Latest / The Breakfast Club / INTERVIEW: Cast of 'The CHI' Talks Final Season, Honoring Chicago, Connecting With Their Characters in Real Life + More

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INTERVIEW: Cast of 'The CHI' Talks Final Season, Honoring Chicago, Connecting With Their Characters in Real Life + More · The Breakfast Club

0:00
Speaker 1: I don't know every day pick up the Breakfast Club.
0:05
Speaker 1: You don't finish for y'all dumb.
0:08
Speaker 2: Yes, it's one of the most dangerous morning to show.
0:10
Speaker 2: The Breakfast Club dj NV just hilarious. Charlamagne the Guard
0:13
Speaker 2: Nvy is not here today, but Lord La Rossi is here,
0:16
Speaker 2: Mimi Brown is sitting in as well, and we got
0:18
Speaker 2: the cast of the shot you.
0:21
Speaker 3: If you themselves like y'all.
0:22
Speaker 4: Group Michael v Ups, Quarter Smith Money Primer and Alex
0:29
Speaker 4: Sorry Hebby.
0:30
Speaker 3: I feel like you watched y'all grow up. I know.
0:33
Speaker 3: I just find out y'all was coming up.
0:35
Speaker 5: Oh my god, look so y'all here. Eighth season shows
0:41
Speaker 5: don't live that long.
0:43
Speaker 3: We saw y'all. Y'all were like little little kids with
0:46
Speaker 3: your Lowis. I was so mad at you. I felt
0:49
Speaker 3: like he was my real little brother.
0:51
Speaker 5: How does it feel to like to have, like to
0:54
Speaker 5: be doing the final season of this long living show.
0:58
Speaker 4: It feels great just to be able to start this
1:00
Speaker 4: and in with it, and to be able to be
1:02
Speaker 4: a part of something that's bigger than myself and work
1:04
Speaker 4: alongside amazing people and be able to call them family.
1:09
Speaker 4: Now is just an amazing journey.
1:10
Speaker 6: To be a part of Yeah, it's definitely a surreal
1:13
Speaker 6: moment because you got to think about, like we're from Chicago,
1:15
Speaker 6: so to walk the streets like I filmed on some
1:17
Speaker 6: of the parts where I went to school, you know what.
1:20
Speaker 6: So it was like, Bro, I was twenty four years
1:21
Speaker 6: old having my first scene around the corner from my
1:24
Speaker 6: high school.
1:25
Speaker 1: I was like, damn, this is It's crazy.
1:27
Speaker 7: Bro.
1:28
Speaker 2: Did the show accurately reflect Chicago to y'all?
1:31
Speaker 1: Yeah?
1:32
Speaker 6: Yeah, but it's it's like politically correct though. It's like
1:34
Speaker 6: we can't go too and depth in it, you know
1:35
Speaker 6: what I mean, getting two controverts. We don't want to
1:37
Speaker 6: put a bad light on us. We already got a
1:40
Speaker 6: stigma on us, like we so dangerous, you know what
1:42
Speaker 6: I mean?
1:42
Speaker 1: Every city got a hood.
1:45
Speaker 8: Do you feel like the show really helped put change
1:47
Speaker 8: that narrative?
1:48
Speaker 1: Yeah, show black, love, love.
1:50
Speaker 7: Community, family. We are more than just violent.
1:53
Speaker 9: Like I feel like a lot of people think Chicago,
1:55
Speaker 9: I think just violence and guns and things like that.
1:58
Speaker 9: But it just showed that we have positivity.
2:02
Speaker 10: I think you can see like it's a character for
2:04
Speaker 10: each person show on this show, like ensemble, So we
2:07
Speaker 10: got so many characters. I feel like anybody watching can
2:10
Speaker 10: relate to anybody.
2:11
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I feel like the shy to your point,
2:14
Speaker 2: all right, right to your point. I feel like it
2:16
Speaker 2: shows how the trauma starts, you know what I mean,
2:20
Speaker 2: Like it shows how the trauma even gets inherited, you know,
2:22
Speaker 2: in black communities a lot of the time.
2:26
Speaker 9: And it also shows how to come up out of it.
2:27
Speaker 9: I like that because a lot of TV and movie
2:30
Speaker 9: just just shows the trauma and that's it and that's
2:32
Speaker 9: where it ends.
2:33
Speaker 1: And you know what it shows.
2:33
Speaker 6: It shows like family, like we all congregate and come
2:37
Speaker 6: together to get ourselves out of that trauma.
2:39
Speaker 1: And it really glorified the black women and.
2:42
Speaker 6: Our show, Like we need to keep pushing that because
2:45
Speaker 6: it's like we put the stigma on like black women
2:47
Speaker 6: like they not needed.
2:49
Speaker 1: We bro, that's how backbone, you know what I mean.
2:51
Speaker 1: We come from a woman, So we got to get
2:53
Speaker 1: more respect to him. For sure.
2:55
Speaker 5: Character development is very important in this show because yo,
2:59
Speaker 5: I remember for seeing Nook his role, I went from
3:03
Speaker 5: hating him to like, damn, I love him, because how
3:07
Speaker 5: you changed, Like at first he was working for dude,
3:11
Speaker 5: and that's what she wanted to do. You know, Nook
3:12
Speaker 5: was like all right, beg killer killer, shoot him up,
3:15
Speaker 5: bang bang. But then you changed the perspective, like the
3:18
Speaker 5: mindset of the business, even with like the car he
3:21
Speaker 5: want to get out now, you know what I mean.
3:23
Speaker 5: And it's just wild, like seeing the character development over
3:27
Speaker 5: the seasons. It took turns that I didn't think it
3:30
Speaker 5: would take. Like I thought Knook was going to be
3:33
Speaker 5: killed for.
3:33
Speaker 6: Sure, that boy playing chest not checkers figuring it out.
3:39
Speaker 6: I don't know how he doing it, but he figured
3:40
Speaker 6: it out. Knuck is so complex, bro, because it showed
3:43
Speaker 6: like gangster high feelings too, you know what I mean.
3:45
Speaker 6: Like and it just shows the product of like making
3:48
Speaker 6: the wrong choice in life, Like I had so many
3:49
Speaker 6: full circle moments with the Knuck as well, Like he
3:53
Speaker 6: found out about the sun through sickle sell My father
3:56
Speaker 6: died from sickle Sells, so it's like it was like
3:58
Speaker 6: literally it was a full circle moment with that.
4:00
Speaker 1: You know that. Yeah, bro, it's hard working.
4:03
Speaker 6: Like I had a scene when I had to walk
4:04
Speaker 6: through the door and see my son for the first time.
4:07
Speaker 6: I had it in my mindset like damn, what if
4:09
Speaker 6: my father would have had an opportunity to see me
4:11
Speaker 6: for the first time because he didn't have a chance to.
4:12
Speaker 1: He died right after.
4:13
Speaker 11: So you talk about when you walk in the house, Yeah,
4:15
Speaker 11: I remember that scene.
4:16
Speaker 1: Yeah wow.
4:17
Speaker 11: So so after that scene happens, right, and you're also
4:20
Speaker 11: like in your real life pulling from that emotion, like
4:22
Speaker 11: you go home and like what is that?
4:24
Speaker 1: Like, I ain't know.
4:25
Speaker 6: I was like fucked up for a minute because even
4:27
Speaker 6: like playing that role, in playing the moment when I
4:30
Speaker 6: took do that out, like I had to walk down
4:33
Speaker 6: a path of what I thought I healed from, but
4:35
Speaker 6: I really didn't, you know what I mean. My uncle
4:37
Speaker 6: passed from gun violence, and I put my mindset that
4:39
Speaker 6: if I was in the opportunity to take the life
4:43
Speaker 6: of the guy that.
