The Breakfast ClubINTERVIEW: Malcolm Mays On Decompression From Acting, Writing Credits, 50 Cent, Luke James + More
Wake that ass up in the morning.
The Breakfast Club Morning, everybody in Steve j Envy just hilarious, charlamage the guy.
We are the Breakfast Club. You got a special guest in the building.
Yes, indeed, Malcolm made actor Michael.
How you feel about bless Man, I'm here with you, yes, sir, Yeah, actor and writer, Yes, ma'am.
Yeah. So look, so I'm a jump straight into it.
So how much hate did you receive the last season of Power because you was acting up?
Oh?
Your man's just pressed me in the room.
Yeah.
Bro came in there and was like, hey, man, so like I funk with you, but like, I don't funk with you.
People don't see the role this.
We take it serious.
I mean I take it as a compliment. I told him in the room. I was like, hey, Bro, it just means that you really you know, I'm doing my job. I'm doing my work, so I appreciate it. Yeah, but I'm I don't even drink, Bro, Like, what is this? I'm a sober diggie, Like, what is it? I don't be knowing with your restrictions, know I and all that?
Do People pressure though? When you're in the public, like really upset with your rule.
Niggas don't really you know what they do press me? It's you know who press me, not the men. The women are the ones who are like yo, I can't like like, I can't believe you.
Would do us like that.
You are embarrassing us, like Aunties is like take it personal. So it's but it's love though I love it.
I was in the mirt parking that happened to me, like a woman with her baby and the stroller pulled up on me, like pull like you're setting a bad example for the family.
What are you talking me?
What you talking about everybody?
But I realized that all the and I think all the Power Universe men have to understand it's like you belong to Black women want you in the Power Universe.
It's just what it is.
Will break that down a little bit more.
You know, everything in the culture to me is at route black women. Honestly, Like if you just diged, whether it's Drake, whether it's Paramour, whether it it don't matter what it is, it don't shake unless they say it go so like I feel like because this show is pretty much a modernized.
Black soap opera. Uh huh.
And in all the best ways. Then that means that, like you know who our main component and who our main advocate, and therefore you gotta honor that. You know what I'm saying, Like you got to accept it. You in a relationship that you has to be in and you gotta.
Be okay with that.
How hard did you get that character out of you? Want?
You not?
Like taping is a decompression is necessary? I feel like for me, I you know, channeling is a thing, but you gotta. You gotta know who you are. Like once you know your north start, you can always get back home. That's so it takes time, but you just gotta I don't get confused. Some people get confused, Like it's not like two back of juice and those ship like that, Like I know who I am?
What do you do to compress?
Really?
My Grandma everything, bro, Like I stay on it. Like Grandma call every day every Sunday. We have like a prayer called me her and my best friend rightn we be going on like we read scriptures and and then I call my peoples every day. My homies remind me who I am every day. All of y'all, I'm sure are the centrifugal force of your family, right, So you can't be forgetting who you are because they gonna remind you very quickly every time, Hey, look we got these, we got Look your cousin's birthday. You got to go to this graduation. I don't care where or who dj MV Charlotte, Maine, jes Select. I don't give a fuck.
I'm Rashawn, Sir Rashawn.
With them, though it's tough for me. You know, you know that hood, text, you know that family. You know, maybe this is trauma. Don't start listening. But I feel like a triggered I let you know, don't do it because because whether I fuck with them or not, I done did a whole lot of ship that my family deemed inappropriate. I don't been to jail all that, shot stabbed all that, and they raised me pretty right. So I feel victim to my environment. And none of them ever abandoned me. So I can't abandon them even if they being annoying, or they fall a short, or they do something that's even egregious. I can fuck with you from it, like not fuck with you from a distance, but I still got Like if you call and you need that there's friends I don't talk to, but it's love.
So you family.
I don't have to like you, but if you need me, I'll be there. We ain't gonna speak. I beat the dig up while I'm there and won't talk to you, but you're gonna be safe because that's duty to me. That's what manhood is, which is probably really fucked up in toxic, but that's how I feel.
But what about when you get them called like, hey man, let me get five thousand n til next Friday. Mind you ain't never made five grand.
Like, oh worse than that.
You get through five thousand, it'd be like, hey, you got a hundred bands.
Were on the radio, is gonna start?
Let me get because.
You know the misconception to see everybody forgets that y'all get bag money. That's crazy and they think that we got the money.
Oh yeah, yeah, please say.
Is are a big thing?
Yes every morning?
Oh man, yeah, I don't go out y'all, but yeah, like we they think that were rich, Like man, we not.
Most actors are actually not rich.
