Latest / The Breakfast Club / Damson Idris On Snowfall's Return, Saweetie's Piano, Rich Paul, Jay-Z, Denzel Washington + More

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Damson Idris On Snowfall's Return, Saweetie's Piano, Rich Paul, Jay-Z, Denzel Washington + More · The Breakfast Club

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Wait that up in the morning Breakfast Club Morning, everybody
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: is DJ Envy, Angela Yee, Charlomagne the guy we are
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: to breakfast Club. We got a special guest in the building.
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: Uh you know him from Snowfall and a host of
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: other things. His birthday is one day before mine. He's
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: a fellow Virgo damn soon is just welcome son, Welcome, sir,
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: damn Son. I didn't know. I didn't know. Your birthday
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: was the first September. Your day before September. Oh, thud, okay, okay.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: Buddy of mine is the third two Actually, the show
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: runner of Snowfall, Dave Androna bug is the best. You know. Absolutely,
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: they had us on New Yes, there you go. Now.
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: The first thing you said was I love New York
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: because I love Jamaican culture. Yeah. What do you love
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: so much about Jamaican culture? What? What do you love?
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: Obviously your food? Dirt chicken. Yeah, I'm an ox guy.
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: You both, yeah, oxtail. Actually, I like to dabble one both.
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: I like to steal food from whoever I'm eating with
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: um plantains. Do you guys say plantain or planting? I
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: say planting. I feel like that's the right way to
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: say it was saying it wrong. You had to switch
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: through all different types of ways. It's different kinds of
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: ways to say things. So oh yeah, yeah, that's that's
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: part of my life. Instating people you don't have amazing
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: Jamaican restaurants in London or in la where your shoot? No, nah,
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: that's no man, not at all out here like Missus Lilies,
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: missus m She wrote, actually wrote on a gramasels like
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: oh where could I go? People said, um, Footprints, Yes, Like,
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: first of all, the best Caribbean food is in Brooklyn.
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: We got Footprints, we got Swede, we got Caribbean social
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: we have. This is New York. This we have. We
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: have to grow growl yes number one as well, come
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: on the other one's quote. But I'm going to try
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: all of it today. That's impossible. But you say foot print,
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: Footprints is the best one to go. Foot Prints is
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: known for their rasta pasta and they actually opened the
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: restaurant in Mahattan called Jasmines. And I think the guy
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: who invented rasta pasta, I'm like a kind of stour
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: of all these things. Rasta pasta pasta with Caribbean with
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: with chicken, or shrimp or if you want to go,
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: I want to set you up at all these restaurants
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: and no problems, please please. Man. You know my wife
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: is Jamaican port Jamaican, so that's that's what we have
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: all the time, wow, all the time. Jamaican culture is
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: so prominent in the UK. Obviously African culture, but Jamaican too.
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: The majority of them came over to the UK in
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: the sixties and fifties and yeah, they just they took
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: over man and reggae music also, Oh definitely, there's um
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: there's this carnival in London called Norton Hill Carnival Downhill
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: and we haven't been able to have it because of COVID,
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: but the majority of the time I wear suits. If
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: you ever want to see me ratchet, it's at notting
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: Hill Corner. So do you still go out in London
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: and enjoy yourself? Was to the point now where everybody
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: knows who you are, so it was difficult. I'm chilling, man.
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: I don't really go out like I'll be in like
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: a private little member's ball or something, or drinking some ROMs,
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: some red wine. I'm sure you know, man, you know,
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: I'm oh god, yeah, I'm not saying I'm old, but
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: you know I'm gonna retire. Man. No, but I don't know, man,
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: Like I definitely see the difference between myself and a
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: twenty one year old now more than ever. Like the club,
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: I don't like the club like I don't like the
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: concept of it. Um. I standing at the ball, people
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: look at me like, what are you doing? Like chilling?
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: You don't know what to do. I like chilling at
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: the bar, like I don't like staying at the table,
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: and I don't like that anymore, Like I like chilling
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: at the ball. Um. Yeah, man, I'm just I'm grown.
