Toronto Black Film Festival: Pam Grier on her love of hip-hop

Most people know that Pam Grier paved the way for female heroes, but not everyone knows about her affinity for Canadian hip-hop.

“I just love Mocha,” the 73-year-old movie icon says in a video call from Santa Fe, N.Y.

“I went to the record store and got all his music on vinyl,” he says of Vancouver rapper Daniel Denton, who rose to fame as part of the Swollen Members rap group in the early 2000s.

“I loved seeing him live. He's so cool. Really, really funny.”

Grier says he met Moka in 2001 while filming Bones with Snoop Dogg in Vancouver and still keeps in touch.

“He's charming,” says Grier, who rose to fame with roles in 1970s sleaze films like Fox Brown and Coffey and cemented his legacy in Quentin Tarantino's 1997 crime thriller Jackie Brown.

“He was at a club in Vancouver and I said, 'Wow, I love your music.' I started naming songs from his album. He said, “Hey, do you want some coffee?” We met and talked about music. He wasn't crazy or disrespectful.'

Grier will return to Canada to receive a career achievement award at the 12th annual Toronto Black Film Festival, which includes a 50th anniversary screening of “Fox Brown” on Thursday.

Grier is often credited as the first female action star in groundbreaking roles as a femme fatale who takes down bad guys. He connects the tough, funny and seductive qualities of his characters with the audience.

“It started with 'Coffey,' a nurse going up against the male leaders of crime and deception,” says Grier, noting that the 1973 film was released the same year as the James Bond blockbuster “Live and Let Die.”

“We had to develop an audience that understood the female physique, not trying to be a tomboy, trying to be a man, but being the best fighter around. It took years to do that, just like you train people to listen to opera. “Not everyone has an ear for opera, arias, bluegrass, country or hip-hop.”

The actress says that she has been listening to modern hip-hop a lot lately. He says he's working on a script for an as-yet-unannounced Cardi B project, but can't divulge any details.

“You'll still find me in clubs listening to great hip-hop and rap,” he says.

“Whether it's Cardi B or Ty Dolla $ign or Travis Scott or Future, they're using real instruments again. They really play drums and guitar. It's not from a computer. They're playing real ethnic, down-to-the-bones music beats. He has morals. I love the culture and where it's going, how it's bringing people together.”

He's also a big fan of Moka Only: another Canadian rapper who's a bit more popular than Drake.

“She grew up with me,” he laughed, referring to a 2010 Nardvoir human service interview with Drake that was widely shared online, saying Canadian rapper Grier was “really responsible for shaping my taste in women.”

“I want to know what magazine he was looking at when he thought about me,” says Grier.

“Or maybe he wasn't telling the truth, but I don't know him as a dishonest person, so it would be interesting to ask him. He blushes.'

He wants to get a chance to ask Drake in person when he's in Toronto.

“If he's not at a recording session, he should come to a film festival,” she says.

The Venn diagram between Grier, hip-hop and Canada doesn't end there.

Snoop Dogg made headlines in January for an appearance on “The Jennifer Hudson Show,” where he opened up about his first encounter with Grier while working on the Vancouver-set movie “Bones,” when he was so weak in the knees that he fainted.

“His heart started racing and he was very hot and anxious in the airport lounge and when we were flying to Vancouver,” says Grier.

“We started talking in the hall and he said, 'Wait a minute. I have to go to the men's room. He walks into the men's room and passes out. Security had to come in and pick it up and wipe it down. He told me he was out of his mind, but I didn't believe him.'

Grier says he took Snoop under his wing during the Vancouver shoot and gave the rapper some wisdom — when he calmed down.

“I told him, 'If you can't look people in the eye, you can't be a good actor.' I gave him some elements that would allow him to succeed as an actor, to be watchable and not waste people's time by making fun of acting, but actually develop another career for himself. He said I inspired him and made him a better actor and a better person.”

When he's not listening to hip-hop, Grier is still involved in the acting world. He says he's now fielding offers after starring in zombie comedy As We Know It and horror prequel Pet Sematary: Bloodlines last year.

“I have a lot of scripts on my desk right now and we're trying to bounce back after the strike, if you will, to put more ducats back into the coffers,” he says.

He has one gig for sure: working only for Moka.

“I told him, 'I'm going on tour with you. If you allow me, I will sing you a song.'

This report by The Canadian Press was first published on February 14, 2024