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Ice Spice attends ‘The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants’ New York Special Screening at the Paramount Pictures Screening Room on Dec. 17, 2025, Vince Staples at TIME100 Next on Oct. 9, 2024, Cardi B visits SiriusXM at SiriusXM Studios on Sept. 6, 2023, Big Sean attends the 2025 GQ Men Of The Year party
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Key Takeaways:
- Hip Hop artists have brought their voices and personas to animated shows and movies in unforgettable ways.
- Some artists voice themselves, while others take on wild new roles that nod to their rap personas.
- These cameos show how Hip Hop continues to shape pop culture across generations and platforms.
Much like Hip Hop, cartoons and animated movies are a core part of childhood that often stay with us well into adulthood. A lot of us still revisit the shows and films we adored as kids in the same way that we hold on to the rappers we grew up listening to (even when some of our longtime favorites turned out a little different from who they were back then).
To no surprise, those experiences feel extra special when they overlap, and cameos are arguably one of the best ways that happens. Over the years, tons of rappers have popped up in animated projects. Sometimes they play themselves, like 50 Cent on “The Simpsons” or Saweetie on “Velma,” and sometimes they play characters that nod to their rap personas.
In other cases, they go in the complete opposite direction and play whatever best fits the world of the show or movie, like Megan Thee Stallion as a hormone monstress in “Big Mouth” or Big Sean voicing a dog in Dog Gone Trouble. Their voices are instantly recognizable in any context, so the specifics of the role hardly matter.
With that being said, Rap-Up rounded up 15 rappers who’ve been in animated TV shows and movies. Take a look below.
1. Ice Spice in ‘The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants’
Ice Spice made her voice acting debut in 2025’s The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants, where she played an amusement park worker. Beyond getting to be part of a franchise “that’s been part of so many people’s childhoods,” including her own, the Bronx rapper also contributed “Big Guy” to the film’s official soundtrack.
2. Childish Gambino in ‘Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse’
Six years after his cameo in the Tom Holland-led Spider-Man: Homecoming, Donald Glover (aka Childish Gambino) returned to our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man’s world in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. Instead of an animated role, he appeared in live action as Prowler, the alter ego of Miles Morales’s uncle Aaron.
3. Kanye West in “The Cleveland Show”
Kanye West appearing in “The Cleveland Show” — with Taraji P. Henson voicing his girlfriend, no less — as Kenny West was another gem we got in the 2010s. “[Kanye’s character] has a girlfriend who’s played by Taraji and Cleveland [Jr.] is in love with his girlfriend,” Reagan Gomez (who voices Roberta Tubbs) told VIBE. “So, they’re kind of at odds and at the end of the show they have a rap-off.”
4. 50 Cent in “The Simpsons”
In the “Pranksta Rap” episode of “The Simpsons,” Bart sneaks out to catch a performance by Alcatraaz (who looks suspiciously like Ludacris) and even ends up spitting a few bars himself. On the way home from the concert, he gets an invite from 50 Cent to join him on the “Many Men” rapper’s world tour. Bart declines because he has school, but Fif still leaves him with a little wisdom: “The more you know, the further you go.”
5. Logic in “Rick and Morty”
Of all the rappers Adult Swim could’ve tapped to appear in “Rick and Morty,” Logic is debatably one of the better choices. He voiced himself on the show, performing at an intergalactic party after a “completely loaded” Rick booked him for the gig.
6. MC Lyte; Tyler, The Creator; and Childish Gambino in “Regular Show”
It makes complete sense to have rappers appear as, well, rappers in their cameos. In Cartoon Network’s “Regular Show,” MC Lyte, Childish Gambino and Tyler, The Creator played CrewCrew. Consisting of Alpha-Dog, Demel-Ishun and Blitz Comet, the trio gave Mordecai and Rigby some serious competition during their rap battle.
7. Vince Staples in “Lazor Wulf”
If you’ve ever watched “The Vince Staples Show,” then you already know the Long Beach rapper is absolutely hilarious. Before landing his own Netflix series, Staples played the titular character in Adult Swim’s “Lazor Wulf.”
8. Lil Wayne in “The Boondocks”
Lil Wayne pops up in “The Boondocks” as Nique, Jericho Freeman’s son. Unfortunately, Riley and Huey aren’t exactly fond of their freeloading second cousin once removed.
9. JAY-Z in “Secret Millionaires Club”
Long before he became Hip Hop’s first billionaire, JAY-Z made a cameo in the debut episode of “Secret Millionaires Club.” As the Roc Nation founder tells the kids, “If you put your minds to it, you can do anything.”
10. Nicki Minaj in “Steven Universe”
In “Steven Universe,” Nicki Minaj lent her voice to Sugilite, the four-armed giant formed when Garnet and Amethyst fuse together. It was one of the many reasons cartoons were so fun to watch in the 2010s.
11. Big Sean in Dog Gone Trouble
Apparently Big Sean is good at more than just rapping. The “I Don’t F**k With You” rapper played Trouble in Netflix’s Dog Gone Trouble, which also happened to be Betty White’s final voiceover role in a film.

12. Megan Thee Stallion in “Big Mouth”
“Aw s**t, booty fatter than a pear, your hormone monstress Megan is here,” Megan Thee Stallion hilariously introduces herself in Season 7 of “Big Mouth.” Of all the shows mentioned here, the Netflix series is definitely the strangest. However, we do see the Houston Hottie help Dani (Zazie Beetz) as she tries to sort out whether she’s more attracted to Nick Birch or Travis.
13. Saweetie in “Velma”
Although Mindy Kaling’s “Velma” was largely met with lukewarm criticism, at least it involved Saweetie. Booked to perform at the titular character’s annual Sexy Halloween party, the “My Type” rapper made a cameo in Season 2 as herself.
14. Lil Yachty in Teen Titans GO! To the Movies
In addition to contributing “Go! (Remix)” to the Teen Titans GO! To The Movies soundtrack, Lil Yachty also popped up in the film as Green Lantern. He’s certainly an unexpected choice for the role, but to be fair, the movie also cast Halsey as Wonder Woman and Jimmy Kimmel as Batman.
15. Cardi B and Offset in Baby Shark’s Big Movie
Cardi B (or Sharki B, technically) appeared as “the biggest star in the seven seas” on Baby Shark’s Big Movie with Offset and their oldest daughter, Kulture. The Grammy Award-winning rapper once said that Kulture loved “the whole ‘Baby Shark’ mixtape” some years before their cameo, so getting the chance to be part of the show had to be a full-circle moment.


