery Ticket as Mr. Washington, while Bow contributed to the first Big Momma’s House soundtrack on “Bounce With Me.”
Bow Wow explained that he “looked at the wardrobe” during the screen test and the furthest he got was “putting on a necklace,” neglecting to wear stockings or a dress.
“And I said, ‘I can’t do this shit,’” Bow Wow added. “And Cube was like basically like, ‘You want to rap?; I said, ‘Of course.’ ‘Okay. Well, you know what happened in rap? You know that image going to live on forever [if] you do that movie. You got to think about the long haul, man.’”
He added, “‘I just think that you got time for that cuz I feel like [clears throat] if you take that role, you showing everybody, Fuck this music shit. I'm going to the left with it.”
Bow Wow concluded that the role appeared to be written for him in mind, as Pierce had a rap scene in Big Mommas. Jackson would later claim that Big Mommas “cursed” his acting career because he wore a dress.
“Everything went wrong when I put on that dress," he said on a 2019 episode of Comedy Hype. "It was a negative changing point. My personal life was in shambles at that time. It was horrible."