AllMovie

With her signature playful style and tart-tongued rhymes, Da Brat emerged in the mid-'90s as a force to be reckoned with in the hip-hop music scene. Charismatic, youthful, and refreshingly free of the usual hip-hop female trappings in the male-dominated industry, the in-your-face songstress would became the first female solo rapper to go platinum before setting her sights on the big screen. Born Shawntae Harris in April of 1974, in Chicago, IL, Da Brat made her feature debut alongside basketball superstar Shaquille O'Neal in the 1996 comedy Kazaam. Featured in the hip-hop documentary Rhyme and Reason the following year, Da Brat would turn up on the small screen in The Parent Hood before returning to features alongside Mariah Carey in Glitter (2001). That same year, Da Brat also contributed songs to the soundtrack of the Keanu Reeves-Little League baseball comedy Hardball. Her other work on the small screen includes appearances on The Andy Dick Show and as the narrator of Carmen: A Hip-Hopera (both in 2001).