4:44
Speaker 1: Took my uncle away.
4:45
Speaker 6: So it's like to walk and just rip that band
4:48
Speaker 6: aid off and be like, man, I thought I was here,
4:50
Speaker 6: but I wasn't. Like it took me a little while
4:51
Speaker 6: to get back normal when it come to work and
4:54
Speaker 6: just be a you know, an actor.
4:56
Speaker 2: I'm glad that you say that, because a lot of
4:57
Speaker 2: people would think that if you're from Chicago, you're kind
5:00
Speaker 2: of numb to it, like that's the gun violence is
5:03
Speaker 2: sort of the norm. I'm glad to hear you say
5:05
Speaker 2: it's not.
5:06
Speaker 1: It's not. It's not.
5:08
Speaker 6: We know how to mask it because we are taught
5:09
Speaker 6: to be tough. You know, you gotta have some type
5:12
Speaker 6: of character with that. But it's like, no, we go
5:13
Speaker 6: home and we sob. That's why a lot of people
5:15
Speaker 6: leaning into drugs because they try to cope and mask
5:18
Speaker 6: what they're going through and it's like, no, you need
5:19
Speaker 6: to sit down and unpack.
5:20
Speaker 1: It's not healthy and not cool to be like.
5:22
Speaker 6: Oh, I can pop this purple, I can sip this.
5:24
Speaker 1: Lean and get over. No, you fighting demons that you're
5:26
Speaker 1: not unpacking.
5:27
Speaker 6: And to start with the household. It's a foundation. If
5:29
Speaker 6: our foundation ain't right, then we can't be right and
5:32
Speaker 6: we got to unpack that. It's okay to say you're
5:34
Speaker 6: not okay, especially being a black man, to go to
5:36
Speaker 6: therapy right for it?
5:37
Speaker 1: For sure.
5:38
Speaker 6: Yes, And I'm huge on man mental health. Like next month,
5:41
Speaker 6: I got a nonprofit called Corte's Cares. Every gyone we
5:44
Speaker 6: do a man's mental health run and just get everybody
5:48
Speaker 6: together in the neighborhood and we have a.
5:50
Speaker 1: Man's Circle that I.
5:52
Speaker 6: You know, I use from the shy and then we
5:54
Speaker 6: just come together and just whatever you got on your chest.
5:56
Speaker 1: Just get it off, bro, it's a judge for I.
5:58
Speaker 12: Like those man's.
6:01
Speaker 13: It was get that.
6:05
Speaker 11: But I used to look forward to it in the show,
6:07
Speaker 11: like that was what we would like after the show. Yeah, yeah,
6:10
Speaker 11: they would go through their feelings in real life. I
6:11
Speaker 11: mean not in real life because it's the characters. But
6:14
Speaker 11: I was like, that was so genius to put that in.
6:16
Speaker 11: It was early because BT even now has a show
6:19
Speaker 11: that does that, and then Kirk Franklin has like Kings
6:21
Speaker 11: then right, that's kind of the same thing, And I was.
6:24
Speaker 8: Like, that was.
6:26
Speaker 3: Real feelings.
6:28
Speaker 10: Well yeah, well we kind of like practiced before. But
6:32
Speaker 10: like being in the Men's Circle is so fun because
6:34
Speaker 10: off camera, like we talk amongst each other all the time.
6:37
Speaker 10: So like once we started getting those scenes, I think
6:39
Speaker 10: we were all excited because like we got to be
6:42
Speaker 10: amongst each other because each story is like you know,
6:45
Speaker 10: it has those different storylines and different characters with different characters,
6:48
Speaker 10: but those were like moments where it's like us as men,
6:51
Speaker 10: whether you be young or old, we're coming together on
6:53
Speaker 10: the show and we're expressing ourselves and expressing what you know,
6:56
Speaker 10: our character is going through. But it's also fun off cams,
6:59
Speaker 10: just hein' on set, those long hours with our big brothers,
7:03
Speaker 10: us just learning game from them and they hearing us
7:05
Speaker 10: and hearing what we're going through, and we just.
7:07
Speaker 13: Talking speaking of big brothers, because Jake, your character has
7:13
Speaker 13: evolved so much. He went from being under two brothers
7:16
Speaker 13: to like becoming your own man and starting your own business.
7:20
Speaker 13: You know, talk to us about your development, you know,
7:22
Speaker 13: as the seasons went on.
7:23
Speaker 4: Now that's one of my things I can't wait for
7:25
Speaker 4: y'all to see. Coming into this new season, you really
7:27
Speaker 4: gonna see Jake stepping more into his manhood and putting
7:30
Speaker 4: his foot down. But seeing Jakie voll over the has
7:34
Speaker 4: been my favorite thing to see and play because you
7:36
Speaker 4: see him go from the normal kid in the hood
7:39
Speaker 4: following his big brother steps to losing him, to then
7:42
Speaker 4: being adopted and living in a house where he doesn't
7:45
Speaker 4: really feel wanted or doesn't really want to be there,
7:47
Speaker 4: to Oh, my new big brother comes in. So now
7:49
Speaker 4: it's more of a new change I got to get
7:51
Speaker 4: used to. I don't really know him, but it's a
7:53
Speaker 4: big bro. So in the way I have to accept him,
7:55
Speaker 4: I have to harbor him, you know, So just to
7:57
Speaker 4: see Jake and his final season and only see him
8:00
Speaker 4: kind of find that peace and happiness.
8:02
Speaker 5: I can't wait for you to smashing the first lady.
8:09
Speaker 6: I'm so jealous of his character. Man, you know he
8:13
Speaker 6: doing his thing on that.
8:15
Speaker 3: But alright, real quick, I keep coming.
8:17
Speaker 5: Yeah, So, how was it acting with your sister?
8:24
Speaker 3: Like your actual.
8:27
Speaker 10: Sister, Well, she older than me by five years, but.
8:32
Speaker 3: That's big.
8:33
Speaker 10: That's looked wow to our parents, Jean. But I mean
8:39
Speaker 10: I remember being on set. We were filming episode. We
8:43
Speaker 10: were season six. I don't know the episode completely, but
8:47
Speaker 10: I remember just filming and Lena has seen me a
8:49
Speaker 10: DM She like, you know this because my sister also
8:52
Speaker 10: is an R and B artist.
8:54
Speaker 3: You this girl.
8:55
Speaker 10: So I'm like, I think she's gonna get a sync
8:57
Speaker 10: Like I'm thinking this music. I'm like, okay, I'll texted
8:59
Speaker 10: like I think going to be on the show. She
9:01
Speaker 10: sent me a voice memo back like you know, we
9:03
Speaker 10: want to keep growing your arc like as y'all cool?
9:06
Speaker 10: Like how was she feel coming on the show playing?
9:08
Speaker 1: I'm like what?
9:09
Speaker 10: Then my sister texted me because she was on tour
9:11
Speaker 10: at the time with cast Page in Canada, so she like,
9:13
Speaker 10: I'm getting a text from Carmen Cuba casting like what
9:16
Speaker 10: is this? I'm like you about to be on the show.
9:18
Speaker 10: But it was, it was such an honor. It was
9:20
Speaker 10: a blessing for our legacy, for our bloodline coming from Gary, Indiana.
9:23
Speaker 10: You see those siblings with like Mike Janet stuff like that.