Actually, my homeboy Matt Hinton, who's a stylist for like, uh, Rocky Ice Rocky in that and you really cool dude. He told me not to say nothing stupid when I got on here. But one of the things that he said to me the other day, we were shopping and I was going getting ready for CAN and I usually dress and slides and a T shirt wherever I go because I don't really give a fuck, but you know, put that ship on because I'm going to Can. And he was like, hey, man, I thought you were broke. Actors are broke. I was like, Nikka, you mean like because I'm frugal, I don't have money, Like no, I'm just responsible. I'm just not out here doing shit. But he thought I was broke, and he's right. Most actors are broke like we. That's why the strike was important. The livable wage for acting and writing is horrendous. Less than one percent of us work, less than one per percent of us make more than fifty thousand. And you know, in any place this apports city, Los Angeles, New York, anywhere where the hub is, you can't live off that.
So I'm blessed.
Man, I'm fortunate, and I've been blessed enough to be just kind of like frugal niggas.
So now you said you earn cans where you on the same red carpet as that security guard pushing people out the way?
Did they better be glad I wasn't on that car. Yeah, because, like I said, I don't play be honest.
Did you see that though, how disrespectful she was to celebrities just trying to take pictures.
French people are rude, bro straight up, and I'll say it today they ruled now.
Their beautiful relaxed.
I ain't saying that they bad people, because like, hey, look, New York people are rude, but they have a big heart. They don't want to give you the directions, but they give you directions and it's gonna say to me, heyo, you got to go up the fucking third what the You don't know what look uptown uptown, but they're gonna show you.
But they're just saying really roughly.
French people are a little more insidious with they with their discrimination and all that. Yeah, I have experienced that. I can't lie and look, I love can I love the organization and all that.
But but had had I.
Been on that carpet, it would have been a little different situation. So I'm glad I wasn't there.
Actually, we would have been asking you.
Other questions wouldn't even been no ques, like what are we talking about?
Bro?
Like, man, they did that to her, they did that to another woman of color.
Like they like.
But they're in a tough position because they're trying to move people and some of them don't even understand.
They're not connected to the culture. They don't know that Kelly.
Is to us beyond they're all the same, you know, like it could have been shelling that muff were not we're not playing behind them, but they don't really. They're like, but they have this weird rule where they can't touch you, but they got to move you. And and Kelly's taking her pictures because she is a star and she is on the carpet and she's right, she got boundaries.
They was like move.
Like it was worse.
Kelly wasn't even that bad as bad as the other one. They picked up her dress and she got to like, don't touch my touch my dress like it was nasty.
It's pretty bad.
But it's a weird situation for everybody because what you're going to like they're under pressure from the camp people who don't give a fox or they're security, but at some point you just don't touch nobody. Bro, Like if somebody like I'm not moving, but then you need to just you gotta take your l take your a. It's okay, we can all our egos ain't in this. It's just fucking pictures.
I want to go back from the start for people that don't know who Malcolm is is, how did you get started in the entertainment industry as far as acting and writing?
How did you get started? What made you start loving this game?
I think it was damn every time I feel like Charlamagne is just trump like he's just gonna trauma trigger me every time because because I talked to you know, when my pops was around heavily in my life when I was younger and my mom's was still like you know, like it was like a family thing, like you know, going to Blockbuster for all those who are old enough to remember Blockbuster Hollywood videos, going to drive in theaters like it was communal, it was familiar, and it's a time before everything kind of went left in my life, before there was like street violence, before my pops had to figure it out and did for a second before things changed. And that's the thing I think that like connected me to movies because you could go anywhere. You could be with your family have a good time, and you could be in the South of France watching James Bond or watching you know, you know, Mobeta Blues. I could experience New York in a certain time period. I could like it was. It was a beautiful place and where black men and women were kings and queens in my household on television and on film, and I don't have I didn't have that experience where they were like, we're not represented.
I ain't had that shit.
My house was full of black art, black music, black so it was a place of comfort and I think I fell in love with storytelling as a means of transportation and empathy. And from that point, since I was a kid, I was like five six, I was like, this what I want to do. I don't know what this shit is, but I want to do it. And my mom was like, that's what we're doing, you know.
So it's dope.
Yeah, that is interesting about that era, right cause I always say the same thing. I'm like, Yo, the conversations that we have now by not having representation on TV or not having positive we didn't grow up with that and the nineties had everything you could want. That's a black nuclear family. There was lawyers, there was doctors, there was radio personalities, like there was everything covered on college.
And ship bro like even the movies.
Yeah, like, and it was cross like, it was cross pollination of entertainment. Like you could see Denzel's poster in Whitley's dorm.
Room on the Different World.
Before he was Denzel to the world, he was always Denzel to us. And I think that kind of ethnocentrism gets lost in the conversation because we we we always admire in the other side. We always admiring what everybody else got, which I'm not gonna get on on my on my black panther, But you.
Just said something that we forgot about.
I forgot about the importance of Blockbuster, right, Yeah, because Friday night, my parents used to get off work. We used to go to Blockbuster and they would let me pick a movie and then they would pick a movie and then we would watch it as a family like that was our thing.
