Joaquin Phoenix: Actor Turned Rapper

Joaquin Phoenix, who announced his retirement from acting in October, has taken on a new and unforeseen career path. He made his first debut as a rapper at Lavo in Las Vegas on Friday, telling the crowd he was ready to show who he really was.

"This is me saying this is who I am. This is my story," the former actor told People before hitting the stage to unleash three songs off his upcoming yet-to-be-titled album.

Whether he is taken seriously or not, Phoenix, 34, assured there is no acting involved when it comes to his changed profession. He declared music his real love.

"After all the years of reading scripts and reading lines, this is my chance to do something straight from the heart and put it out there," he said.

So instead of telling a story through a character in a movie, the self-proclaimed rapper chose hip-hop as a way to bare all.

"When I was young I liked punk rock music but then I discovered rap. I love the storytelling aspect of hip-hop."

But Phoenix said he's prepared to accept the mixed reactions from critics and will most probably take the negative responses with a grain of salt.

"Are there people out there who think I'm a joke? I'm sure there will be," he told People. "Are there people who think it's going to suck? Probably, but I can't worry about that."