9:27
Speaker 10: But we just embraced the moment. And I also got
9:29
Speaker 10: to see my sister grow in another craft because we
9:31
Speaker 10: started like started off when we were young doing plays
9:34
Speaker 10: and stuff like that. But she transitioned into music. But
9:37
Speaker 10: you saw her over the seasons like really get a
9:39
Speaker 10: knack and a real love for for acting again. So
9:42
Speaker 10: it was a blessing and I'm honored that, Like you know,
9:45
Speaker 10: I'm going to live life, continue to do my career,
9:47
Speaker 10: but always be able to say, like I did a show,
9:49
Speaker 10: not only a show, the longest running black drama with
9:51
Speaker 10: my sister o G was on it too, y'all.
10:00
Speaker 11: Y'all's relationship on the show, it really spoke a lot
10:03
Speaker 11: to like people be like, man, they just doing what
10:05
Speaker 11: they gotta do.
10:06
Speaker 8: Figure it out.
10:07
Speaker 11: I feel like your relationship and a dynamic because we
10:09
Speaker 11: loved her that we didn't that hurt, like you know,
10:12
Speaker 11: it really spoke to two kids having to just figure
10:15
Speaker 11: it out because y'all, you didn't have anybody.
10:16
Speaker 10: And we didn't have anybody. And also like with tom
10:19
Speaker 10: Us being a part, it's like you get to see
10:22
Speaker 10: Bacari at first be like you sus, but you ain't
10:25
Speaker 10: been here. I've been out here figuring it out myself,
10:28
Speaker 10: living this life by myself, trying to make ends meat
10:30
Speaker 10: for myself. But I'm excited for the new season cause
10:34
Speaker 10: you know, you may see that relationship growth.
10:37
Speaker 5: Now, was it introduced to you before that she was
10:40
Speaker 5: going to be like a snake?
10:43
Speaker 3: No, it wasn't. Okay, So that was just something that that.
10:46
Speaker 10: Was just something we reading the script and she like,
10:49
Speaker 10: they gonna hate me.
10:53
Speaker 6: She dropped the damn on me too. It got me
10:55
Speaker 6: beat up, kicked out, the mob for back.
11:00
Speaker 4: Came in trying to take my girl out.
11:16
Speaker 1: Jake knew was.
11:16
Speaker 4: Coming with it, though you know you lose them how
11:18
Speaker 4: you get.
11:18
Speaker 11: Him In fact, so Alex or Kevin, so right in
11:23
Speaker 11: the show when you decide to exit the show and
11:25
Speaker 11: you're headed to college and the gaming stuff is happening,
11:28
Speaker 11: what do you think is like the biggest lesson that
11:30
Speaker 11: kids who are afraid to lead their neighborhoods, but need
11:32
Speaker 11: to take that step. Should learn from your decision to
11:35
Speaker 11: go away to college.
11:36
Speaker 14: Never let your circumstances defining Kevin went through so much,
11:40
Speaker 14: you know what I mean. And a lot of black
11:41
Speaker 14: boys have the same experience that I do, and a
11:44
Speaker 14: lot of black boys are different. We're not all the same.
11:47
Speaker 14: We not all play sports, and then you know do
11:50
Speaker 14: the music and all that other stuff. We have different
11:52
Speaker 14: goals and different things that we want to achieve. So
11:55
Speaker 14: I think Kevin in that sense and me playing that
11:59
Speaker 14: character holding in are in part to the culture alone.
12:02
Speaker 14: And that's why I treat him with so much grace.
12:03
Speaker 14: And that's why as well, I debarded the way I did,
12:06
Speaker 14: because it is to show people that you know, there
12:09
Speaker 14: is a change you can leave, you can boss up
12:11
Speaker 14: and change your environment regardless of whatever happens in this world.
12:14
Speaker 12: You know it is Kevin still a gamer in LA.
12:18
Speaker 14: Well, that's what that's for the audience to interpret.
12:20
Speaker 7: You know.
12:20
Speaker 14: All I can say is Kevin is thriving.
12:23
Speaker 8: Doing well, and we're not gonna get like a little sneak.
12:26
Speaker 1: That boys media.
12:34
Speaker 2: But I like what you were saying though, because like
12:35
Speaker 2: the shy has always done a great job of showing
12:37
Speaker 2: like the streets, but then like showing the emotional vulnerability, right,
12:40
Speaker 2: How that can exist together? Why do you still think
12:43
Speaker 2: society acts like toughness.
12:45
Speaker 1: In healing can coexist.
12:47
Speaker 14: I mean, it's just it's just where we in take,
12:49
Speaker 14: you know. That's what they promote when it comes to
12:51
Speaker 14: the music and all that stuff. That's all we's seeing
12:54
Speaker 14: and hearing. That's all the youth is seeing and hearing.
12:55
Speaker 14: So that's why us being young black people that we
12:58
Speaker 14: are right now, we're here to change me, change that
13:01
Speaker 14: whole ecosystem, change that whole mindset, you know, just put
13:05
Speaker 14: on those younger kids. I even look at my my
13:07
Speaker 14: nephews and my cousins a different way and talk to
13:11
Speaker 14: them a different way because I know.
13:12
Speaker 1: I have a responsibility that I have to uphold. We
13:14
Speaker 1: all do.
13:15
Speaker 14: There's a big torch being passed down and we have
13:18
Speaker 14: to do the work, and we got to be able
13:19
Speaker 14: to hold it up.
13:20
Speaker 1: You know, that's the fact.
13:21
Speaker 4: But it's like even like even sometimes it's like as
13:24
Speaker 4: a man or a male, they expect you to put
13:26
Speaker 4: on that front or it's like you can't have feelings
13:28
Speaker 4: or express or feel away you know, like growing up
13:31
Speaker 4: in the house, there was something that I kind of
13:33
Speaker 4: heard as being a boy, you're told to suck it up,
13:35
Speaker 4: deal with It's like, cry, dang, I can't even feel
13:38
Speaker 4: the way that I just feel down the stairs that
13:40
Speaker 4: you just say it this and it hurt me. So
13:41
Speaker 4: it's like that's kind of a weight that they just
13:43
Speaker 4: throw on us. Like now you can't feel like what
13:45
Speaker 4: you have to put on this front. You can't you
13:46
Speaker 4: can't feel your emotions. So that's also another reason why
13:49
Speaker 4: I feel like it's a lot of men and like
13:51
Speaker 4: they can't be vulnerable with each other.
13:52
Speaker 6: Especially yeah, my bad, I'm gonna just add this, and
13:54
Speaker 6: especially being raised by a single parent like me and
13:57
Speaker 6: you you know, we just had our mom, and you know,
14:00
Speaker 6: we gotta be ten times harder because we go out
14:01
Speaker 6: in these streets.
14:02
Speaker 1: We can't be feminine at all. We can't be sensitive
14:04
Speaker 1: or another.
14:05
Speaker 6: We gotta you know, I mean, literally go out in
14:08
Speaker 6: the streets and give one hundred and ten percent and
14:09
Speaker 6: be more tough than anybody, because back at home, we
14:12
Speaker 6: got a female.
14:12
Speaker 10: That's racing, you know what I mean, piggybacking off what
14:14
Speaker 10: you said, just that that community I also feel like,
14:17
Speaker 10: you know, people don't really have somebody to listen and
14:20
Speaker 10: not just listen to respond, like really like listen and
14:23
Speaker 10: taking their feelings and emotions and where they are and
14:25
Speaker 10: the place they are in their life.
14:27
Speaker 12: You know, Zarya, I love your your character line.
14:31
Speaker 13: You know it's you're so vulnerable and you're so helpful
14:35
Speaker 13: with Bacari and you give them.
14:36
Speaker 12: Chance after chance after chance. Where does that come from?
14:39
Speaker 8: Does it?
14:39
Speaker 13: Because what you've been through where you see something at them,
14:41
Speaker 13: does remind you of your brother, Like what is happening there?