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: I'm I'm a dinner's guy now. I like private members
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: clubs and okay that's my way. I saw you talking
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: about how John Singleton told you to stay humble though
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: amongst everything different people. I don't know the first time
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: we actually met you, you you were appar with John Singleton.
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: Yeah you don't remember you though, And remember it's like
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: this first met you when y no, no, no, there's
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: a couple of askin guys in a DSS. But yes,
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: how has that been for you? Though? Because obviously Snowfall
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: is such a huge show, you guys are in the
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: fifth season, We've watched Franklin grow up and he has
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: got a lot of big things happening. But in real life,
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: you've grown up to and your star has grown up
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: as well. Yeah. Yeah. It's a testament to John Singleton.
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: You know. He really believed in me. And although I
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: fought for the role like crazy, auditioned like nine times,
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: you know, he took me to South Central, opened up
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: the car door and said, if you survive, you got
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: the role. And I was like, walking around had to
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: be in character the real South Central. Oh yeah, how
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: was that? Bring that experience? Man? So I'll get to
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: John Singleton's office and I think I'm gonna read the
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna audition, right, It's like like, well this number
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: eight or something like that. And then he's like, yeah, no,
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: we're not gonna read anything. We're just gonna take a
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: walk someone walking around and he's like, don't break character.
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: And he's introducing me to people, and you know, Singleton
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: was like god in his community. Like people will be
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: like yo, John, you know, and then they'd come up
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: to me talking to me and like Yo, what's up
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: a little homie. I'm like, yeah, yeah, what what's up,
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: So I'm just pretending like that I'm from there. Um.
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: And then his mom came and you know, I'm British.
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: So I'm saying a bunch of British stuff in an
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: American accent. But he didn't know you were British, right,
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: Oh no, he knew, like he wanted to miss. What
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: kind of British stuff were you saying? You know, like
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: you guys say like elevator, I say Lyft. You know,
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: you guys say Ben. You guys say trash or say Ben.
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: So exactly, so I'm talking in an American accent and
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: his mom comes like, oh, how lovely your hair looks today.
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: I'm just gonna go over there and throw something in
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: the bend And she looks over Joanna and she's like, John,
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: he ain't from here, huh. I was like, man, Mom,
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: just walking around Central. I wasn't scared, Man, I was
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: with John. You was my big brother. You know, that
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: was my big brother. Man. I'm miss him greatly. But
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: as far as I get in this, in this industry
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: and on this journey, I'm always gonna honor Singleton for
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: being my foundation. Well let's talk about the new season.
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: So you're also producing yeah, on the new season. How
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: did that come about? Wow? I forced them to give
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: me in prod secret. No. Um. You know, when you
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: when you've been doing this show for so long, you
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: you pick up different traits, but at the same time
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: you want to be challenged. And my circles um are
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: so bossy today that they inspire me to want to
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: be more of a leader. That's the truth. It's like
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: if you hang around with certain types of people, having
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: certain types of conversations and they're like, yo, bro, you
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: should go, and then you ask and they're like, okay,
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: you know, I've been watching the YA doc you know,
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: and Hove was like, you know, clothes mouths don't get fit.
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: You know, it's true. You know, asking you shall receive
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: And I asked and they gave it to me, and
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: you know, above all things, I'm not I'm not saying
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: my level of producing is at the level of my
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: acting ability. My acting ability is quite horrible. I'm just saying.
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: I'm saying I'm being a sponge and I'm being given
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: an opportunity to learn so that I could use my
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: platform and my brand to create more opportunities. Now you
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: play a crack cocaine dealer, right, Um, how difficult was
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: that learning that? Because you're young so crack it really
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: affected me and ye our age grew grown up at kids,
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: we would see crack pipes everywhere. We would see crack
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: crack pipes and crack viles all over the place in Brooklyn.
