Killin It
Comedians London Brown, Justin Hires, & BT Kingsley converse with top people in entertainment and culture that are killing it in their life and career.
Killin It
KRIS D. LOFTON
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Actor, Kris D. Lofton, discuss booking 'Power Book IV: Force', acting techniques learned from Joseph Sikora aka 'Tommy', 'Hardball' movie memories, filming sex scenes, challenging independent film set stories, growing up in Chicago, and more.
Hosted by @RealLondonBrown, @JustinHires, @BTKingsley
YouTube (Full Episodes): @KillinItPod
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Website: KillinItPod.com
Executive Produced by London Brown, Justin Hires, BT Kingsley
Engineer: Aaron Brungardt
Dude, growing up, did you uh and this is for y'all too. Did y'all have a struggle meal? Struggle. Struggle meal. A mental meal.
SPEAKER_03I don't eat it no more. I still go to noodles and the uh every now and then. The struggle meal was Fry Baloney. Fry baloney for some spam or something. It pop up like that. My mama.
SPEAKER_00I'ma be no, because my parents. Hold on, hold on. My parents were well off. My parents were well off. My father owned a beauty salon and my mother was a principal. So no, I did not have a struggle meal, unfortunately. However, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches were a delight.
SPEAKER_02Listen, let me tell you how well I noticed. What does it say? What does it say down here? Just what does it say down there? Just a moment.
SPEAKER_01What do you gotta say?
SPEAKER_02So, man, the cool thing about these guests, man, we're not just choosing anybody. The guests that we have on the show are doing their thing. They are actively killing it. We got my guy, man, not only a lot of people don't know this, he's a writer, scripts, music, MC, respectfully, rapper from Chicago, as well as an incredible actor. And we met each other a few years ago on my birthday. He may not know this, but May 14th, we met on a set of ballers, and he's still out here killing it and doing his things, putting your hands together for Chicago's finest, Chris D. Loftin is in the building. I appreciate that. London Brown, everybody. Oh, but one important thing, because you cool, but we cool too.
SPEAKER_00I'm London Brown, and uh and I'm Justin Hyatt. BT Kansas.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, this is killing it. How you doing, Chris? How you feeling today?
SPEAKER_03Man, I can't complain, man. I appreciate y'all having me. This is a dope setup. I see who's getting all the money around today. I see who's getting it.
SPEAKER_00London, BT, London. Oh, three of us. I have money. You know, that CBS money started running out. He said I spent it on the set day. Spent it on all these cameras.
SPEAKER_02Dude, man, you're coming off an extreme journey roller coaster of this idea of incredible series, being a star of power for force.
SPEAKER_03How has that been, bro? Bro, this season right here been crazy. Like, I love the fact, honestly, they kind of did us a favor in the midst of it. I was hating on it. Like, yo, why they push us back so far? Like, we we've been off the air for two years. Why they do that? Why they push us back so far? But I think in a weird way it kind of helped because there was no other power. Like, we it was no competition. It wasn't like we coming on right after y'all, or we coming on after BMF or this. There was nothing in the world in the universe playing at the moment. And people hadn't seen Tommy's journey in two years. So I think we got all of that because people were like, yo, where is it? We tired of waiting. Where is force? And then when it hit, it hit. It had people who wasn't watching first two seasons, like, yo, nah, I was asleep on this show. Because I admit, like, I was one of them people, season one wasn't the strongest. Season two, though, we started to get in that bag. And then season three, it was like, yeah, I yeah, told you. Yeah. You know what though the pilot was amazing. The character work was amazing, and the actors were amazing. So you knew it would get there, but a lot of times them first that first season, you be seeing workers, like, just let us, just let us we gotta establish the world, we gotta establish the thing. But once we was cooking, you ain't gonna lie, it hit at the perfect day. Because that needed something to whack. Exactly. And I was waiting, I was like, ho! Couldn't have been better. You know what I'm saying? So like even how when you just walked up, you was like, Well, my money, Jannard. Right. That even that, that essence is like how it changed. Season two, it was kind of like that, but now season three, it's like, bro, everywhere I go, like, nah, we don't f with you, Jannard. We don't do that. We don't like that.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, you're getting a lot of that. It's like that now. You know, ironically, somebody just sent me your audition for that that you posted online. Oh, word. And you was going in on that audition. Yeah, bro. What made you tap into that or feel like this is the level that I need to go to? And anybody that haven't seen it, I I'm telling you, go check it out. I mean, you break it, all type of stuff. Yeah. What made you say, I'm gonna go this hard for this audition to book this role?