14:44
Speaker 9: I think she sympathizes with him because of Jamal, that
14:48
Speaker 9: is her brother. And I have a brother in real life,
14:50
Speaker 9: and you know girls don't play about that. They brother
14:52
Speaker 9: don't play about them. And you can see Jamal don't
14:55
Speaker 9: play about me. And even like I think her saying,
14:58
Speaker 9: Jamal come out of jail and now, like you know,
15:00
Speaker 9: he's following God and he's really trying to change his life.
15:02
Speaker 7: He gets a regular job, he goes to Mary's Dom played.
15:05
Speaker 8: By La lah.
15:06
Speaker 9: I feel like she knows that Bakari can do that too,
15:09
Speaker 9: and that's why she does a give up because she
15:12
Speaker 9: comes from that, so she knows what that's like and
15:14
Speaker 9: she knows she's from Chicago, so she knows, like, this
15:17
Speaker 9: is the system that we've been put in, but it's breakable.
15:21
Speaker 7: Yeah. So she's just pushing him to get out of that.
15:23
Speaker 12: And you lean on her a lot all the time.
15:26
Speaker 4: O YEA.
15:27
Speaker 13: Is she feel avoid for what Bakari is going through
15:29
Speaker 13: because he really doesn't have anyone?
15:32
Speaker 10: I think she does, but just that selflessness that she carries,
15:36
Speaker 10: you know, like like she said, she thinks that Bacari
15:39
Speaker 10: can make it out in Bacari can change. So I
15:42
Speaker 10: just think that she just put her heart on sleeve
15:44
Speaker 10: and she she take it, you know what I'm saying.
15:47
Speaker 10: But I also do think that there is a void.
15:50
Speaker 10: But I think this season that you're going to be
15:53
Speaker 10: able to see stuff from her point of view as well.
15:55
Speaker 11: So do you think that do you think your character?
15:58
Speaker 11: Do you think Lenna ever sacrifices too much?
16:00
Speaker 7: Yes? Every time?
16:01
Speaker 9: She should have never put them guns in her closet.
16:04
Speaker 9: I needed to help find it. It's not like it's love,
16:09
Speaker 9: it's like and it is.
16:13
Speaker 1: Put some guns in the closet.
16:15
Speaker 10: Yeah.
16:16
Speaker 1: Have you took a charge though.
16:20
Speaker 3: Me in the stolen car on prem Yeah, I wanted to,
16:25
Speaker 3: but I did.
16:28
Speaker 2: It was about taking the charge, doing something you can
16:30
Speaker 2: get in charge for.
16:31
Speaker 1: Right, it's just.
16:32
Speaker 3: As bad question. First of all, I never done something
16:35
Speaker 3: you could.
16:36
Speaker 5: Have got the charge about the niggas that I was within, allegedly.
16:42
Speaker 8: In the car.
16:42
Speaker 9: Yeah, but that's why I love our relationship so much,
16:44
Speaker 9: because that is like the hood love story that like
16:47
Speaker 9: so many girls like you find a good girl and
16:50
Speaker 9: the bad boy and you just want to save him
16:52
Speaker 9: so bad.
16:52
Speaker 1: It's like girl, a pretty pretty woman love them hood
16:56
Speaker 1: niggas love.
16:57
Speaker 3: He told me to sat his guns, girl.
17:01
Speaker 5: One of them.
17:07
Speaker 4: You know.
17:07
Speaker 2: The show deals with grief a lot, right, Like what
17:09
Speaker 2: role do you think unhealed grief plays and how people
17:12
Speaker 2: just move through relationships in their community.
17:16
Speaker 10: I think it's it's a lot of perspectives. I feel
17:19
Speaker 10: like you can look at a lot of ways. Like
17:21
Speaker 10: with my character, you saw him literally take someone's life
17:27
Speaker 10: because of grief and because how he felt. You know,
17:30
Speaker 10: Coogie was he was the person in the neighborhood. Like
17:33
Speaker 10: you know, he may not come from that walk of life,
17:35
Speaker 10: but like we know him, we respect him like he
17:37
Speaker 10: was all limits. You know what I'm saying. But obviously
17:41
Speaker 10: you see wrong place, wrong time, a story that we
17:44
Speaker 10: all know in our communities, and you see him die,
17:46
Speaker 10: but you also see me come, you know, seasons later.
17:51
Speaker 6: Because we forgot that you will. The gangsters have to
17:53
Speaker 6: keep her mand you like myself, I have to keep
17:55
Speaker 6: her mand you like I ain't running. But you know
17:57
Speaker 6: you've done so much good, and we showed that you
17:59
Speaker 6: was just so lost in the community that you find
18:02
Speaker 6: in your way, and you don't want.
18:03
Speaker 1: To be that guy. You just want to survive.
18:06
Speaker 10: But that community that I talked about, you see shod
18:08
Speaker 10: he didn't give up on He didn't give up on me.
18:11
Speaker 10: You see Professor Gardner, all these different characters that community
18:14
Speaker 10: where I'm able to express myself. I'm able to express
18:17
Speaker 10: my emotions and I'm also able to get corrected because
18:22
Speaker 10: of the foundation and the seeds that they plan it.
18:24
Speaker 10: So now I'm hearing it out of love instead of
18:27
Speaker 10: like you know, because you know, we got positive figures
18:30
Speaker 10: in our life and sometimes we might not listen because
18:32
Speaker 10: we don't know how to receive. But I just feel
18:34
Speaker 10: like over time you saw his heart softened to just
18:37
Speaker 10: receive and listen. But grief can make you do crazy,
18:39
Speaker 10: like you see me coming off the gate.
18:40
Speaker 1: Grief had me.
18:41
Speaker 10: I'm blowing for sure.
18:44
Speaker 6: Grief made you do some stuff too, like you know
18:45
Speaker 6: what I mean, Like when you thought you lost your brother,
18:48
Speaker 6: but you know he came back and you let him
18:55
Speaker 6: back in your house.
18:55
Speaker 3: You know what I mean, He just came back and
18:58
Speaker 3: they want nothing to do with it.
19:00
Speaker 2: Know how to impact you all in real life, because
19:01
Speaker 2: like you said, you'll af from Chicago. So I'm sure
19:03
Speaker 2: y'all all dealt with different traumas, right, But then you
19:06
Speaker 2: then you got to go be on a show where
19:08
Speaker 2: you still got to play about trauma. Like when do
19:11
Speaker 2: you ever get to really disconnect?
19:12
Speaker 1: You really don't know that.
19:15
Speaker 4: That's why I say you always got to prioritize your
19:17
Speaker 4: mental health because.
19:19
Speaker 2: With this job, you got to relive a lot.
19:22
Speaker 4: Of traumatic moments to better your performance on screen. So
19:25
Speaker 4: it's like, if you already making sure your mental health
19:28
Speaker 4: is straight on the day to day, I really feel
19:30
Speaker 4: like you will be able to maneuver through it.
19:31
Speaker 1: Facts and keeping God first.
19:32
Speaker 7: Man.
19:32
Speaker 6: God is real, bro, God is real. Manifestation is real,
19:36
Speaker 6: and God is real.
19:36
Speaker 7: Man.
19:37
Speaker 6: Keep God first and just take time and ground yourself
19:40
Speaker 6: and stay grounded.
19:42
Speaker 4: Bro.
19:42
Speaker 6: You know what I mean, and just go silent, turn
19:44
Speaker 6: your phone off, turn the TV off, you know what
19:46
Speaker 6: I mean, Just sit in your thoughts and unpack the
19:48
Speaker 6: things that you went through, because man, that shit can
19:51
Speaker 6: turn you crazy.
19:52
Speaker 4: Though.
19:52
Speaker 5: For real, this show is definitely a very emotionally triggering show.