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: Not all over the place, no, it was all over
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: the place. It was very very big, very very effect
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: that I got family members affected by it and all that.
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: So how did you prepare for learning that role? Wow? Well,
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: I'm from Peckham in London, which is the self central
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: equivalent in my opinion. Um, single you know, single parents,
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: you know, broken homes, that's in jail, Um, police brutality, racism,
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: and drugs. You know, drugs was a major fact of
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: my upbringing on my community. Everyone around me was involved.
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: So drugs at all? Um, so everybody, so us have
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: you ever know? You haven't I'm scammed, But no drugs
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: retired police officer, So there was no drugs ever coming
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: to my crib. Okay, okay, he would have been no never, no, no,
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: I'm I'm so so basically I just just preparing for
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: the role was interesting. There's so much history, you know
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: on this drug And the thing I love about the show,
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: particularly season five, is I'm not sure if you guys
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: are aware about the lem Bias case. I was just
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: reading about that because I didn't know it was a
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: real person. Oh yeah, yeah. So he was a basketballer
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: in Maryland University in nine and eighty six, and essentially
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: his unfortunate overdose created a snowball effect in America. With
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: the Clinton administration is basically how Clinton even became president
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: in the first place. And they introduced mandatory minimums, right,
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: so all these mandatory laws of you know, getting caught
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: with like a a graham of crack was the same
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: as a hundred grahams of cocaine. And what that essentially
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: did was it broke up the American African American household,
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: and that's why so many fathers were gone. That's why
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: we see what we see today. And the show season
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: five starts with that correlating to Franklin having there in
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: one hundred million dollars. Now I'm living the high life.
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: Beautiful place to live, the pent house, Jerome and Louis
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: are on horses. Leon's like a Franklin and his own
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: right and girlfriend exactly loyal. So you're seeing him enjoying
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: this lifestyle like so many people in the eighties did.
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: But then you're seeing the demise of a community. You're
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: seeing people like wander Bell trying to find a sense
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: of redemption after everything that she's been through from being
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: addicted to this drug. Singleton would say, you know that
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: black people will have been affected in many ways, but
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: crack cocaine was the only thing that made black mothers
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: leave their children, so that it's a deep thing, man. Yeah,
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: but Winder in particular, her just even being able to
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: try to find a job, and she can't even get work,
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: and she wants to be clean and day clean. But
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: that's a hard thing to do, right when. I think
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: a lot of people could relate to that man. And
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: you know, we're humanizing these these characters. I always tell
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: people who tried to throw and lump snowfall into the
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: box of just a show with guns and false cars
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: and chains. No, that's not the story we're telling. What
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: we're telling a piece of history. We're educating you as
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: well as entertaining you. And you know, a Singleton would say,
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: we're giving you a movie every week. Now, Franklin's trying
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: to go legit and we know how hard that is
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: to do, especially when you have so many things in
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: your past that are always going to be catching up
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: to you. And having a baby on the way too.
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: That's a big deal because you have to do anything
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: you can at all means possible to make sure that
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: you take care of this child that's on the way.
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: You've made a commitment to do that with your girlfriend.
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: I was thinking about this for some reason. I don't
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: really trust her, and I know we're only a few
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: episodes in. He has bad experiences. Yeah, yeah, for that reason,
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: I'm like, what is about to happen? Wow? So my
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: backstory with Very Nique's character is essentially this um. You
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: remember in season three Franklin kind of took the Mosleys
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: out of that house. Um. He basically kind of corned
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: this old couple out of their bookstore. So he was
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: taken to court and the person that was their representative
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: was Very Nique, and they won that case, and he
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: kind of fell for her and kind of hired her
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: on his team and wanted to build with her. Something
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: led to another and then boomed. Now they're together. You know,
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: the show is this drug trade is a tricky thing.
