--- description: "It's the 'Big Chill' of hip-hop" title: Chris Rock and Questlove Talk the Greatest MCs of All Time and Collaborating on New Movie 'Top Five' image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcc6d6d5b607a3236/69876e10cd1bba17666f4192/chris-rock.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [movies](/tag/movies/) ## movies Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Chris Rock and Questlove Talk the Greatest MCs of All Time and Collaborating on New Movie _Top Five_ by [Joe Levy / Billboard](/author/billboard/) ## Joe Levy / Billboard Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 10, 2014 8:56 PM CUT  Chris Rock attends the "Top Five" premiere on Dec. 3, 2014 in New York City. Chris Rock attends the "Top Five" premiere on Dec. 3, 2014 in New York City.Mike Pont—FilmMagic by [Joe Levy / Billboard](/author/billboard/) ## Joe Levy / Billboard Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 10, 2014 8:56 PM CUT It’s a cold November morning, and Chris Rock has come to meet Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson at his office, which is also his dressing room and his studio, on the sixth floor of 30 Rock, where [Jimmy Fallon](http://www.billboard.com/artist/304687/jimmy-fallon/chart "undefined") shoots _The Tonight Show_. Questlove, 43 — the drummer for [The Roots](http://www.billboard.com/artist/419012/roots/chart "undefined"), Fallon’s house band — is the executive music producer and co-composer of the score for _Top Five_, which Rock, 49, wrote, directed and stars in. The film (in theaters Dec. 12 through Paramount) is a day in the life of stand-up comic turned movie star Andre Allen, who’s trying to stay sober, get married and turn the corner on becoming a serious actor (his audience, like Woody Allen’s in _Stardust Memories_, prefers his early, funny films). Hip-hop is woven throughout the movie: [Jay Z](http://www.billboard.com/artist/304305/jay-z/chart "undefined") and [Kanye West](http://www.billboard.com/artist/276709/kanye-west/chart "undefined")‘s “Ni–as in Paris” functions as a theme song (the rappers are co-producers of _Top Five_), and one of the standout scenes features Rock as Allen debating the greatest MCs of all time with friends and family. The soundtrack is packed with classic hip-hop from [Slick Rick](http://www.billboard.com/artist/279586/slick-rick/chart "undefined"), [LL Cool J](http://www.billboard.com/artist/276751/ll-cool-j/chart "undefined") and [Scarface](http://www.billboard.com/artist/278349/scarface/chart "undefined"), and there is a surprising cameo from [DMX](http://www.billboard.com/artist/300046/dmx/chart "undefined"), who displays a Will Ferrell-level of commitment to his bit. “We had a small budget but I spent all day shooting that one scene,” says Rock. “We probably did it 80 times. I was on some \[David\] Fincher sh\*t for that: I got every angle.” **How did you two team up for** **_Top Five_** **?** **Rock:** I love Ahmir. First, he’s a good guy; second, he’s a fabulous musician; and most importantly, you can find him. **Questlove:** From 11 to 7 I’m in this building. **Rock:** I remember \[Jim\] Jarmusch telling me stories about _Ghost Dog_, “Every now and then I had to meet [RZA](http://www.billboard.com/artist/277297/rza/chart "undefined") \[who did the music for the 1999 movie\] at a White Castle in the Bronx and he’d give me a DAT tape.” I’m too old to be going to White Castles in the Bronx at four in the morning. **Questlove:** I heard about the folklore of _Top Five_, because the buzz of it actually started a year and a half before, based on the table read. I’d like to thank this man: I’ve never had a bevy of the finest working actresses in Hollywood call me out of the blue. And then their ninth question was always, “So… do you know Chris Rock?” All of black Hollywood was clambering… **Rock:** And beige Hollywood. **Questlove:** All of non-white Hollywood was clambering to be part of this. Someone told me it’s the first non-minstrel-based, low-caliber comedy. It’s just regular people, and that’s very hard to portray with African Americans onscreen. I felt like it was going to be historic. I have that one sense-of-purpose thing every year. Like 2008 was campaigning for Obama, this year… **Rock:** So does that mean eventually white people aren’t going to like this movie? **When you talked about the music used in the film, what was the conversation?** **Questlove:** He had shown me the rough cut, and what spoke to me more than any of the characters was the invisible character of what I call midlife crisis hip-hop. I was like, “Wow, finally there is a film that appeals to my generation and its inability to grow up.” We’re first generation hip-hoppers. How do you belong to a culture that celebrates being 16, 17, 18? How do you grow up? This is one of the first films that really deals with it. **Rock:** It’s the _Big Chill_ of hip-hop. **Rock, you’ve talked about Top Five’s reference to** **_Stardust Memories_** **. What about Nick Hornby’s** **_High Fidelity_** **?