19:58
Speaker 5: Do y'all have a most emotional season? I'm gonna tell
20:01
Speaker 5: you what it is for me, and I ain't even
20:02
Speaker 5: on the show. Okay, So when Keisha was kidnapped, man, yes,
20:09
Speaker 5: season three, Yes, that was so like it hit home.
20:12
Speaker 5: I never been kidnapped, but you know, friends and family,
20:15
Speaker 5: and it just happens to young black girls all too often,
20:20
Speaker 5: right and so much so, don't nobody look, don't nobody
20:24
Speaker 5: care to look, you know what I mean? And that's
20:26
Speaker 5: when I seen Kevin's character, Like it was like he
20:31
Speaker 5: was bothered. He was going through it, but he wasn't
20:34
Speaker 5: handling it like you would think he would.
20:37
Speaker 3: But I that's when I saw.
20:39
Speaker 5: Like character development for you, I'm like, oh no, he
20:41
Speaker 5: really he he going off in.
20:43
Speaker 1: His mind about it, like he wasn't giving.
20:46
Speaker 5: Up, not expressing it like you know you would see
20:48
Speaker 5: somebody else do it.
20:50
Speaker 3: Like was that, like, what was the most emotional I
20:54
Speaker 3: got a.
20:54
Speaker 1: Season for y'all.
20:55
Speaker 14: The most emotional season for me, it was actually season two.
20:58
Speaker 14: There was a lot of pressure about it to me.
21:00
Speaker 14: I mean I was working with phenomenal actors at the
21:02
Speaker 14: time too as well, Jason Mitchell and all of that,
21:04
Speaker 14: and those scenes that we had to go through. You know,
21:06
Speaker 14: I have my father in my life, but just even
21:09
Speaker 14: thinking about him not being there, yeah, you know that
21:12
Speaker 14: kind of made me like feel the type of way
21:14
Speaker 14: m hm. And we had to portray that story and
21:16
Speaker 14: he was going through so much in that time too
21:18
Speaker 14: as well, which I didn't know. So in that scene
21:21
Speaker 14: where you see us doing the haircut, that was real emotions,
21:24
Speaker 14: both of us feeling things, you know, coming off the
21:26
Speaker 14: set and having a yo, let's debrief together, let's cry,
21:29
Speaker 14: let's be brothers together, and just you know, basking this
21:32
Speaker 14: moment away from the cast, the crew and everything like that.
21:35
Speaker 14: And we had multiple moments like that in season two
21:37
Speaker 14: and then season three when I had to kind of
21:39
Speaker 14: like pick up that mantle and it continued with those harsh,
21:44
Speaker 14: you know topics that we were talking about. I just
21:46
Speaker 14: had to you know, suck it up. A lot of
21:48
Speaker 14: a lot of the best artists they they have to
21:50
Speaker 14: suffer to put out the best work.
21:52
Speaker 6: For sure, Man, you gotta because acting is displaying realness,
21:56
Speaker 6: you know what I mean, Like you have to be authentic.
21:58
Speaker 6: When and season three the piggyback on Thatt, like, I
22:02
Speaker 6: had a cousin named Kiera coles Man.
22:05
Speaker 1: She got kidnapped about twenty eighteen and she still having
22:10
Speaker 1: showed up no trace of it. She was pregnant, she
22:12
Speaker 1: was a male carrier.
22:14
Speaker 6: If y'all ever heard about that happened in Chicago, and
22:17
Speaker 6: we don't talk about her no more So this a
22:19
Speaker 6: it's a shout out to her to just like, let's
22:21
Speaker 6: let's figure out something. Let's try to find her or
22:23
Speaker 6: try to, like at least act like we care because
22:26
Speaker 6: it was just a hot topic on Facebook. They talked
22:28
Speaker 6: about a little bit and it just disappeared.
22:29
Speaker 12: Yeah what even Nook's character when he should disappear went
22:33
Speaker 12: through a lot.
22:34
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah he did.
22:35
Speaker 12: Was that drawn from your cousin? Maybe miss your cousin?
22:39
Speaker 6: Not at that, not at that moment, because season three
22:42
Speaker 6: was just like it was so fresh for me. I
22:44
Speaker 6: was just like so excited to be you know, a
22:48
Speaker 6: part of something. You got to think about being an
22:49
Speaker 6: actor and entrepreneur. We get told no a lot. So
22:53
Speaker 6: once we get that yes, we just like, I just
22:55
Speaker 6: want to be the best. I want to do the
22:57
Speaker 6: best thing I can do, just to stay here and
22:59
Speaker 6: maintain I didn't really start tapping into like my full
23:02
Speaker 6: potential until like the end of five, season five and
23:06
Speaker 6: then six, when they really gave me a call and
23:08
Speaker 6: say you're going to be in there. I was working
23:10
Speaker 6: the job. I was on a cherry picker on the
23:12
Speaker 6: at this warehouse. I ain't no shit.
23:15
Speaker 1: About that, but I just like, I'm just not going
23:17
Speaker 1: to be broken.
23:17
Speaker 6: I got that call and said like, hey, you about
23:19
Speaker 6: to be on the whole season six?
23:21
Speaker 1: I say, oh yeah, took that little ve.
23:27
Speaker 11: Yeah, Alex, when when Jason's character no longer was on
23:30
Speaker 11: the show and you like moved on in different seasons, right,
23:34
Speaker 11: because emotionally you guys had that tie together. Was it
23:36
Speaker 11: hard for you to kind of have that person that
23:38
Speaker 11: you leaned on on set because we watched y'all build
23:40
Speaker 11: such a relationship on camera.
23:42
Speaker 14: I mean, of course, it's always hard losing a cast member,
23:45
Speaker 14: and it was confusing at the time. Everything happened so
23:48
Speaker 14: quickly and during the downtime you know, but everything happens
23:51
Speaker 14: for a reason. And plus I had amazing people surrounded
23:54
Speaker 14: by me too as well, like Jacob Litimore, yeah, uh,
24:00
Speaker 14: Ronnie who played uh but today. And I just had
24:07
Speaker 14: amazing people surrounded by me as well to guide me
24:10
Speaker 14: too and then even developing me. Jason uh coming, you know,
24:14
Speaker 14: Jason Weaver and all of those other people just helped
24:17
Speaker 14: me and and navigating. And I'm a person I soak
24:19
Speaker 14: up the game. I'm always asking questions, always observant, always
24:22
Speaker 14: looking around. I mean that's why I don't really talk
24:24
Speaker 14: much like observer.
24:26
Speaker 13: You know, as I listen to you guys, you keep
24:28
Speaker 13: dropping names Jason Weaver, Lynn Whitfield, Lola like this CAUs Yes,
24:42
Speaker 13: the amount of people like star power in this show,
24:47
Speaker 13: and you guys growing up and watching that and being
24:49
Speaker 13: in it. You know, how was that as you're coming up,
24:51
Speaker 13: as you know, you're you're acting.
24:53
Speaker 10: I think it was fun because also my character, I
24:57
Speaker 10: was blessed to kind of get one on ones with
24:59
Speaker 10: a lot of them, but just being in their presence
25:02
Speaker 10: and also seeing that they're real people and like they're
25:05
Speaker 10: even happy.
25:06
Speaker 1: To be a part of like this we create was crazy.
25:10
Speaker 10: So, like you know, like Alex said, just soaking up
25:13
Speaker 10: all the game that they're giving you, but also understanding that, wow,
25:17
Speaker 10: you guys are real humans and that you guys lead
25:19
Speaker 10: with grace and love. But also on the acting tip,
25:23
Speaker 10: you guys helping me like in real time throwing my
25:25
Speaker 10: craft and get better. So man, it was it was
25:27
Speaker 10: an honor and it was amazing.