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: Loyalty could could go so quickly when your life is
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: on the line, and your life really is on the
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: line twenty four seven. So um, yeah, stick with the
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: show man. That's all I say. I don't know what
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: it is like, Yeah, she's yeah, Keith watching Okay, so
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: I might be onto something, you might be alto something
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: you might not. You're a producer, so you should be
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: able to know what's about to happen. I've seen. All
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: I can say is I've seen all episodes. And then
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: you killed your friend. Yeah, I felt like, okay, White
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: Rob right, I feel like that wasn't necessary. But why
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: do you think it wasn't necessary? Because people don't agree
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: with you? I mean, okay, he was a little sloppy,
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: and he was telling your business. He told about the CIA.
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, but he could have I don't know, that's
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: your friend from like when you were young. Franklin's in
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: a different place now, you know, he knows what's important.
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: What's important is his family and the baby has on
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: the way, And I think a lot of people could
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: relate to that making horrible decisions. Killing your best friend
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: maybe was gonna bring down the hole down the empire. Yeah,
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: he would have he would, he would have brought down.
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: And I was gonna ask, you know a lot of
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: times in real life and not in just movies, you
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: see these drug dealers they make enough where they can
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: get out, but they can never get out. Yeah, yeah,
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: is that what's gonna happen to this character? Like you
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: just never get out because you always want to see
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: You want to see the you know, what they do
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: to the community. You see the money that they make,
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: but you kind of want to see them ride off
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: from that white horse. But yeah, it's that horse. That's
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: the game. Man, that's the game. And that's what we're
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: trying to preach to these kids. It's not preach, but
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: just let them know, man, it's not worth it. It
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: really isn't worth it. That's that's what this show's teaching me.
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: You know, as if you really look at this season,
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: as much money as Franklin makes, he's not happy. What's
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: the point doing something if you know, I act because
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: it makes me happy. Correct If it didn't make me happy,
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: I wouldn't do it. So I think that's hopefully what
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: I hope happens with Franklin, as there's a redemptive quality
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: to him. You know, he's done some horrible things. I'm
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: hoping by the end of it he realizes that it
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: wasn't worth it, and hopefully he can redeem himself in
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: some way. You know, you also wanted to help other
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: people get out of it and get into a legitimate
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: business buying these bills things and investing. But some people
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: don't have that foresight, and they're more content with making
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: the money that they're making in doing what they do. Yeah,
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: and that's disappointing to see, Like you're like, look, five
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: years from now, you might not see this money right
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: right away, but later on down the line, you'll see
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: this investment payoff. And I also feel like people watching
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: like to see Franklin still, you know, doing what he's doing. Yeah,
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: you know how we're always rooting for the guy even
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: though he's not a good guy. Yeah, yeah, we still
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: kind of like don't want anything to happen to him.
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: I hope that's a testament to how I played the character.
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: But yeah, you know, we always root for these characters
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: and we like to empathize with them. But I've honestly
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: Snowfall fans have said some wild stuff, especially on Twitter life,
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: like what like last season when my dad was about
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: the you know, he was a black panther and you know,
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: he was trying to fight for what's right. And people
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: were like, yeah, we gotta kill Olton in the CIA's
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: gonna kill the black pat and I was just like what.
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: I was like, WHOA like dad? And that's that's you know,
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: it's an escape watching TV. But sometimes we should sit
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: back and you know, I'm pushed. The other day was
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: he was saying, don't be a surface level listener. Don't
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: be a surface level viewer when you watch shows like this.
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: I was gonna it's out in dead though, because some
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: people don't feel like it because we don't see him
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: get killed or keep watching the show. Is he like
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: a cop over there? No, I mean that happens. Isn't
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: the kind of thing that people are talking about. It
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: gonna tell you, you know. But every time he said
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: you got to see them, I feel like, Okay, he's alive.
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: I was gonna ask when it comes to American movies,
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: and you know, sometimes people feel that, you know, actors
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: that don't live in America and they take these parts
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: that it's a problem. I know when it just elbow
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: comes up from some parts. It was like, well, he's
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: not American yourself. Do you have a what are your
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: thoughts on those things? Man? I think it's a beautiful
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: conversation because I think it's going to push us forward.