** **Rock:** You’re right. It’s very Nick Hornby. Whenever I hire a new manager they always go, “What kind of movie do you want to be in?” I always say, “I would be great in _High Fidelity_.” I love Cusack, everything he does. When you’re a black guy, all they have for you are fake [Eddie Murphy](http://www.billboard.com/artist/301421/eddie-murphy/chart "undefined") movies. No disrespect to any of them — _Rush Hour_, _Ride Along_, whatever — if you don’t want to do one of those, they don’t know what the f– to do with you. And I go, “You know, me and John Cusack are the same f–ing age. As a matter of fact, I’ve seen him play a dad. He’s got no kids. I’m f—in’ married with kids.” **_High Fidelity_** **is about the male obsession with list making, and women are left out of that. But in this movie, the women are right in there.** **Rock:** They got to be, because black people, it’s a matriarchal society. We always go, “Wow, how would the world be if women ran the world?” Just look at black people. That’s pretty much it. You can’t make a boy-centric movie about black people. **You can’t make** **_CB4_** **right now?** **Rock:** You can make it but no one’s going to see it. All the money is in the women. Tyler Perry figured this out: Black men don’t feel slighted by movies. There is always a [Tyrese](http://www.billboard.com/artist/430663/tyrese/chart "undefined")[ Gibson](http://www.billboard.com/artist/430663/tyrese/chart "undefined") or somebody doing something. When black guys see _Transformers_ or whatever, they don’t feel left out. But you can go to five movies without seeing a black woman. There’s no black women in _Interstellar_. If you go down the 10 Oscar movies right now, there’s no black women in _Birdman_. Nothing. So when you making a movie for black people you better have really, really great women parts or you’re doing yourself a disservice. **Rock’s Top 5 Rappers** 1. Kanye West: “The last couple of [Jay Z](http://www.billboard.com/artist/304305/jay-z/chart "undefined") records are OK, but Kanye is the best rapper right now.” 2. Drake: “He’s coming up and cannot be ignored.” 3. Rick Ross: “The only artist right now that doesn’t have a toe in Nickelodeon.” 4. Nicki Minaj: “She’s proven to be better than [Lil’ Kim](http://www.billboard.com/artist/307304/lil-kim/chart "undefined"), but she’s not quite [Salt-N-Pepa](http://www.billboard.com/artist/277460/salt-n-pepa/chart "undefined") yet.” 5. Lil Wayne: “He and [Kendrick Lamar](http://www.billboard.com/artist/305702/kendrick-lamar/chart "undefined") are on some [Kool G Rap](http://www.billboard.com/artist/306023/kool-g-rap/chart "undefined")/[Big Daddy Kane](http://www.billboard.com/artist/281637/big-daddy-kane/chart "undefined") sh\*t.” [_This post originally appeared on Billboard._](http://www.billboard.com/articles/6386019/chris-rock-and-questlove-talk-new-movie-top-five "undefined") _More from Billboard:_ * [Diddy: Drake ‘Stole’ the Beat for ‘0 to 100’](http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/the-juice/6398466/diddy-drake-0-to-100-stolen "undefined") * [Rihanna Previews New Song ‘Kiss It Better’ on Instagram](http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/6398434/rihanna-kiss-it-better-new-song "undefined") * [Kanye West, Usher to Receive BET Honors](http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/the-juice/6397822/kanye-west-usher-to-receive-bet-honors "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3628683/chris-rock-questlove-top-five/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3628683/chris-rock-questlove-top-five/"},"headline":"Chris Rock and Questlove Talk the Greatest MCs of All Time and Collaborating on New Movie Top Five","datePublished":"2014-12-10T20:56:32.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T02:45:03.493Z","description":"\"It's the 'Big Chill' of hip-hop\"","url":"https://time.com/3628683/chris-rock-questlove-top-five/","keywords":["movies","Music","Chris Rock"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcc6d6d5b607a3236/69876e10cd1bba17666f4192/chris-rock.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Joe Levy / Billboard"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcc6d6d5b607a3236/69876e10cd1bba17666f4192/chris-rock.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Chris Rock attends the \"Top Five\" premiere on Dec. 3, 2014 in New York City.","caption":"Chris Rock attends the \"Top Five\" premiere on Dec. 3, 2014 in New York City.","creditText":"Mike Pont—FilmMagic","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/movies/","name":"movies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3628683/chris-rock-questlove-top-five/","name":"Chris Rock and Questlove Talk the Greatest MCs of All Time and Collaborating on New Movie Top Five"}}]}] ```