25:29
Speaker 9: So yeah, it's like getting paid to get a master
25:31
Speaker 9: class and just like you like, they're paying you to
25:35
Speaker 9: get a class. But it's also just cool to see
25:38
Speaker 9: that we look at them in such like this big light,
25:41
Speaker 9: like they're like we know that they're legends, and they're
25:44
Speaker 9: just so down to earth and humble and so cool.
25:47
Speaker 9: And I love that they're just open to teaching, open
25:50
Speaker 9: to help, like they're not like stuck up or like
25:52
Speaker 9: you know, I've been doing this, Like they still have
25:55
Speaker 9: a love for the craft. They haven't like let it
25:57
Speaker 9: get to their heads. So I think that's a great
25:58
Speaker 9: example to see as a young actress.
26:01
Speaker 14: They say, we definitely had the best childhood. You see
26:08
Speaker 14: a lot of young child stars they go through turmoil
26:11
Speaker 14: and all of that stuff, but we really feel like
26:13
Speaker 14: we have a cove over us.
26:15
Speaker 6: It takes a village and because of you know, it
26:17
Speaker 6: wasn't just the caz either, it was just it was
26:19
Speaker 6: Crue that was taking out to markets like that was
26:22
Speaker 6: our barber for several seasons.
26:24
Speaker 1: Like that was like a real uncle on the set.
26:26
Speaker 6: Like remember I came to work late and he was
26:28
Speaker 6: like put them to the side and saying, nephew, don't
26:30
Speaker 6: do this shit again. He was like, hey, you want
26:32
Speaker 6: to you you want to be.
26:33
Speaker 1: Here, right?
26:34
Speaker 6: I said yeah. He was like we got to lead
26:35
Speaker 6: by example. Don't come here late no more. And Bro,
26:38
Speaker 6: I'm like, oh yeah, if he telling me that, I
26:40
Speaker 6: got to be on point. But the shot gave us
26:43
Speaker 6: an opportunity to have Hollywood come to us.
26:45
Speaker 1: We didn't have to go out searching to try to
26:47
Speaker 1: feel like we belonged.
26:48
Speaker 6: They brought all of that that we've been looking at
26:50
Speaker 6: for years like and then brought it to us.
26:52
Speaker 1: Like seeing letting with it.
26:53
Speaker 6: I'm like, damn, that's Brandy, Like damn, that's David Ruffin, right,
26:58
Speaker 6: Jason Weaver, that's Simber whatever you.
27:00
Speaker 1: Want to be.
27:05
Speaker 6: Like, Bro, that was that was so amazing, Like you
27:07
Speaker 6: were working with them like these are these I worked
27:09
Speaker 6: with them too. On my first scene and it was
27:11
Speaker 6: like I had to put a gun on them. And
27:13
Speaker 6: I was just so excited because I'm like, damn, these
27:15
Speaker 6: my favorite characters. Put a gun on them though, But
27:18
Speaker 6: it was Man, it's been a it's been a hell
27:20
Speaker 6: of a journey, bro, it's been a it's.
27:21
Speaker 1: Been a ride.
27:22
Speaker 2: Question for Kevin and Michael, right, No, I called you, Kevin,
27:27
Speaker 2: alex Alix Michael. Was there ever talk of a spin.
27:29
Speaker 3: Off for Jake, Popper and Kevin, especially early on?
27:34
Speaker 2: None that we ever heard of or none.
27:36
Speaker 4: They came across our table and probably talks behind the
27:39
Speaker 4: scenes or something.
27:40
Speaker 2: Like you said it was my favorite characters too early on,
27:43
Speaker 2: especially after Jason left, I'm like, well, stay turned.
27:47
Speaker 14: You know the people got the power. Yeah, were here
27:50
Speaker 14: the work.
27:51
Speaker 1: Where is our powerful speak at y'all we need to
27:53
Speaker 1: spend off.
27:54
Speaker 4: If not a spinoff, you know, we still got a
27:56
Speaker 4: long jevity in our career. We just started us on
27:59
Speaker 4: another problem.
28:00
Speaker 1: Oh for sure.
28:01
Speaker 11: Did y'all know originally the three right when everything first started,
28:06
Speaker 11: that people were gonna love the crew so much?
28:08
Speaker 14: You know, it's crazy. We weren't originally planned to even
28:10
Speaker 14: be in the seasons that long.
28:13
Speaker 8: Really, we just did it for us.
28:16
Speaker 14: So yeah, yeah, we weren't planning to be on these
28:18
Speaker 14: seasons at all. I think I was guaranteed like four
28:20
Speaker 14: or five episodes.
28:22
Speaker 4: I was only supposed to be in one. They made
28:24
Speaker 4: me and Ras brothers, and that's what shout out to
28:27
Speaker 4: l with me. I gotta I gotta say that the
28:29
Speaker 4: writers in that season, they really went to bat five
28:32
Speaker 4: characters and made sure that we was established to be
28:34
Speaker 4: who we are today.
28:35
Speaker 14: And took those notes as well. I remember Shaman, he
28:37
Speaker 14: would say certain things where it's like we don't say soda,
28:39
Speaker 14: we say pop. Took those notes, you know what I mean.
28:43
Speaker 14: And then us three, like our connection was.
28:45
Speaker 1: So easily like easily built.
28:47
Speaker 14: I remember after we would get off set, we'd be
28:49
Speaker 14: on the West sideki outside with kids they didn't know
28:53
Speaker 14: we were on the show or whatever, just being kids,
28:55
Speaker 14: like actually enjoying each other's presence and just getting to
28:58
Speaker 14: know each other, be coming best friends. So all of
29:01
Speaker 14: that stuff that you've seen on the camera, it's basically
29:03
Speaker 14: just us being ourselves and it's just recorded.
29:06
Speaker 11: That was so naturally because we I was like they
29:09
Speaker 11: got the perfect clue to making you.
29:11
Speaker 8: Fall in love with the show, like we want to
29:13
Speaker 8: grow up with y'all.
29:14
Speaker 2: Papa coming back and yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely ain't been nowhere.
29:18
Speaker 5: Yeah, So how was the love in Chicago that because
29:25
Speaker 5: all y'all being from.
29:30
Speaker 7: They don't call us our name, We just look like
29:33
Speaker 7: that's just how it is.
29:35
Speaker 4: Maybe stopping traffic when we be feeling interrupting the scene,
29:38
Speaker 4: I'll be loving that forcuse that just be like they
29:40
Speaker 4: really love it.
29:41
Speaker 9: Maybe that windows seeling down like shouting while we're filming.
29:45
Speaker 9: It's so great, like to get love from the show
29:49
Speaker 9: the city that you're making the show about, Like you know,
29:51
Speaker 9: you feel like validated, like Okay, we're doing a good job, like.
29:56
Speaker 3: They tell you.
29:59
Speaker 6: New York Fiel and DC brom them cities don't play
30:02
Speaker 6: when they come in.
30:03
Speaker 10: But it's also a sinema like it also gives you
30:05
Speaker 10: like motivation when you're hearing people just constantly tell you
30:08
Speaker 10: because also they calling us our characters, but they also
30:11
Speaker 10: seeing us and seeing the growth and seeing the work
30:14
Speaker 10: that we put in and they telling us like hey
30:15
Speaker 10: keep going, like keep doing your things. So every time
30:18
Speaker 10: I'm hearing that, I just put a mental note that
30:20
Speaker 10: it's like okay, like you said, I got a responsibility
30:23
Speaker 10: and people are watching, so you know, I love that
30:26
Speaker 10: just hearing that, like okay.