And then when Blockbuster got video games.
Oh we were crazy.
I used to be able to get one video game for oh man, that.
Was that was the thing.
And then when your card, and when your mama or your daddy forgot to play the bill on the card, you have to start going to the library or switch and use your cousin name.
It was a whole situation.
So like man, I used to love and everybody would go, like you, what movie you watch night? Or like man, I hope they ain't rent Men in Black two out or whatever. It was a beautiful thing that I miss community. I miss us being together. I love when we commune. And that's why I kind of love things like this and institutions like this and Stars and the shows that I'm wanting them too, and because they bring us home, they bring us together to watch them going into something.
Where you ever concerned about them killing lou Off the last season?
Did you think that they were?
I don't give it.
No, Like I'm less bro, like I won already, Like I know, you know, it's so crazy people ask me that, were you ever worried about dying? I'm like, bro, I got niggas dying, and really I don't care about them. I appreciate and love the fact that I got the ability to experience the crew I have. Pa Tina Miller is a genius, you know, London. Brown is amazing, Makay is brilliant, like I love you know, Haley kill my whole cast and crew sas Chapin the writer Courtney for incepting it.
All of it is.
We have the coolest cool Like we don't have no egos, we have no problems, we don't argue, ain't no mess y'all, don't see us outside. London sometimes talks too much because he's London and he's a comedian, and.
I was gonna say he'd be staging on the commedity.
He's a comedian.
It's not the same thing. But like, other than that, like we don't get no mess.
We're gonna be outside.
We be boring.
That's why people don't really we bored as fuck.
We come home, do our work and all that. So I've been blessed to have a great work environment, to make a little bit of change doing something I love and do something interesting and different. If they killed me tomorrow, I told Sasha, like, bro, just let me know, so I can, you know.
Shake around with the mortgage. But other than that, I'm good, Bro. I had a great time. It was beautiful, We had a great run.
How involved his fifty and everything.
Early on he was he was very much so involved, and then I think later on he got you know, like you set it up, you set up a business, and then you go do your shit, you know what I mean, put the paint on the walls, make sure ain't nobody's stealing from you.
And then you're like, oh no, it's a good crew, good workers, but your you know, business, and walk off like yeah, fifty to fifty cool.
You know he'd be doing this thing. I think he'd be playing favorites though. Yeah, he played favorites, but he don't know that. Man do no wrong. In my eyes, I don't give what he do.
Honestly, you're saying that because you don't think you're one of his favorites.
Is basically I think that his favorites are based on like a marketing matrix that he runs in his head. I don't know if it's like people he would actually hang out with in real life.
I don't know.
I can't say for that, but I do know that he positions things so brilliantly. You know, if you're in the running, it's because you're making the most money at the table, or you are aligned with what he's doing. So that's what's going to get his attention, which makes perfect sense for marketing for your product. But I know that for me, I don't care whether he there or not. His presence has always felt like he nigga changed my life. I don't give what you're doing save me.
Like in terms of shows, like everything art he be.
Giving people money and ship like fifty is actually the nicest, sweetest dude ever. And when he be talking to the cancer, I don't know what that meanstrological sign.
Ye okay, so both y'allless.
People the cancers of crabs. The exterior is hard, interior it's soft.
People don't know that about it.
It's goind of Nope.
Actually people don't know that about him.
All the stuff that he does, the money that he gives and how he helps people that they don't know that part of fifty cent. They only see the cross the fifty cent he going at you.
And it's funny because he don't know that he like he he purposely chooses to be delusional about his own fame, Like he be roasting the shit online and people think he's like dead serious. And I remember asking him, like, bro, why you be going up on people? Like, bro, you you know you realized fifty I don't know why people chipping, like, you know, we friends, we making fun of each other, like what's the problem, And I'm like, because you're fucking fifty cent.
And there's a certain level that he takes into people.
People in the right. Yeah, like that's crazy, but he just I kind of like it.
Though. It's funny when you say that, you know, you're I forgot how you're worried it. But the was the marketing marketing matrix? Marketing matrix? Is it? Because like you're not in the club, so you know, you can't have his liquor.
I don't know about that.
I just think that whoever hot and popping and whoever he's invested the most time and energy in, they gonna get to be where they at with it. And that's fine by me because that's how it should be. I also think that like that doesn't really have anything to do with like who you are as a person. I think that has everything to do with what you bring to the tape, which once again, fifty is very business oriented, so that makes perfect sense. But of course we all want to hang out with fifty cent, Like everybody want to hang out fifty fifties fun. He's a fun guy. He's still in the club at age whatever, and it's still lick. So we all enjoy that. But at the same time, I don't envy or be jealous of his relationships with people. The people been around for years and been with him doing all types of stuff. You just be glad when he comes through, like, hey man, fifth Folk, glad you showed up. Bro.
