MUMBAI: American rapper Azelia Banks will make her acting debut in the upcoming musical drama ‘It Doesn't Have to Rhyme’. The film, which was previously titled ‘Coco’, will be directed by American hip hop group- Wu-Tang Clan’s frontman RZA (Robert Fitzgerald Diggs). Starring alongside Banks in the feature is Grammy Award winning hip hop artist Lonnie Rashid Lynn aka Common, who recently won the Academy Award for Best Original Song for ‘Glory’ from the 2014 film ‘Selma’. Jill Scott, the multi Grammy award winning R&B and jazz singer, will also be part of the film.

The film chronicles the journey of a female rapper, played by Banks, who enrols herself in college and enters a poetry course. While the class fails to improve her lyrical skills, as she had hoped, it does unleash in her a passion for slam poetry. Common plays a mentor figure for Banks’ character, while Scott plays a professor who believes that rapping and slam poetry do not go hand in hand.

In addition to the film, Banks has quite a lot on her plate, with her international tour about to start. Earlier this month, she stated that she might release her covers and remixes of Jay-Z’s original tracks.

TBH, I actually recorded a mixtape called "SLAY-Z" full of Jay-Z remixes and covers. It's kinda . I might consider putting it out now

— AZEALIA BANKS (@AZEALIABANKS) May 9, 2015

RZA made his directing debut with ‘The Man with the Iron Fists’, which starred Russell Crowe and Dave Bautista. ‘It Doesn't Have to Rhyme’ will be his follow-up, with its setting in the worlds of academia and music, a stark difference from ‘The Man with the Iron Fists’.