SPEAKER_03You wanna know what's crazy, bro? Like, as actors, and you, y'all know. I honestly feel like I go that hard on all my auditions. I just don't get them. You know? But I guess, I guess for this one specifically, it worked in such a way that they were like, yeah, no, we we we wanna we wanna lean in and and figure out more about this kid. But for me, it was like, y'all, okay, this Chicago. I'm from Chicago. It's power, that's my favorite show. It's a series regular. And you know how we feel as actors. We want them series regular roles. You know, guest starring is great, co-staring is great, current is great, but we need that series.
SPEAKER_00My my agent has sent me uh a guest star. I'm like, do you know who the f I used to be?
SPEAKER_03Me, I'm the exact opposite. I get on my agent's ass. My guest stars too, huh? What? Bro, I just cussed them out about that. And I said, if you ever in your life act like you pay my bills and give me that, try to tell me that, oh yeah, we're only sending you out on uh all series regulars, or if it is a guest star, it's gotta be something really, really great that we can sink our teeth into. Something with Netflix or Apple or this, or we're not sending you out on uh just a guest star one-off or a couple episodes of this show, that show. We're not doing that anymore. I said Cassairs, who? You're doing everything. My rent 3750. Right, right. I feel you. You better send me that guest star. I ain't I'm not gonna tell them this should be off or only. So you're thinking the whole play. I'm brother. I'm very aware that the this the decision makers who gonna give us another job, they don't watch this. Now, luckily, in your case, your show might hit a little different because they respect Patina so much. Because, you know, she comes from theater, she comes from this, she comes from that. So they're gonna tap a little bit more into anything that she put her name on as opposed to just the universe in general. Like it's very selective with the universe, you know what I'm saying? They'll tap into certain ones, but not for real. Those decision makers might as well be have been unemployed for the past three, four years to the gonna give me a job. Yeah. That's a real You know what I'm saying? Like, yeah, I can't walk outside nowhere in the black community because everybody knows who I am. Right. But the white people who gonna give me a job, they ain't seen me since ballers.
SPEAKER_00See, I wish I had your mindset, bruh. Yeah, they ain't seen me since ballers, bro. Man, I'd be turning down left and right, how current, how dare you? I'd be doing all kinds of You know what it is? I'm gonna tell you what it is, bro. I bought real estate. Uh-huh. And only because I got this multifamily property is why I got money coming in consistently. Yeah. And so that be why I be turning down certain stuff. And I did that on purpose. I said, I took my MacGyver money. I said, I'm gonna buy a multifamily property. So I don't have to feel like I got an audition for everything or whatever. But whatever, whatever, I still wish I had the hunger that you have for these acting roles. Yeah, bro. I want them, bro.
SPEAKER_03Diamond mine. Like, nah, bro, for real, because at the end of the day, they I can't expect them people to watch that shit. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? Like, and and I get that, but I feel like if you put me in a room, I'll I'll probably beat them. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? I got enough confidence in myself to do that. And if I don't, I don't. That shit one for me. And that's cool too. Now, if it's something where I feel like I might have a relationship with a producer or a casting director or something, I'm gonna read the breakdown you sent me, and then I'm gonna try to go around the agents, and I'm gonna be like, ah, I know that name. Let me let me text you, let me text Mike. He's directing this. Let me text Paul, who who's the producer. Let me, you know what I'm saying? Let me let me do my due diligence. Yeah. But I'm gonna still send you that little bullshit. Even right now. Yeah. I just uh I was about to turn it down. Um it's an audition for Tulsa King, right? Oh, yeah, you gotta do that. What's it called? Tulsa King. I love Tulsa King, and I want to do it.
SPEAKER_00Sylvester Stallone.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, but it's uh it's a guest star. And my agents were like, if you what part is it?
SPEAKER_05It's just a guest star.
SPEAKER_03I think it's just like one episode. And I told him, I literally, while I was standing outside waiting to do this, I told him, I was like, yo, I have no problem doing this tape, and I'll send it in to you by tomorrow. My only thing is there is a spin-off of this coming called Nola King with Samuel L. Jackson gonna be the lead. That's right. I was like, do I audition for this and possibly book it and risk this being the last season of Tulsa King and I'm only in it for one episode and now I can't even audition for Nola King. And there might be a series regular opportunity. I'm like, so in this case, I may just not do it just in case. And they were like, we totally understand. So like for a reason like that, I'll hold off. But I told them I'll still turn the damn tape in by tomorrow if you want me to. It ain't but like four lines. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, they should offer that to me. A guest star on Thomas King, after I'm coming off this season on power, I'm a series regular. It should be offered. I know you got a question.
SPEAKER_00No, no, no, no. This is the shit I get excited about. So wait a minute. Do how do you feel disrespected that they be making you audition for some of these roles though? Are you just like it's part of the game? No, I don't feel disrespected at all. It's part of the game.