You don't have to even do that.
Does it motivate you, like when you're shooting, like I think you'll in production for Raisin Cannon for not.
Right, Yeah, five on it?
Yeah? You know, So does it motivate you? Like, yeah, I'm gonna keep doing my You're gonna have to come up with me Fifth.
Well, well, I wasn't talking about my personal relationship. Fifty then called me and told me, eight, if you stop running around, excuse me. Fifty then told me, hey, look, bro, I know that you're out here moving different. I got you. You don't got to worry about that. I'll put you with people, So I don't. I can't say that me and fifty don't have a relationship.
Hold on out because you were speaking nigga. But then you stop yourself missing because I.
Remember mad in my head like.
Viral did I run around that burner? Sounded like saying stop run around to burn and get real secure. I'm saying.
He was like, I'll give you fifties, like whatever you need, I'll make sure you have it. Brother, And he called me directly, and if I need him, I can call him and reach out and he'll text back and all that.
So I can't say that I don't have a personal relationship.
I just know that certain people he got a lot of people to service, and certain people under the umbrella of both power music or whatever sometimes feel a little neglected, and I'm just telling them it's not personal. You can't take it personal with you. But my relationship fine.
Do you watch any of the other shows Power Universe? I try, okay, because it's a bunch of damn shows.
Yes, and then for me and then you're not much.
If you're not only doing you're not only doing that show, you're doing other things as well. But I asked that because a lot of times I see people like saying Monita Hada or Raquet, like who is the more of a badass?
Who would you pick?
That's not fair because you know you're not gonna wrote. First of all, you're not gonna let me do what fifty be doing.
I'm not doing that.
You're not letting me put two black women against. What I will say is I'm a I'm a person who grew up in a very what they call it, tribalist environment. So you know I'm rocking with gang and can't nobody fuck with Patina on television, not just against power and this and that. Like, No, I don't care if it was what's that white boy move show that's really good Jason Bacmon show, Ozark, Oh, just as good Ozarks. I don't give fuck if it's Ozark. I don't care if it's Martin Scorsese's movie. Nobody, even though Lily Gladstone is amazing, Patina Miller's top tier period, don't matter.
She heard.
She needs to be acknowledged for it, with the awards and all the things. He deserves it, so does everybody else on the cast. So you're not gonna get me like that. Look love Mary, love love Anti, but we're not playing behind it.
Why didn't they be fronting on the Stars shows? Though? When it comes to like the awards and denominations and stuff like that.
I pleaded the fifth.
I'm just here so I don't get.
Fine, it's the network.
I plead the fifth. I'm just here so I don't get fine, damn, And.
I say it like that.
Love Stars, Love everything they've done for me. I can't speak on anything that ain't in my purview. Learning to shut the fuck up sometimes.
Because Stars has you know, some of the best programming on television, don't even like to call it black, some of the best programs.
Outlander was one of my favorite shows.
God that's your herte American Gods.
American Gods was mazing.
I read the book before I saw the show Gaming Gaming Fan Why I was a fan of that book because I don't know why. I guess it was the title and then when I, you know, just looked at it and I was like, oh, new Gods versus. So I just ended up reading it. I'm like, oh, this is dope.
I mean, Neil Gaming been putting it down. He's been one of my favorite ritis for all times. So like, yeah, when they adapted that pretty well, even what's his name from? You remember double Take or whatever what it was. It was the Eddie Griffin movie with Malcolm Malcolm uh with the other dude, He's like, really Jamal warned Eddie Griffin had a movie where it was like called double Take or some Ship, and it was with this one dude who's a really good actor but we never remember his name as fucked up because he's really great. And he had a scene in American Guys where he went crazy. He was talking like to the slaves.
On the boat.
Oh, Orlando, niggas amazing Orlando.
He you were a legend.
Bro, Hey, bro, you be stepping on ship like I need to learn my name.
I know he's executive produced the movie that it's called eighty eight. It's actually on Stars.
That's hard you are that scene he did in American Guys where he went crazy talking to the slaves and all that and was discussing all the hell yeah that man, that boy. But yes, Stars produces great program I can't speak towards their campaigns with our culture or the awards with Emmys and the BAC.
I don't know.
All I know is, you know, I wish that whatever needs God, whatever's broken, let him fix it.
That's all I can say because I ain't gonna talk too much about that.
Do you talk to the writing team about where you want the character loo to go?
Are you just like, you know, I think Sasha is good about letting us have input, but you let that man cook. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. We let that man cook, and he just basically because you think I would have chose to be an alcoholic.
And feeling bad out of no way like that. But you know, people take that shit serious and I gotta go home.
And that's I keep hearing that from actors and actresses nowadays and bugging me out. The first person I ever heard say that was Making Good a couple of years ago, and she was saying how she got to watch the role she played now because people think that's actually you thatand.
Well, there's two things. There's two things.