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: And you can't help but acknowledge when a group of
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: people feel the type of way. So it's just about listening. Really.
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: I will say, I'm an actor. I make believe for
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: a living, so the very concept of my job is
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: to pretend to be something else. Um well, I do
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: want to see though, I want to see more people
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: working in America in the UK. You know, I saw
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: Tessa Thompson playing a brit in the past and that
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: was fire. Denzel just did tragedy at Macbeth, and there's
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: examples of people working in the past. So viol is
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: about to do a woman king for us where it
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: could play the idio. I mean a Denzel played a
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: brit And for Queen and country. You know, acting is
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: about transformation. I feel like acting who does the best
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: job doesn't matter who you are, Like people get caught
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: up in you know, let's say you have to pay
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: a handicap person and then somebody might say, well, there's
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: handicap actors out there that can take that position. But
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: in my thing is who does the best job at
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: the part. If they're from Britain, if they're from Africa,
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: it doesn't matter whoever does the best jot because you're acting.
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: It's a part. Yeah, you know, yeah yeah, and you
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: know it's a story. At the end of the day,
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: the most important thing is that the story is being told.
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: Representation is very key. I'm not saying representation isn't key.
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: It's very key. But we must realize that so much
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: goes into making movies. This is the movie business. It's
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: not the movie play. You have to make money, you know.
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: And what's happening now is we're giving people opportunities so
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: that they can raise their platform. So say you are
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: a handicap actor or transject the actor or whatever, you're
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: able to raise your platform so that you can be
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: in a position to greenlight movies in the future. That's
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: what we're working at today in the industry, which I
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: think is brilliant. But right now, if a movie's ready,
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: and a movie's ready to go now, and you want
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: to cast someone and John and for Majors isn't available,
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: and the key Stanfield isn't available, and those guys have
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: green light power, but this brit actor or this African
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: actor has green light power too, and they could get
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: bombs on the seat. You're gonna cost that person. That's
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: how That's how it works. At the top. I like
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: to say, we're playing at the NBA level of acting.
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: You know, no shade too, you know, smaller projects. But
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: when it gets up there, the field and the net
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: is a lot wider and people are from different places.
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: It's the same in sports, you know, that's like saying
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: Janis shouldn't be playing right because he's he's not. Like
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: it's you know, at that level, and you need to
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: work to get to that level. You know, you need
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: to put in the ten thousand hours, and so many
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: actors have. And what I'm realizing is, you know it's
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: the arrow is being thrown at actors who have found success,
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: but the reason they found success because they've been working
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: for so long absolutely behind it, and you know that
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: they're finally at a place where they're able to benefit
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: from it. But with me, personally, I'm just here to
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: to to do what makes me happy and to make
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: my mom proud man, and and I've done those things.
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: Everything else is a bonus. Um. I always tell people,
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: you know, if you if you don't want to watch
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: the circus, you know, buy tickets for another show. You know,
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: it's no shade. There's millions of people who love what
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: I do. Um, there's millions of people who this is
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: a small thing. But you know, this guy's in jail.
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: Who hit me. I'm like, yo, bro, you got me
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: through my sentence. I'm supposed to stop what I'm doing,
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: which is why you do it. It's exactly why I
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: do it. And you got millions of women who like
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: you also, and so oh boy, you don't want to
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: ask it to do good? You're good the way you
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: get this. You see how she just just go into
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: that professionally. How you still taking piano lessons or house? Whoa,
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: let's let's break this there. Where were you taking pianos?
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: Where do we see him playing piano? I don't know, Juliard, No,
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: no playing piano you. I'm just asking. I saw you
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: would taking piano lessons or something like that. Oh damn,
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: I did see a video of it. Looked like you
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: were good with your hands. Oh wow, I don't know. No, no, no, no. UM,
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: me and me and that woman. I'm no, no, me
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: and that that that queen. Um are just friends. Um
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: she's a great guys. I was asking about the piano lessons. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: she's a great piano player. And and I didn't know
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: she could play piano. I didn't even think the world knew.
