Brandy or Ray J: Who's The Better Actor?
Brandy or Ray J? It's a question for the ages. On paper, the answer to this question may be obvious when factoring in talent, overall charm, and taking a look at both of their resumes - Brandy, duh! - but that's only until you look further. And by look further, I mean, "my boyfriend is out of town and I've binge watched every episode of Happy Endings, so I need to do something else to pass the time." I kid, I kid. The truth of the matter is that I simply love comparing celebrity siblings.
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Luke and Owen Wilson? Both good actors, but my heart probably learns more towards Owen. Beyonce and Solange Knowles? Solange is my style inspiration, but Beyonce has tons of good songs. Nevertheless, I'd love to start a Sisterhood of the Traveling Weaves with the both of them. Jeff and Beau Bridges? Great actors; I'd tap Jeff and let's face it, I'd probably tap Beau, but then would immediately call Iyanla to Fix My Life afterwards.
Anyway, I've given tons of thoughts to so many duos, so it's only time that I address Brandy and Ray J and figure out once and for all, who is the primo numero uno actor. Let's get to it, shall we?
GREATEST ROLE: Moesha vs. Ray J. Sex Tape
On one hand, Brandy starred in one of the quintessential black teen sitcoms of the '90s. She was cute, funny, and had great timing. She did such a bang up job carrying the show that it not only successfully transitioned from high school to college years, which is rare, but lasted six seasons and is now in syndication on multiple channels like Nickelodeon and the CW. In short, her acting skills on this show have been paying the bills for well over a decade. But most importantly, it's hard to imagine any other actor embodying Moesha and being so winsome with a charming combination of book and street smarts.
On the other hand, Ray J's peen did for Kim Kardashian what the Sundance Film Festival did for Quentin Tarantino: spawned a career. More importantly, the fact that Kim laid in bed like the dude with the iron lung from The Sessions and Ray still managed to finish...
WINNER: TIE
DON'T CALL IT A COMEBACK: The Game vs. Moesha
Prior to Ray J getting cast on Moesha, he starred in Shaquille O'Neal's Steel, a terrible action super hero movie in which O'Neal's character is named John Henry who spends his days loofah'ing:
Look, I'm not saying, a black person can't be named John Henry (of course they can), but I'm most definitely saying this big ass black dude ain't. Anyway, Steel was pretty bad, but Ray J made the best of it.
Just to be clear, Brady wasn't doing any better either. After wrapping up Moesha, she was doing a lot of guest roles on other series like the 90210 reboot and releasing albums that didn't receive much fan fare. Then along came The Game, which not only got things back on track, but reminded us that she is a wonderful comedic actress who can not only bring the laughs, but bring in the ratings.
Ray J joined Moesha for its final two seasons and while he was perfectly find on the show as the paternal half brother to Mo and her little brother Myles, he simply isn't as memorable as the other characters on the show, proving that it's a role that could have been played by anyone else and been totally fine.
WINNER: BRANDY
CAMPY: I Still Know What You Did Last Summer vs. For The Love Of Ray J
In case you were wondering, it takes all the acting skills in the world to scream for about twenty minutes while your clunky ass Sketchers shoe is stuck in a floorboard and Brandy does this with much aplomb in the intentionally over the top Summer:
However, when you are named Ray J and you ask a woman dressed in the finest Frederick's of Hollywood leopard print attire that would make even Scary Spice, the QUEEN of leopard print scandalousness go, "Quit trying so hard with the animal print. You have a vagina. Let it do the work. Zigazigah” if she is in it "for the love of Ray J," without so much as cracking a Mona Lisa, "Yeah, I did that smirk," you, sir, are the Marlon Brando of acting.
WINNER: RAY J
BLACK HISTORY MONTH VIEWING: Cinderella vs. Once Upon a Time When We Were Colored
OK, OK. I may be a tad flippant here, but let's be real, people only watch movies/TV shows with the word "colored" in the title when it's February and Cinderella is required viewing during BHM to balance this being on TV on the repeat for 30 days:
Colored features Ray J playing a young twelve year old living in the deep south under racial segregation. While he is great in this, since he only plays one part of Cliff's life, he's not in it a whole lot. Brandy is the title star of Cinderella and she not only acts, but sings and dances. She also inspired a whole crop of black girls like myself who grow up watching this movie to dream big.
WINNER: BRANDY
MUSIC VIDEOS: The Boy is Mine vs. One Wish
Do we even need to discuss this? "The Boy is Mine" was one of the biggest songs of 1998 and Brandy's "nosy old lady squinting hard face while on a land line telephone" is Oscar-worthy:
Ray J always makes intense face with his phone in this video, but it is no match.
WINNER: BRANDY
Well, this was a battle for the ages...somewhere to someone, I suppose. But Brandy is the clear winner and the better actor. Hooray! Let's celebrate by getting Moesha-inspired braids.
[Photo: Getty Images]