We know how human beings are bro like, it's all marketing, even in your personal life. You know, if you dress nice at school, you become the person who's the nigga the dress nice at school, and now you got to keep that up. Like if you a nigga addressed bummy and you're just nice once, everybody gonna be like, oh ship Like. People's perceptions are manipulated and marketing is a big deal. So like, if you want to be seen as a leader, you can't keep playing somebody that's not. Yeah, you know, people really don't look at Don Cheetah and Jeffrey Wright and all the in g and Carlo Esposito like they're leading men, but they have all of the same tool sets that that god the Denzel has.
I always say, man, what's his name? Pregnancy brain? Pregnancy brain?
What is his name?
What's love got to do with it?
I turner, what frisch burn?
Until he was movie and then I was like, Okay, now he's rubbing me up the right way.
Because you hated him.
Yeah, but he did, so that's how great he did.
We was kids and we had and I was scared of him, like, why.
Is he being up like that?
You know you like boys?
And yeah, I guess I've sayen that later. Yeah and yeah, oh yeah him angel bad. I said, where parents again? And boys in the hood because he was the mom he was in there. But yeah, but you're right, it's very implement influential, and marketing can be a bitch.
It is because my girl Raven was like, hey, I seen him as ike at ten. I ain't stop hating that man since and I was like that man them been in Apocalypse now at seventeen years old with Francis Sport. Coppola also that you could sit here and not want to go watch him because he played the role too good. And once I've seen that, I was like, oh, like, you got to position yourself. You got to make sure you're doing certain things. And so next time y'all see me, I'll probably have on a suit. And then I ain't gonna be selling no drugs.
I'll tell you, like, psychologically, how do you check yourself? You just out in the box? Might you drunk? Rat? Oh? My ego not it.
I'm not fucking my ego ain't in this. Like my ego not in this. Like I lived a real life where real shit happen, where niggas getting convicted and bailing Jay dotsonsume green dots and jpas and real life shit. So like, I'll just be happy people are excited about the show. As long as you don't touch me or disrespect somebody.
I'm with.
We all good.
Do you think live out your fantasy? Bro?
Just don't touch nobody. I'm Kelly, don't touch me. Touch I got boundaries.
But other than that, my nig do your shit because it's just love.
You just confused a little bit, like your life probably, yeah, way harder than mine right now, Like I know how it goes. This is what you got, we hear. Matter of fact, I might laugh with you, like, hey man, it was tough.
I didn't choose this.
You know, a lot of people relate to that character though, like that's the character, Lou, that's all real shit, like it is, a lot of people do relate to it, and you play it so well. Another show i'm a fan of is Them Both Season one?
Answer?
Now, you play in one as Calvin. Yeah, yeah, I love that. A lot of people didn't catch that, but I caught it and I just loved it, like you know how you can switch because you obviously have ranged.
And then season two came out.
I thought you were so creative as a writer for that. It was so many pieces on them to the scare. How did you tap into that?
Well, first of all, it's a team of six people in one room coming up with one idea, so that helps. So I'm not going to act like I'm just you know, and little Marvin being ahead of the ship. Oh, my god, Little Marvin is amazing. Yeah, and I say that to say and I'm like, you know, and I'm gonna keep doing this with Luke because I'm wonder the people that when I'm wrong, I'm wrong just as loud as I was when I was right, and I gotta be honest if I fuck up.
I did not believe in Luke in this role.
I did not.
I did not believe in that man. I argued with Tony Saltzman, who's the second in the room, and Little Marvin about like that's the choice we going because the character description looked nothing like him. The character description looked more like a young Forced Whittaker. Literally, it had nothing in Luke is handsome, he got ass, what the fuck he gonna do?
Like you know what I mean, Like Kendrick, I hate the Waiting.
As a person because you know, Luke was in an R and B group when we was kids, when he was teenagers, and he was singing his ass off. So like, I've always been a fan of Luke's but I just never was like, you know, I'm like, I don't think he can do this, And so I fought like a little bit I was bumping up against shit. When they was like, we're not shooting in La was shoot at Land.
I'm like, Oh, this is bullshit.
Then they're like, also we're asking Luke James.
I'm like, I got me who y'all after all this work we didn't put in to build this story and how it was. Because if somebody, one actor can ruin all of the story, it don't matter how good it is. Y'all got to get up there and say the words.
So I was.
I am humbled and appreciative to be wrong. Being wrong it's a fun thing sometimes that ship beautiful as fuck because I was so wrong that man is was. He did his stuff, he put his foot in it, he stepped all over it. And I'm so glad that we had people like Little Marvin with vision and Tony Saltsman with vision, and the casting directors and a team of writers who are able to you know, we can disagree, have differensive opinion and still get a great product.
I respect that because that's not hate, that's not ego driven, that's man like, we've created this great product. I wanted to continue to be good. I don't think that's the person for it, but you you want to be wrong.