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: So I was like, oh, this is a cool moment.
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: I just posted with like people like, you know, I
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: don't know if Angel you could play the piano because
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: I'm not her actually to learn. I don't know if Taylor,
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: who's over here, our producer knows. You know, I don't
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: know if she could play the piano. So you know,
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: how did you get to Sweetie's house to see that
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: she could actually play the piano? Oh no, Um so
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: we basically that day. Um so she's a huge Snowfall fan, right,
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: and that day we were at lunch, I think, talking
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: about how we could collaborate because we actually wanted to
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: get before. No, it wasn't a date, says talking about collaborating.
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: Guys and girls could be friends. Yeah, absolutely, yeah, I
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: agree with you. That's exactly what me and and dr
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: we were friends. Okay, all right, so go ahead, So
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: y'all you're on a date eating Oh my god, eating lunch. Yeah.
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: But so we're having lunch. Um, and then uh, she
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: wanted to show me her new place because I love
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: CB two and I was going to give us some
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: ideas about furniture and a and then boom we went
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: and then she was playing piano. That's it. I was
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: in there for like five minutes and dipped out, like
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: she's a friend, she's a friend of mine, that's I mean.
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: Of course, you guys knew that was going to make
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: the Internet go crazy though. Yeah, like people also like
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: they would be such a cute couple. Those people. Cute couple,
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: I think. But she she yeah, she's But you were
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: in a long term relationship prior to that, right, yeah, yeah, yeah,
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: what happened with that? Oh boy, this is weird? Whoa this?
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: Oh my god? This is what? Um. Um, we're still
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: really close, really good friends. Um. I was with her
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: for for a very long time. I met her when
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: I was eighteen years old. Um. Who knows, man, who
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: knows what could happen in the future. You know, she's
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: very much still in my life. We talked like every
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: single day. Um. It's so funny. You know, people struggle
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: to um keep relationships with their exes. But I am
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: at a place in my life now where I everyone
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: I meet, I want them to be in my life
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: forever because I realized so many people are coming into
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: my life, taking my energy, hearing my dreams, hearing my stories,
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: and then they're gone and now they're telling that to
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: the world. Um, So I want people to stay in
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: my life so I can keep that loyalty. And I
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: made that decision with her, you know, and I know
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: that's a woman that I'm gonna know, um forever. So
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: regardless of what happens in my love life, every relationship
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: just has to deal with that. Did she call you
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: and say, hey, oh word Sweedies piano dot dot dot.
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: Did you get that text? Yeah? But like like we
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: know that's she's She's cool, She's an amazing woman. She's cool.
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: She understands. You also talked about that Denzel is your
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: idol as far as acting. Oh yeah, so when you
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: see I don't, I don't. I don't want mess up
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: the young lady's name. But when you see a young
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: lady interview in Denzel and she mentioned your name and
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: he didn't know who you were, break that down when
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: you've seen it and how you felt like you watch
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: the TV be like, oh, Denzel and he was like,
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: who that is? And then he asked the white guy guy, Oh,
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: I don't I don't know who that is. No, it
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: was it was insane. I saw I was at home,
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: Um on my phone, she's at your house. Wow, at
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: my house? My house by myself. Yeah, by myself, And
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: my phone's like blowing up, and it's like a bunch
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: of articles and stuff like that, and people are calling
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: me and I was like, yo. Then I was like
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: talking about you. I'm like, oh my god, this is crazy.
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: Like so then, um, yeah, that he didn't know who
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: I was and he couldn't address But that was funny though.
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: That was funny. But hey, man, like it's a new day,
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: you know. Um, it's a new day. And you know
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: you could bash uh, you know, get a notoriety through
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: social media. I'm not gonna lie, Like, there's a lot
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: of my kind of existence has been on that through
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: my work and just through just being me. Um. And
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: some people from the past still don't respect that. Um,
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: But look what social media has done for so many
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: people today. We have to start moving in the direction
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: of the future. But above all things and all of that, noise,
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: Denzel Washington is my idol. He's like a god to me,
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: and I will never have anything bad to ever say
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: about him. Did you ever get up with him after that?
