Ever since Joaquin Phoenix announced he was ditching his career in movies to try to make it as a rap artist, speculation has flown wildly about what, exactly, the two-time Oscar nominee might be thinking.

Moreover, according to MTV, in a statement released to MTV News on Wednesday afternoon (January 28), Phoenix rep Susan Patricola said the actor's hip-hop turn is very real and that he's not letting a few naysayers stand in the way of his rap-star dreams.

However Phoenix's so-called rap career has so far comprised of a debut performance on Jan. 16 at a Las Vegas nightclub, where he fumbled three songs and eventually fell off the stage.

Before going on stage at his first performance in Las Vegas, Phoenix told People magazine that he knew people might not take his new job seriously. “Are there people out there who think I’m a joke? I’m sure there will be,” he said. “Are there people who think it’s going to suck? Probably, but I can’t worry about that.”

Phoenix's interest in music is definitely sincere since he earned Oscar and Grammy nominations for his turn as Johnny Cash in “Walk the Line” and has directed several music videos.

But ss previously reported, Phoenix had recently announced that he’s done with Hollywood and set his sights on a new career in hip-hop. This transformation was to then be the subject of a new documentary filmed by his brother-in-law Casey Affleck, who has already caught this prime bit of footage involving Phoenix going through an apparent meltdown at a Las Vegas show.

And just in case this wasn’t already ridiculous enough, Phoenix told us P. Diddy was supposedly on board to do his first album, which was to be the doc’s centrepiece.