I want to be want to be wrong, And I was did you speak a look about it?
No, I haven't had a chance to.
We've seen him on here Be the first time he sees it and bro you that nigga? You Heimmothy who Timothy James Chapter three and five. That's you cause you got to get people.
They flowers.
We don't see each other, we don't run into each other. And then I went back and looked at some of the stuff he did on the shot because I don't watch the show. Yeah, and I was like, oh, this last season he was really sensitive and really vulnerable and playing some weird like doing some things that I appreciate as an artist because me, I talk shit, but not about the person. Just like when you said, somebody come up to me be like your role and like, I can't believe you did ABNC. I don't take things personal. So when I critique something, it's literally because I'm worried about the story, the art, giving our people quality so that they can empathize with situations they never would have empathized with, so they can go places they never would otherwise win because you gotta dispect, like filmmaking and storytelling is meant for one thing. It's an empathy machine. It's supposed to make it so that you dispel disbelief so that you can really believe what's happening, so you can have a real human experience and expand your mind, your spiritual heart. So I take this shit for real because it saved my fucking life, just like Kanye Well's first album saved my life, just like watching Malcolm X save my fucking life, just like why certain things change your life, the unexplainable lightness of being, like these movies. And so when somebody say an actor, I don't. Yeah, there's personality there, people who are fun that we like to watch. They're great to watch their entertainment. But then there's niggas that make you feel your soul and I don't.
Play with that.
So it wasn't because I didn't think Luke was a good actor or talented. It's because, bro, this is precious. I need you to caretaking guide this real. And he did that.
Ship and that was a very complex role. When I first when I when I seen him too, and then I was like.
How the fuck is Luke James gonna be right? Miss the games?
Like and what why he made himself ugly. I don't know how he did that.
I don't either day.
And it was amazing because in the in the show, I don't want to ruin it totally, but he couldn't remember.
He was trying to be an actor.
And the way it unfolded was he really couldn't get the hood thing down, but he was trying.
Like when he spooked the girl.
It was crazy.
It was crazy with stock and shout out to the team bro. Shout out to the whole gang game too, they went crazy. I love him niggas they are we are deserve our flowers.
Yeah, and even what you said, going back to when you said one one character can like mess up the story. I ain't gonna lie. And this is my brother man. When I first saw youm on, I said, what the fuck is he doing? Playing with somebody play?
He felt like somebody that right, you know?
But as I'm watchingthing like oh ship, like this is a star study cast for this And shout out to Deborah, Deborah, she is amazing.
Season one and season two.
I didn't know how y'all was gonna do it. But I ain't even gonna tell you how to watch season one.
In season two. You your penmanship is amazing.
I just want to give you to be a part of team. It's number two on Amazon, so like we amazing our things. So shout out to the gang. Shout out to dev deb another unhyped ted. I don't know how that woman does what she does. And don't nobody say nothing. It's crazy to me.
I'll be like, what are you right do?
Yeah?
Y'all wrote a movie recently that I'm trying to get made right now.
Is that Covers Covers?
That was a can that was like the short version of a larger film that I did. They got into the camp okay, wow to come, which was a blessing.
You know.
The next one's gonna go crazy. It's called Program.
I'm doing meetings on it right now, raising money. It's gonna be. It's gonna be thinking.
I'm a directed, nice, lucrative, but acting or writing.
Depends.
Now it's now it's almost equivalent. But like because my quotes is pretty high as a writer because wrote, oh I'm on your ass, I'm on your ass you, I'm comfortable with my masculinity. Where's your book at? Anybody notice? Know what how I get down? Shout out to everybody else's preferences. First time we came on, Remember I came out, I was like where Charlemagne at I was on some I was on bumpers because I lost my with my godfather.
At the time, I was pissed because.
You had made a Dunkey of the motherfucking Day for New Jack City Too.
Yep, and you thought it was.
A reboot because everybody was saying it was a reboot, so you made it Donkey of the Day. But I was trying to tell everybody, It's not a fucking reboot.
It was a sequel.
It was a sequel, yes, not a rebel.
It was a sequel.
What was the premise?
Okay, so well I ain't gonna saying, you know, but my quote was really high for that.
That was the point.
But New York City Too is basically like years later, what happened with the people who were still alive?
How about that?
And I wanted in die in it, and I wanted David Washington in it. And you could imagine who those characters would be playing, these sons or daughters of and they were supposed to be on some like you know, on some like, uh, what's that movie with Leonardo DiCaprio, Mad Damon and all them people where they was like going at it.
Oh and Jack Nicholson wasn't in the party.
It was supposed to be more like that, you know, because that's what I wanted it to be. So it was more like that. But like when you gave me Dunky of Today, bro so pissed because I was like, nigga, it's not even true, like it's a it's a sequel, it's not a reboot.