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: Did you ever speak? Because I'm sure people tried. I'm
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: sure people try to put you out again. I'm sure
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: there's people like he knows that you know there was like, no,
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: I'm not. I haven't seen him, but I like to
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: fantasize that he's at home watching the snowfall. Let me
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: find that boy good. Yeah, because of how much people
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: talked about it, I'm sure I made him feel like, damn,
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: I should know who he is, hopefully because it was
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: it was crazy. I will say though, you know, to journalists,
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: when you present a new actor or a new musician
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: or someone you like, like to some of these these giants,
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: please present them in the right way. She presented me
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: like I will all day. I'm in my living room
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: topless like so He's like, social media is cute, but
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: through the work, I'm like ben do but for just
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: just to you know, so he knows. I remember when
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: little Wayne, We're never asking a little Wayne about new artist,
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: a little with Wayne was like, I don't know who
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: that is, and people are getting on him like he's
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: one of the biggest artst Little Wayne was like, Yo,
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: I'm in my own bubble. Yeah, in my own world. Yea.
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: And people got on him and it could be the
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: same thing. He could be in his own world. And
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: like you said, he doesn't know, but I'm sure he
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: knows that. I'm sure after this he did his homework.
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: He had to. Yeah, man, I would hope so. And
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: like I said, man, he he is just fantastic. You know,
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: he's a great example of class, could taste prestige. Uh.
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: And that's the that's the essence. I've never met before,
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: never met him. No, you know what you want to
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: say when the first time you meet him, When the
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: first time you'd be like, just thank you, just thank you. Now,
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: how many seasons you think Snowfall is gonna go for?
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: This is my last one? I'm done. I know, I know.
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: You know the show is. It's great in a sense,
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: it's creating so many opportunities, not just in front of
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: the camera, behind the camera. Man, Like, if you look
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: at the people who are working on Snowfall, from the
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: writers to the directors, to the producers. It's just a
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: diverse group of people and it's exactly what this industry
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: has been striving for. And that's great to see a
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: director like Karina Evans, who I love Karina director Drake's
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: God's Plan and she came in and and absolutely killed it.
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: I love to see stuff like that, and that's what
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: shows like ours are doing for people today. But hey,
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: you know the story that there's always an end, stories
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: like yeah, I was thinking about that because you know,
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: like Easa ray knew when she wanted to insecure the end,
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: and so I'm sure they have an idea in their head.
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: And then seeing where you are, your character is right
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: now trying to get out of the game, a baby
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: on the way, I feel like things are going to
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: come to a head really soon, just because as soon
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: as you start trying to get out of the game
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: making those decisions that you have to make, something yeah, yeah,
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: something bad always happens. The animalsity between Franklin's saint and
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: Teddy McDonald's character is in full effect, and you know
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: what happens when when people cross him. I like to
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: see your character because you don't really smile and make
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: jokes much on the shelf, but flying the plane was
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: the one time. Yeah, I felt like we saw him
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: like really happy. Yeah yeah, yeah, you know, this is
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: everything Franklin's worked for, you know, his whole life. He's
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: sacrificed and done horrible things to get to this moment um.
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: So yeah, we're gonna see some joy this season. And
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: the fact that he has a baby on the way
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: I think is part of that too. Let me think
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: it was Ebony that did it. Ebony with two Bees.
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: I think she's the one that did the interview. I
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: just want to shout her out because I said didn't
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: know her name, and as well, Oh yeah, what's next
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: for you? What is it? What is some roles that
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: you want to do? Wow, it's something that you like.
