Many know Pam Grier blazed a trail for female action heroes, but not everyone knows about her affinity for Canadian hip-hop.
鈥淚 love Moka Only,鈥� the 73-year-old film icon says on a video call from Santa Fe, N.M.
鈥淚 went to the record store and picked up all his music on vinyl," she says of the Vancouver-based rapper born Daniel Denton, who gained popularity in the early 2000s as part of rap group Swollen Members before branching out solo.
"I loved seeing him live. He鈥檚 really great. Really, really funky."
Grier says she met Moka Only while filming the slasher "Bones" in Vancouver with Snoop Dogg in 2001, and still keeps in touch with him to this day.
鈥淗e鈥檚 cute,鈥� says Grier, who rose to fame via roles in 1970s blaxploitation films like 鈥淔oxy Brown鈥� and 鈥淐offy,鈥� and solidified her legacy in Quentin Tarantino鈥檚 1997 crime thriller 鈥淛ackie Brown.鈥�
鈥淗e was at a club in Vancouver and I said, 鈥榃ow, I love your music.鈥� And I started naming songs off of his album. He said, 鈥楬ey, you want to have some coffee?鈥� We met up and talked about music. He wasn't crazy or disrespectful.鈥�
Grier is headed back to Canada to receive a career achievement award at the 12th annual Toronto Black Film Festival, which includes a 50th anniversary screening of 鈥淔oxy Brown鈥� on Thursday.
Grier is often hailed as the first female action star for groundbreaking roles in which she played a femme fatale who took down bad guys. She suggests her characters' tough, funny and seductive traits connected with audiences.
鈥淚t started with 鈥楥offy鈥� 鈥� a nurse standing up to the male leaders of crime and deception,鈥� says Grier, noting the 1973 film came out the same year as the James Bond blockbuster 鈥淟ive and Let Die."
鈥淲e had to develop an audience that understands the physicality of a woman, not being a tomboy, not trying to be a man, but being the best fighter that's going to be around.It took some years to do that, just like you prepare people to listen to opera. Not everyone has the ear for opera or the aria or bluegrass or country or hip-hop at first.鈥�
The actress says she鈥檚 been listening to a lot of modern hip-hop lately. She says she鈥檚 working on a script for a yet-to-be-announced Cardi B project but can鈥檛 divulge any details.
鈥淵ou鈥檒l still see me at the clubs listening to some awesome hip-hop and rap,鈥� she says.聽
鈥淲hether it鈥檚 Cardi B or Ty Dolla $ign or Travis Scott or Future, they're using real instruments again. They're really playing the drums, the guitar. It鈥檚 not from a computer. They're playing beats that are from real ethnic, to-the-core, bone marrow music. It has a humanity to it. I love the culture and where it鈥檚 going, how it鈥檚 bringing people together.鈥�
She's also a big fan of another Canadian rapper who's a bit more popular than Moka Only: Drake.
"He grew up on me," she laughs, referring to a 2010 interview with Drake by Nardwuar the Human Serviette shared widely online, in which the Canadian rapper said Grier was "really responsible for shaping my taste in women.鈥澛�
鈥淚 want to know what magazine he was looking at when he was thinking of me,鈥� says Grier.
鈥淥r he wasn't telling the truth, but I don't know him as someone who is not truthful, so it would be interesting to ask him. He鈥檒l blush.鈥�
She'd love to have the chance to ask Drake in person when she's in Toronto.
鈥淗e should come to the film festival, if he鈥檚 not in a recording session," she says.
The Venn diagram overlap between Grier, hip-hop and Canada doesn't end there.聽
Snoop Dogg made headlines in January for an appearance on 鈥淭he Jennifer Hudson Show,鈥� where he revealed his initial encounter with Grier while working on the Vancouver-shot 鈥淏ones鈥� left him so weak in the knees that he fainted.
鈥淗is heart started racing and he became overheated and over-anxious at the airport lounge and when we got on the plane to Vancouver,鈥� recounts Grier.聽
鈥淲e started talking in the lounge, and he said, 鈥榃ait a minute. I gotta go to the men鈥檚 room.鈥� He goes into the men鈥檚 room and he faints. Security had to come in and get him and wipe him off. He told me he fainted, but I didn鈥檛 believe him."
Grier says throughout filming in Vancouver, she took Snoop under her wing and imparted wisdom to the rapper 鈥� once he calmed down.
鈥淚 told him, 鈥業f you can鈥檛 look people in the eye, you can鈥檛 be a good actor.鈥� I gave him some elements that would make him successful as an actor, that would make him watchable and not waste people's time by mocking acting, but really developing another career for himself. He said I inspired him and I made him a better actor and a better person.鈥�
When she's not listening to hip-hop, Grier is still keeping busy in the acting world. She says she's currently fielding offers after starring in the zombie comedy "As We Know It" and horror prequel "Pet Sematary: Bloodlines" last year.聽
"I've got a lot of scripts on my desk right now, and we're looking to get back after the strike to put more ducats back in the coffers, if you will," she says.
There is one gig she is certain about: Working for Moka Only.
鈥淚 told him, 'I鈥檒l go on tour with you. I鈥檒l sing backup for you if you let me.'鈥�
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 14, 2024.
Alex Nino Gheciu, The Canadian Press