I remember that. I do remember now the story. I remember one of y'all saying, Yo, that dude, Michaelman up here.
Look looking for you, because like, you know, your word really mattered, like you say, ship, people really be taking that man. But yeah, my quote got really high after writing that movie, and so now my quote's pretty good. But you know, it's not like it's not like you take that home, you.
Keep most of it, You split that shit up, your manager, your taxes.
All that like it don't really it get chopped down pretty heavy and acting in two different states. I get heavy with the taxes too, So it's not what it looked like. But I've been blessed enough to put it all together.
And it looked good.
What happened to that script?
Well, somebody gotta make.
It, because you don't throw scripts away, you.
Just they still have it, they still have the IPI I hope they choose the direction I went in. I mean, it's tough because you go on with an idea and you got to listen to everybody and shift in and shape it. That's the thing about writing on assignment rather than writing on spec. When you write on spec, you know you're your own boss. You're just creating. But when you write on assignment, you listen to somebody else and building a house. And I had a good time with Sheila Walcott, who's now a VP of Warner brother She's amazing. And then you know it was it was dope. It was really dope. And Nija Queik Candol who now is at Netflix as ahead those people, like I said, Black Women, gave me my first real shot. I was twenty three. They gave me my shot at writing the studio movie about Mike Brown. That was the first one. And then I did New Jack City two and those quotes got it high. So I can't say that one is more lucrative than the other, because if I write a TV show with Terroal McRaney, which I'm doing right now.
That's gonna mm hmmm.
That's a lot of money if I'm just But if I'm booked the lead of a movie or a show after this, it's gonna be pretty nice. Yeah, Bok's pretty high, so it's uh, it can't be very little.
Now. I understand the slides everywhere basketball show, that's writing. That's writer or time. I don't have time for nothing else. They be locked away writing, they be comfortable writing. They come out for coffee, but also.
From lam from South Central.
So like, you know, like if I could all wear diggies and the T shirt everywhere, I really don't give a fuck. I just really love fashion. I love when people put threads together and how we look. I enjoy it.
But to put that ship on, it's like a costume every day. I'm like, every day, it's so much work.
I know, huh, you're looking at the new balances, you know what I'm saying.
Just started the show dressing to the tea every day, and Charlemagne and I said it's gonna last about a month too.
We said three months. It lasted thirty days.
Yea sweat, Thank you and then I'm also pregnant to you, like you know, as soon as I dropped dropped the sweat.
I like to be cute.
But after way you wake up, you'd be like, I don't got time. I gotta do radio at six. I gotta get up at four every morning.
That's not you know.
That black, that's black people.
We didn't did that to ourselves. You know, we be on each other so bad you can't wear it. You feel like you can't get caught in the same outfit, the same Yeah, you feeling bad for the kids? They be coming up, pulling up in Rose Roys trucks for prom. I'm like, what in the fuck have we done?
Yeah, I won't say I feel like the kids. At least my daughter school, she's in high school. Kids be comfortable Slidesma pants, Gama pants, my kids love. I'm even saying to her, like, yo, y'all ain't like how we grew up. Every day was a fast.
Yeah, we have to go for real.
But I like the fact that it's not that they're not superficial.
Look, I was poor. I went to public l a U.
S D. School and I wore the same black Allen Iverson's every day, and I had to learn how to fight.
That's how it was.
And then when that's you know, so it's but it's funny because now I'm a grown man and I still kind of feel that, like I got to put it on fresh and and I and it's kind of like I gotta liberate my so from that like free to guys.
You know.
My boy on TikTok says that a lot. You know, He's like, you got a free to guys. And it's funny because I really feel that when I'm like if I want to put it on, I'm and put it on. If I feel like not, I feel like not because it's like it's it's.
In you, not on you. Like I'm me, I'm a win regardless.
Charl that's his what third time winning T shirt? And he just.
Crazy, this is the second time.
It's a grain one that you wore to day.
Out for two days in a row.
So like it.
If I like it and it's comfortable, I'm putting it on. He'd be going to different interviews.
I'm like, damn, you're gonna be in that picture. You know, You're going to be in this outfit for like all over the place.
I don't care me.
It's like it's like being athletes. Like we all know you have money. We saw the content, but it's like I saw money part. We saw the cont we saw it. It was public, you publicized it. You'll like talking about your money.
I've never done that. I've never talked about my money.
Now other people talk about it for you don't know what about it, even playing.
I don't know what you're talking about.
I ain't got no money, baby.
But the last question I had for you is do you still do music? Because I know you put out Street Journal Volume one last year.
But yeah, and I wrote on Brent's album. I wrote on Joey's album like I work with my friends. I got some music coming right now, some music with Joey, some music with my mina. Wally to sen say, oh, my non profit, I want to mention that. Yeah, I got a nonprofit call Seel of the Marie Foundation. We're doing to give back to my neighborhood, in the same neighborhood I told you about when I first came here in Jungles.