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: I would love to do that role, Like that's my
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: dream role? Is it an action figures? Something musical? I
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: love playing real people, so I'd love to play Eddie Murphy,
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: Sidney Poitier, Fellow COUTI. Um, I'm actually I don't know,
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: I don't know. So do you know who rich Pool is? Yeah? Yeah,
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: I'm about play Richpool, really really rich Paul the agent, Yeah, yeah,
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: I know who rich Poor He has a show something
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: about him coming out, or it's in something where Rich
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: Paul is a character. No, does he No, I'm asking
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: you it's something where he's does he don't. I don't
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: think he has a show coming out. But he's a
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: really good friend of mine. And there's people behind this
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: window like why did you say that? But he called me.
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: He was like, tell the world, and I think we should.
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: It's time we start cherishing black moguls and Rich is
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: someone that people need to know. This guy has completely
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: changed the game. I'm happy and fortunate to call him
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: a big brother and I can't wait to honor his story.
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: That's great. He actually right here approached Lebron and the
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: airport selling Jersey his story and that's how they met
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: each other. Yeah. Yeah, and now he's like and then
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: he's as a black sports agent, he gets looked at
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: in a completely different way. The white sports agents were
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: so angry that he was able to come in and
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: get like the biggest NBA player. Yeah, good story. It's
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: gonna be amazing, man. And you should start telling the
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: stories now while they were alive, because I just hate
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: sometimes when we wait till somebody passes away to tell
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: that story. Yeah, like you want to give him their flowers. Now,
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: what he's done for, how he's changed, like you said,
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: the NBA and the sports agencies is just really amazing.
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: Yeah yeah. Remember they try to make it so that
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: you had to be um like a certain amount of classes.
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, yeah, you need because and it was really
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: based on him. Yeah, and with him to have the power,
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: he had completely transformed the game. And it's funny. I
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: was at the Super Bowl. I was jumping from sweet
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: to sweet um oh yeah yeah. And I was with
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: him Kevin and Brawn too, And you know, I'm just
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: completely inspired by those people. Like I say, I'm fortunate
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: to be in some really good circles. Man, I'm learning.
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: You know, who have you ever been? Who have you
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: met that has had you nervous? Ever? Like it has
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: there ever been a time when you were like, I
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: can't believe I've been really good man. It's like I've
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: met I've met some amazing people. We met Prince and
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: we were all, you know, right up here, we were
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: all nervous. It's funny, like I'm about to be nervous.
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: But they know so much about my work that it's
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: like I'm almost not allowed to be nervous anymore. It's
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: like I remember when I when I first went to
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: the Gold Party, was like Oscar night and Puff like
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: introduced me to Hold. That's how I met Hole Puff
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: and Puff was like yeah, yeah, Hold, this is Damps
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: And then you see like like the new denzil And
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: and I was like, oh nice to me either then,
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: and Hove at the way and Off was like you
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: see how you act them right now, like ain't nothing
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: a big deal? Yeah? Keep that, keep that so ever
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: since then, if I meet anyone and it isn't like
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: some some hate of stuff held like I loved them,
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: but keep it in, you know, because you know, at
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: the end of the day, like I said, if I
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: ever meet Denzel, was just thank you. I'm not asking
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: for a picture. I'm asking for advice anything, Just thank you.
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: You've already given me everything just through existing. And I
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: got to ask you about d Ray Davis's character. A
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: man like he's using but not allergies. Wow, No, he's gone.
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: He's got a cold, cold time sniffing, he's summer codes man,
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: he got allergies, you know, yeahs leave it, oh man,
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: all right good. I would try to get a couple
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: of spoilers out of you. But I know you're really
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: good though, but I think I did well. But we
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: appreciate you for joining us, brother and never really yes
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: with everything. Man, of the fact that you're producing. I
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: can't wait to see what else you have coming up,
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: just because we met you so like a few years ago,
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: and I think it's just amazing to see where you
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: are and where the show is now and a large
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: part of that is because of you. So oh man,
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: that means so much. Man, thank you, thank you so
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: much for having me. Well, it's Damson address, It's the
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: Breakfast Club. Good morning,