April Fool's Day: 10 Hilarious Musician Pranks

April Fool's Day is upon us. Somehow, the favorite holiday of pranksters across the country happened to fall on both Easter and rent day this year, which undoubtedly should make for a historically interesting day. Don't trust anything anyone tells you today, unless it's your landlord or your priest. 

Celebrities are just like us when it comes to holidays. They get together with family on Christmas and Thanksgiving. They dress up for Halloween, and barbecue on Independence Day. So, it only makes sense that America's most famous faces also take part in pranking their peers on April Fool's Day. Several names will immediately stand out in your head when the term "celebrity prankster" is brought up in conversation. Of course, there was the classic Ashton Kutcher series Punk'd, that started out as a hit before it slowly wore viewers down by using similar tactics. If Kutcher doesn't come to mind, then pranks that were enacted by hilariously mischievous musicians like Eminem and 50 Cent should ring a bell. Dig deeper though, and you'll find that legends like Michael Jackson, and street icons like The Game and Papoose, also have jocular personalities as well. 

While we would never instruct anyone to go out into their cities and cause mayhem in the way that some of these musicians did, we do support celebrities joining in on the hysterical activities that take place on April Fool's Day. They say laughter is the best medicine, so we've got the cure for those who have spent the day either being pranked, being crammed into a church for the first time all year, or those who are just feeling bored at home after spending every dollar on rent. Get your laughing face emojis ready, and check out our list of hilarious pranks pulled off by musicians.  

Happy April Fool's!

In 2014, Kevin Hart and Ice Cube took a trip across the pond to visit MTV Studios in London. The hilarious duo takes over the office, and post up in the lobby harassing any employee that happens to stroll in late. They grab a loudspeaker and dig into unsuspecting employees. Cube and Hart make up a “penalty box” for late employees, and also tag them with “late” stickers. While they scold the employees for being late, the two funnymen also take jabs at their appearance in an all out roast fest.

Eminem is a master pranker. In his younger years, Em made a name for himself by trashing any and every celebrity that was naïve enough to take the bait. Of course, everyone remembers Em’s Ken Kaniff sketches, where he mocks the Insane Clown Posse. There is even a Youtube complication of several of Em’s most hilarious prank calls. Still, hip-hop fans around the nation were most impressed when Em prank called his own station, Shade 45, in 2008 and pretended to be a die-hard LL Cool J fan while the legendary Def Jam rapper was on the air for an interview.  

In 2011, The Game decided he wanted to get under someone’s skin. Game is infamous for getting the best of several of his peers, but this time, he wanted to really stir up some trouble. Using Twitter to call upon his fans, The Game posted a phone number that he claimed would lead to a music internship. The number he posted though, was for the Compton Sheriff’s Station. Hundreds, if not thousands, of fans flooded the police lines in Compton. Unfortunately, the prank got ugly, and The Game was threatened with charges of obstructing justice. Some people just can’t take a joke.

Bieber, as well as many other celebrities, have little love for TMZ. On April Fool’s Day 2013, Bieber hopped on Twitter to share a special message with his fans. “As promised taking all fan phone calls TODAY at (888) 847 9869. Talk to u soon,” read the tweet. At the time, Biebs had just about 40 million followers (he now has 106 million), and an extensive amount of them reached out to their favorite singer. The 888 number was TMZ’s tip line though, and Biebs led millions of his fans to blow up their office phones all day.

In 2002, Redman and Method Man teamed up with MTV to create their own prank show called Stung. In the pilot episode, the two talented lyricists decide to prank Ludacris. They get Kevin Liles, who was the president of Def Jam at the time, to call Luda and set up a studio session with Red and Meth. The How High stars then hit Luda with the worst beat ever created, and they try to frustrate the ATLien in the booth by making him re-record his verses.

50 Cent has always been hilarious in his music. His hysterical personality would shine through on his records, and so the G-Unit soldier decided to make a show of his comedic efforts. 50 Central on BET finds Fif’ in an Ashton Kutcher type role, pranking whoever he pleases. In one prank, 50 Cent creeps up on couples and pretends to be an ex-lover. The women, who are involved in the prank, act surprised when 50 shows up and starts reminiscing about sexual encounters right in front of the ladies’ current lovers. One man even leaves the area, which is a smarter move than trying to fight a man who was shot nine times and survived.

The King of the South is known for creating trap music, but in his spare time, he enjoys pranking people. In 2014, T.I. set up a contest for his fans. The winners would receive a shopping spree, paid for by T.I. himself. The lucky winners are taken shopping by T.I. in Footaction, where they pick up almost everything they see. T.I. tells them that they can have whatever they like, right before he takes a fake phone call and disappears behind the scenes. The excited contestant winners are then left to pay the $10,000 bill. Their elation turns to fear very fast.

While visiting Jimmy Kimmel Live! in 2014, Drake decided to embark on an adventure. The Toronto rapper disguised himself in a beard, glasses, and a wig, then asked random people on the street what they thought about Drake. He asks several hilarious questions such as “How do you feel about rapper Drake refusing to acknowledge Caucasian athletes at the ESPYS?” One person even goes as far as to criticize the rapper for claiming that he started from the bottom, unknowingly trashing Drizzy to his own face. The answers he receives range from straight up ignorant to insanely comical.

Papoose was featured on Complex’s prank show Troll’d in 2015, and he absolutely destroys the dreams of aspiring rappers in a comical prank. Several amateur rappers were offered a chance to collab with Papoose in the studio. When they reach the recording booth though, they are shocked when Pap starts sending disses their way. After embarrassing the rappers, Pap leaves the studio, prompting the disgruntled group to start penning disses of their own. Just when they think they have a chance to come back at Pap, he rolls back into the studio and confronts the rappers for trying to diss him back. Some of the rappers stood tall, while others were noticeably shaken.

Michael Jackson is remembered for many things. Legendary music, life-changing surgeries, and of course, the moonwalk. The King of Pop was an icon, a man that influenced almost every artist that is prominent today. He was also a big kid at heart, so the idea that MJ enjoyed making prank calls makes sense. Sitting down with The Guardian in 2015, actor Russell Crowe claims that MJ would prank call him for years.

“I never met him, never shook his hand, but he found out the name I stayed in hotels under,” explained Crowe. “So it didn’t matter where I was, he’d ring up do this kind of thing, like you did when you were 10, you know. ‘Is Mr. Wall there? Is Mrs. Wall there? Are there any Walls there? Then what’s holding the roof up? Ha ha.’ You’re supposed to grow out of doing that, right?”