You're doing that in late August for the kids.
That's not no play play place to come out of brother, No, none, at all. Jungle is no joking anything about la It's home.
It's for me, So I just want to get back to him, so like, yeah, so the music has helped me with that because the music is kind of connected to my neighborhood a lot. So that music coming. I'm gonna go crazy when it's time. But I like to give everybody things and pieces.
Yeah, correct me if I'm wrong. The jungle is where then went train today. Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, wow, And that's what it's really like that like that, It's it's even more interesting now I'm miss home, you know.
But it's funny because gentrification is such a weird thing because now we got like white girls, white people on the like white girls drogging through the hood and jungle bruh, and the home we be at the part we was at the park, which I should be, but I was at the park with the home and they was like, and I was like, who's this running like that?
Sarah she go to usc blood.
I'm like, what do you mean?
I'm just kidding.
But it's the only reason I don't like it is because they're gonna be displaced to the Inland Empire and they're not gonna have, like the resources don't change. We just get brought out, we get changes. This happening to you know, the people I care about, with everybody, and I hate seeing it. I'm not you know, I don't. I don't really hate white people like that. I just don't like when they do ship.
Because you know what happens to us, Yes, right, when that happens. When it happens to us, we get pushed out.
You don't have no we don't don't have no job skill set training like you know, they take all that shit out the schools, they don't teach us, they don't update and be like, hey, look the new blue collar working trade skills is AI Like, they don't.
Switch it out.
Everything's so late, so we're not gonna be able to sustain anyway. And then, of course, you know, the gap between the minimum wage and to be able to afford the American dream now was more gilded than it's been since the twenties and thirties, which, by the way, my grandma grew up in so she's able to tell me like, shit crazy, and I just really it breaks my heart. And like if I have made, if I like winning, if I get to like the level of Kendrick conjective niggas words all that money, I would have bought my block easy, and I'll make sure people have some sustainable like teachings to grow so that they could play back to interest and have a percent ownership of what we have. I feel like equity is a big deal and we just don't care. We just be getting pushed out and niggas be leaving, and I get it because we.
Be killing our own people.
It's a fun It's a fucked up world because like, look what happened in it when you try to stay sure, you know, like it's always that and I just I want so much more for us, absolutely, I really do. Man, it really be breaking my heart, so I stand sof.
Yeah you know what, speaking of hearts, I have to ask you this before you go.
I know I said that was the last question.
I know I have to.
Okay, So what's going on with you and Gail Bean?
That's my heart?
Man, I love her, that my personal life.
I know you don't like, I ain't gonna like ourness, our business, but I love her.
That's what I'm always love her.
Like.
Yeah, that's all you guys are.
Gonna do a rom com together.
That's dope.
That's that's what's gonna be next.
That's super dope. So shout out to Gail Bean and Malcolm's dog. Yeah, love the life.
All right, Well, we appreciate you joining. I was surprised you, being from Cali, that you went with Drake over Kendrick.
But you know, I didn't.
Say that you didn't play with my top. We were talking about the level of home this summer. You got meybody way.
There's only one right answer to that situation, the things that's subjective that ain't want to The right answer is this.
Aubrey has done great for music. Kendrick is for the people coaches.
Yeah, when the last time Aubrey was standing for Mike Brown and all them people.
I love him.
He does great for us, He all that, But like it's Kate niggas gang.
Yeah, I'm mad that you.
I hope y'all figure it out. That ain't my business. But if I have to, like, if you force me on the side, I don't have a choice. Yeah, riding with Canada, it just don't make no sense. Record it stayed on records, and I don't think we'll go past that. I think that's smart enough. I prayed, Well, you know, people's egos get into I just pray to everybody. Everybody figured that shou out be cool. Yeah, it's all weird, like because Kendrick went crazy on Marmon's room, the.
Like he went on that first tour. He did the heart and all that.
That ship was beautiful and dope, like, y'all cut that ship out. We damn near forty on his tripping love y'all. And if it's like that, then.
But it gave the West Coast. It gave the West Coast and anthem it hasn't had in a long long time.
And a super slapper. I was.
I was in cann going up to that ship and that it was.
We was were.
Y'all, Hey, shout out, shout out to that man. It was aggressive.
I love it.
The best dish records, it's a fact.
Not even close with best best disc records ever of all time. Come out of the West Coast park hit him up the energy.
It's the passion. We really disrespectful. We don't like your niggas respectfully, we just don't. Everybody else's communal. Everybody wants to hang out kids. You don't hang out with nobody just push ups on the park. Now, you playing with a man, leave alone, Leave me alone. Leave anybody from south central l A alone.
Leave us alone.
Just be nice and leave us. Just please, thank you guys for having us.
It's the Breakfast Club. Good morning.
Wake that ass up in the morning. The Breakfast Club.