30:28
Speaker 6: We help each other, like yeah, it don't even be
30:30
Speaker 6: no competition. Like we literally had conversations and like hey,
30:33
Speaker 6: pick it up and you you was probably slacking right
30:35
Speaker 6: there or you know what I mean, like what's on
30:37
Speaker 6: your mind, let's talk and we come back and we
30:40
Speaker 6: just knocked that shit out.
30:41
Speaker 1: B' miss off. I mean not the show.
30:43
Speaker 3: We all around it.
30:44
Speaker 6: You know, we were family, but like just to being
30:46
Speaker 6: on that set and just keep creating that energy.
30:49
Speaker 1: Broma missed that.
30:50
Speaker 6: Man.
30:51
Speaker 2: The success even meaning for young actors like yourself, persistency.
30:57
Speaker 6: Yeah for me though, yeah, because it's like money, money
31:00
Speaker 6: gonna come and go. This liquid, you know what I mean,
31:02
Speaker 6: It's like water, let's gonna come and go, and then fame.
31:04
Speaker 6: You can buy fame, you get the money.
31:05
Speaker 1: So it's like anybody, right, you can pick a phone
31:08
Speaker 1: up and do something crazy and then now you're famous.
31:10
Speaker 10: But you don't get to beat like certain like we're
31:12
Speaker 10: so blessed because we're able to be on set and
31:15
Speaker 10: we're able to learn like the craft, we're able to Okay,
31:19
Speaker 10: they're doing three setups. It's three cam different cameras, the
31:24
Speaker 10: different angles, like the lighting, every every like I did,
31:27
Speaker 10: like this season one of the scenes, I got to
31:29
Speaker 10: like focus, do the focusing, like making sure that cameras yeah,
31:36
Speaker 10: shout out Luke, Luke James. I got to focus Luke
31:39
Speaker 10: and just make sure that he's seeing clear.
31:41
Speaker 1: Like.
31:41
Speaker 10: But they're just so open to letting us learn. So
31:43
Speaker 10: that's something that I think, like most of our peers
31:47
Speaker 10: probably haven't got to experience, just just being on set
31:50
Speaker 10: and really being in the moment and learning all the
31:53
Speaker 10: moving parts and.
31:54
Speaker 14: Even like add on that question, I mean, in my
31:58
Speaker 14: terms of what I see successes my career is just
32:00
Speaker 14: giving people a feeling. The first project that I ever did,
32:04
Speaker 14: it gave people a feeling and touched the world and
32:07
Speaker 14: touched my my people in a way where I'm telling
32:09
Speaker 14: black stories, but it's universal to everyone, you know. And
32:13
Speaker 14: I want to continue to do that to the point
32:15
Speaker 14: where it's like I blend into these roles and you
32:17
Speaker 14: don't even see Alex like I did Good Burger too,
32:19
Speaker 14: and a lot of people don't even know and a
32:24
Speaker 14: lot of people don't even know that, But but I
32:26
Speaker 14: pray for that. I want to be one of the greats.
32:28
Speaker 14: I want to be next to those people and that
32:31
Speaker 14: that's what it takes, you know, blending into that role.
32:33
Speaker 14: That's effect really diving in there. That's my point.
32:36
Speaker 3: Is you see your face right now, because.
32:42
Speaker 10: Okay, that's my that's what I look at it as.
32:45
Speaker 10: And like they were saying, like those people are around us,
32:47
Speaker 10: giving us that game. And the further we go on
32:49
Speaker 10: in our careers, as you see is go past this show,
32:52
Speaker 10: it's just going to be like, wow, we really watch
32:55
Speaker 10: these people grow, growing and developed, like they're killing it now.
32:59
Speaker 1: They're getting the wards now and then you know, and
33:01
Speaker 1: this is.
33:01
Speaker 14: All the stuff that we manifested in and we're going
33:03
Speaker 14: to talk about to this day.
33:04
Speaker 6: Actually, there's so much talent across the board, Like you
33:07
Speaker 6: got all these these niggas sing all of them, you
33:10
Speaker 6: know what I mean, God ain't blessed me with that one.
33:12
Speaker 1: But you know so.
33:14
Speaker 8: Many of your videos.
33:14
Speaker 11: A couple of weeks ago, it was like a music
33:16
Speaker 11: video you shot, yeah, and it was it was all
33:19
Speaker 11: over my time. I forget what song it was, but
33:20
Speaker 11: I remember I was watching. I was like, oh he
33:22
Speaker 11: really out here, like it was so virab. I saw
33:25
Speaker 11: it on Instagram and TikTok.
33:26
Speaker 4: Yeah, that was last summer. That was the first time
33:29
Speaker 4: got dropped this on YouTube and I was called affing
33:30
Speaker 4: it off. That was and uh, that was the first thing.
33:34
Speaker 4: The scene you talking about that was in my hometown
33:36
Speaker 4: out west. I took them back to the neighborhood I'm
33:38
Speaker 4: from and it was just showing in the city you
33:41
Speaker 4: feel me and music. That's something that I've always had
33:43
Speaker 4: an interesting in growing up. Like music is something that
33:45
Speaker 4: I like. It calms me, gives me a piece of mind.
33:49
Speaker 4: It's wait for me to express myself too, So you're
33:51
Speaker 4: gonna you're gonna expect some.
33:52
Speaker 1: More from me.
33:53
Speaker 11: That's tough though, for y'all to be also talented and
33:55
Speaker 11: the other things that y'all are doing. People actually like
33:57
Speaker 11: it's actually moving because a lot of times once you act,
34:00
Speaker 11: if you do music, it's like people don't know what
34:02
Speaker 11: the what to lean into.
34:03
Speaker 8: But I was like, oh no, they outside for this song.
34:06
Speaker 5: What's the relationship like with Lena, does she allow like
34:10
Speaker 5: y'all to have or do y'all even have like for
34:15
Speaker 5: the script? We love lean yes, but I love I
34:28
Speaker 5: love how she creates opportunities, you know, for young creators
34:31
Speaker 5: and actresses and actors and things like that that she
34:34
Speaker 5: have y'all, Like, if y'all want to suggest for a
34:38
Speaker 5: story a different type of storyline or for a certain
34:40
Speaker 5: scene to go a certain way, is that up for
34:42
Speaker 5: like discussion or.
34:43
Speaker 7: Is it it's always an option open.
34:45
Speaker 9: You can always reach out and be like, hey, I
34:47
Speaker 9: think this, or like hey, you know, but it's not
34:50
Speaker 9: our show at the end of the day, so we
34:51
Speaker 9: don't have the final say.
34:52
Speaker 7: But it's always collaborative.
34:54
Speaker 9: And you have the option to be out on something that.
34:58
Speaker 2: Have y'all ever spoke to Leana and asked, like, how
35:00
Speaker 2: does she feel about the Shy being so successful? Like
35:03
Speaker 2: being from Chicago and creating a show about your city
35:07
Speaker 2: and having to be in the longest running drama.
35:09
Speaker 10: Yeah, I guess she I never spoke to her about it.
35:12
Speaker 10: But I originally auditioned to Beat Coogie like in twenty sixteen,
35:17
Speaker 10: and I met comming from it. I almost really booked it,
35:21
Speaker 10: but the network said I look too young. But I
35:23
Speaker 10: remember Lena having dreads and she's just telling me, hey,
35:26
Speaker 10: like you're the start of this story. Like her mental
35:29
Speaker 10: was already seized as ahead, you know, Like she was
35:32
Speaker 10: just telling me like, Hey, you're going to be the
35:33
Speaker 10: start of this story, and like I need you to
35:35
Speaker 10: bring it so like because it's going to open up
35:37
Speaker 10: a whole world and like a whole thing. So I
35:40
Speaker 10: never got to talk to her about it, but just
35:41
Speaker 10: knowing how she moves and knowing how she believes in
35:44
Speaker 10: us so much, she was already like years ahead, like
35:47
Speaker 10: she already she already felt it and she already seen it.
