Common and RZA Sign on for American Gangster Movie

Chicago MC Common and Wu-Tang patriarch RZA have signed on to appear in the Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe film American Gangster, according to a report from MTV. Their addition to the cast now brings the number of rappers appearing in the film to three, after T.I. announced last week that he would be taking on the role of Denzel’s nephew in the Ridley Scott–helmed crime drama. Common will appear as the brother of Washington’s character, a drug lord who smuggles heroin into Harlem hidden in the coffins of soldiers returning from Vietnam. The film, which is set in 1970s New York City, was written by Steven Zailan (Gangs of New York).