Denzel Washington recently revealed that he fully understands why Rihanna fell for A$AP Rocky, giving the Harlem rapper high praise during an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! while promoting their new film Highest 2 Lowest.
“You know what, I get it, Rihanna,” Washington said. “He’s a very intelligent young man, he’s very nice, he’s handsome, he’s a good guy. I get it. He’s a good dude. He’s smart — a very bright man.”
Washington also shared that his favorite rapper of all time is Nas, calling him a “wordsmith” and one of the greats.
The respect goes both ways. Rocky has long spoken about the life-changing advice he received from Washington more than a decade ago. In an interview with GQ, Rocky recalled being invited to the Washington family home for Christmas by John David Washington. “We was chilling and you gave me some of the illest advice,” Rocky remembered. “You was like, ‘this your girlfriend?’ I was like, ‘nah, this my friend.’ He was like, ‘Alright, cool, you like family man. In a few years, you gotta get it together. It’s about the family.’ I never forget that.”
Director Spike Lee, who brought Washington and Rocky together for Highest 2 Lowest, also praised the rapper’s acting chops during a recent stop on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. “Yeah, don’t sleep on A$AP,” Lee said. “In this film, Denzel and A$AP go toe-to-toe. What’s interesting is, even before I got involved, I always thought A$AP looked like he could be Denzel’s son. There’s a big resemblance. So when you see it on screen, it adds an element of father and son.”
Lee added that Rocky held his own with one of the greatest actors alive. “I’ve done five films with Denzel, and a lot of times, when he’s in a scene with somebody, they just get overwhelmed. But A$AP wasn’t having that. Toe-to-toe, I mean, they were going at it.”