35:49
Speaker 10: And I think that just how the story was written
35:52
Speaker 10: all of us can attest to. We was like, no,
35:54
Speaker 10: we got a responsibility and we're gonna bring it and
35:57
Speaker 10: we're gonna make sure it does what they need to do.
35:58
Speaker 1: That's the fact read it that y'all didn't see it.
36:01
Speaker 6: But we got a behind the scenes moment where the
36:04
Speaker 6: last day of filming, like everybody came together, all the
36:06
Speaker 6: actors and cash crew, everybody, and she gave a speech
36:12
Speaker 6: and just walked us down a journey of like how
36:15
Speaker 6: she even telling her story of putting her friends on.
36:18
Speaker 6: She got a best friend that emit and you reflect
36:21
Speaker 6: off a lot and a lot of walks that she
36:24
Speaker 6: that she took to get to this moment, Like she
36:27
Speaker 6: elaborates that a lot, and she expresses through it, like
36:29
Speaker 6: you said.
36:29
Speaker 1: Through us, like she expressed it.
36:30
Speaker 6: Like I remember meeting her for the first time in
36:33
Speaker 6: November twenty twenty three, and she told me exactly what
36:35
Speaker 6: she was going to do, and you know, like me,
36:38
Speaker 6: I'm like, you know, I don't believe it to her.
36:39
Speaker 6: I see, I'm like, all right, I'm gonna just keep
36:41
Speaker 6: showing up. And when it happened, I'm like, damn right,
36:43
Speaker 6: whatever she says she is, she gonna do it happened. Yeah,
36:46
Speaker 6: that's my sister.
36:47
Speaker 14: So I just opened up my production company, Stellardon, and
36:55
Speaker 14: and you know, she's one of the first people I
36:56
Speaker 14: called when it was like listen, I need advice.
36:58
Speaker 1: You're one of the greatest.
37:00
Speaker 2: Do it.
37:00
Speaker 14: Her confidence, you know that the effortlessness of you got this,
37:04
Speaker 14: like bro, and if you ever need me for anything,
37:07
Speaker 14: I got you. And even when I was making my
37:09
Speaker 14: department all this other stuff, she already had things in
37:11
Speaker 14: mind and already ready for whatever was to come. You know,
37:16
Speaker 14: we went through so much and for her to still
37:18
Speaker 14: be here and where she's at now, it's.
37:22
Speaker 2: She keeps black people working, young folks like yourself, Like
37:26
Speaker 2: you said, all the felic like that.
37:31
Speaker 1: A lot of that don't happen without leading.
37:33
Speaker 14: She I love watching TV, so this is kind of
37:35
Speaker 14: like her playground now, bringing all of those legends together
37:38
Speaker 14: with the young faces and putting them and making new
37:40
Speaker 14: legends too as well. You know, people can enjoy on TV.
37:43
Speaker 6: She paid a lot of montage to her favorite shows
37:45
Speaker 6: and her favorite movies for.
37:46
Speaker 3: Sure, even having the Wayne Wayne.
37:51
Speaker 1: You know that's all companies called him shout out to him,
37:56
Speaker 1: So genius man.
37:59
Speaker 6: I peeped the same little reel was on on one
38:01
Speaker 6: that we.
38:06
Speaker 11: Bro.
38:06
Speaker 1: She found a way, she found a way. She found
38:09
Speaker 1: a way to get them people on for sure.
38:11
Speaker 12: You know you brought up the last day of filming.
38:12
Speaker 3: I don't know.
38:13
Speaker 12: That had to be an emotional.
38:16
Speaker 1: Everybody crying. You had Jason Weaver like that man was
38:19
Speaker 1: like shouting out to Jesse Jackson. That man was like,
38:22
Speaker 1: but I was like, damn, it's really over.
38:25
Speaker 6: That's when it hit me, like, because we've just been
38:27
Speaker 6: on the go so much and just keeping our hair
38:30
Speaker 6: down and really just put in that that work, and
38:32
Speaker 6: it's over that fast, bro, Like five years, well how
38:36
Speaker 6: long it's been running, like eight years, but five for
38:38
Speaker 6: me nine nine years.
38:39
Speaker 1: It has been five for me really yeah, yeah.
38:43
Speaker 6: Ten So it's just like ten years and flew by
38:45
Speaker 6: so fast and it's like this is the very end
38:48
Speaker 6: like it.
38:49
Speaker 1: Was, man, it was it felt like I.
38:51
Speaker 6: Don't know if it's It felt like a new birth
38:54
Speaker 6: and death at the same time.
38:55
Speaker 7: Man.
38:56
Speaker 2: Yeah, you think the final season provides the closure the fans.
39:00
Speaker 1: Will be looking for. It's still more siry to tell
39:03
Speaker 1: it the.
39:04
Speaker 9: Closure, but I still feel like how it is gonna be,
39:06
Speaker 9: like what is about to happen next? Like people are
39:09
Speaker 9: definitely going to be like we got to see the
39:10
Speaker 9: aftermath of all of this or just walk.
39:12
Speaker 6: Away with it forever, just putting their own story to it,
39:15
Speaker 6: you know, a lot of And that's what we are
39:17
Speaker 6: blessed to because after every season people then they become
39:20
Speaker 6: writers and thinking how to show should go and everything,
39:23
Speaker 6: you know what I mean. And that's what we can
39:25
Speaker 6: still lean on and be like, what if that helps
39:28
Speaker 6: us a lot?
39:28
Speaker 2: Anybody gonna die that we're gonna be mad about.
39:30
Speaker 3: You can't ask them that.
39:33
Speaker 6: Second, but I will say, it's a lot of redemption,
39:36
Speaker 6: and in this it's a lot of redemption. It's a
39:37
Speaker 6: lot of like it's family and redemption and black love
39:41
Speaker 6: I can say that there is a focal point of
39:43
Speaker 6: this new season in.
39:44
Speaker 1: Full circle, full circle, for sure, full circle, for sure.
39:49
Speaker 3: Circle coming back your question now gonna because again.
40:00
Speaker 6: What I'm saying that opened up the possibility said, what
40:03
Speaker 6: if he was dead at the whole time, whole time
40:04
Speaker 6: and every.
40:05
Speaker 1: Imagination that that never happened he woke up from a dream.
40:08
Speaker 6: Oh my god, that would have been crazy.
40:12
Speaker 3: That's crazy.
40:13
Speaker 11: It's deep though, y'all really embody your characters. I'm just
40:17
Speaker 11: sitting here. I really feel like I know y'all, but
40:20
Speaker 11: I don't even know y'all life. But you guys just
40:24
Speaker 11: such a great job.
40:25
Speaker 1: Thank you, keep growing.
40:27
Speaker 3: Man.
40:27
Speaker 2: It's Kevin Williams, Sorry, Primer, Amar Ferguson, Court, Test Smith
40:30
Speaker 2: and Michael v It's the cast of the shot.
40:32
Speaker 1: And thank y'all appreciate club.
40:37
Speaker 8: He's out on the paper.
40:38
Speaker 3: But you you missed Kevin Williams, Alix, Kevin, you gotta rock,
40:47
Speaker 3: don't do it?
40:54
Speaker 1: Alex all right?
40:59
Speaker 3: Good on staying a gay? No, we can leave that.
41:01
Speaker 1: That was stupid. Oh good.
41:05
Speaker 2: Yes, it's the breakfast Club.
41:07
Speaker 1: Hold every day a weak click your glass up. The
41:11
Speaker 1: breakfast Club. You don't finish for y'all done,