Are We There Yet?

Attention movie stars: You can't all be Vincent Gallo. You can't all be renaissance men.

Take Ice Cube for example. The actor from such family-friendly comedies as Are We There Yet? and the upcoming big-screen remake of Welcome Back Kotter, has decided to take a page out of the LL Cool J playbook - he's putting out a rap album.

Isn't he a bit old for this sort of thing? I guess he's desperate to shake off his affable image - now he's all Mr. Tough West Side gangbanger on the cover of his "rap" debut, Laugh Now, Cry Later (ooh I'm so scared! What are you gonna do, Cube - pull a drive-by on me in your station wagon? With those brats in the backseat?)

To make matters worse, his label, desperate for a gimmick, is outrageously promoting this thing as his "7th album". Who does Cube think he is, Chris Gaines? You think a makeover and some pretend 'discography' cooked up by the marketing department is going to fool us? Nice try, Cube, but you can't pull the Kangol over our eyes - we've seen the Barbershop films. We know who you are.