SPEAKER_03Ain't nobody bigger than the program. Like, that's how I look at it. You know what I'm saying? And then, and then also, the only thing that I wish they wouldn't do is I wish they wouldn't have um up-and-coming actors, actors who are trying to book their first guest star or their first series regular, those type of actors. I wish they wouldn't put them in the pit against established actors like us. Right. I wish that could change. Like, because that to me is just unfair. Like, why are you putting up somebody who's never even had a co-star or guest star role on TV against somebody who's been a series regular three, four times? Like, I think they should be pulling from that separate pool. All the people who's never been a guest star, y'all audition for these co-stars and guest stars. All the people, you know what I'm saying? And maybe we could audition for the recurring guest stars or series regulars only. Not the one-off guest stars, unless it's one of them, you need somebody to pop in for one. It's one of those procedurals and it's a big episode this week, you know, crime of the week, and we kind of want a name or a face. So I get it for that. But other than that, bro, like that, I wish they would change that. But for me, the auditions, I ain't tripping. I only get the tripping when it's like a nigga project where it's like, come on now. I know y'all niggas watch Power.
SPEAKER_00Well, see, what this I'm done talking about. No, no, no, no. I was just about to say, it's you would think at this point, casting directors, producers, they know who they want to hire. It's just like Adam Sandler could pick who he wants to put in his stuff. So even when it comes to TV shows, some of that shit, I'm like, why would you ask me to audition? Like, you don't know what certain people could do. Like, that lets me know that certain directors or producers, they're not even tapped into the culture or the community or nothing. Because it's like, why do you even have to audition certain people? You should be able to be like, yo, Chris is fire. Put him in that role. BT is dope. Put him, put London in that role. Why the fuck are we auditioning? We just shot a sketch yesterday. We didn't have to audition nobody. Right. We should have. But we're not jogging. I had to give a couple notes. But you get what I'm saying? It's like some of this shit is like, why do why but anyway, I'm done talking. I'm shutting one.
SPEAKER_03Go ahead, beach. No, I because I want to stay here for a second because you guys are talking the game, and that's what we do here, but you guys are hitting notes and like y'all be getting me on the name shit. Let's I want to for the audience, the understanding of a guest star, a co-star, a reoccurring, what's that, what's the difference in that for that? Procedurals. You said procedurals, I I know they'll be. Yeah, okay. So I'll I'll answer that. And then the segue off what you said, and then I'll go right into what you were saying. Um another reason with the uh auditions is I just feel like sometimes, just like us as actors, we're trying to get a job. The reason sometimes they'll have us audition, I think I just try to give everybody grace, but in my head, I told myself that a lot of these people are just trying not to lose their jobs. You know what I'm saying? Whether it be a casting director, a first-time director, or first-time um DP. Right. You know what I'm saying? Especially if they us, if they black, right? You know, somebody took a chance on them. Right. You know, the same way that I'm so grateful and thankful that somebody took a chance on me to be a series regular. That first-time director or that first-time casting director who got that opportunity to cast this, don't want to lose their job and they want to get picked to get casted through this company all the time, right? So sometimes they just want to follow proper channels. Right. It's like, yeah, I know Chris can do this, but Chris, can you please just send me a tape so I can let them think I'm doing my job? Right. So I cannot because a lot of times these studios and these suits and shit, they'll say no just because they feel as if you tried to force their hand by telling them London Brown is this role and not bringing them five tapes for them to feel like they chose London Brown. So sometimes one of the tricks they'll do is they did this to me with force. They'll give you the studio head or the uh network, right? They'll give you five tapes, right? They only like one of the actors. They only want one actor to get the role. But they'll show you five tapes where you'll feel like you made the choice because it's your money. It's your studio, it's your network. But the casting and the producers and the directors, they like, no, we know we want London. So let's give them four other tapes of people who can't even compete with London, and then they'll obviously choose London.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_03And now they feel as if I did my job and I included them. I didn't try to tell them what to do with their So it's a psychological game that everybody's playing a game, bro, from a different side.
SPEAKER_02That's that idea is the idea of um benevolent, being a benevolent dictator, the uh which is to set it up like it's your let's give an example. Your girl manipulation. Your girl uh never know what she wants to eat. And if you choose, she may not want that, and she's confused. So sometimes you give her two options that you like. Baby, what would you like? You like Chinese or Italian? Now you mess with Chinese or Italian. Right, right. But when she chooses, all right, well, cool, Italian, that's what you want, it gives makes people. That's a good choice. Yeah. Man, I'm glad you thought about that.
SPEAKER_03And that's what they did. Because I remember when I auditioned for uh power, they had I was so worried, like, yo, am I gonna get this? I'm not gonna get it. I'm not getting it. Da da da da. And they had told me, they had written back in an email, they said, it's just taking us a while for the test. It'll be a few weeks, possibly a month, because we can't find anyone to test against him. And I was like, what you mean you can't find nobody to test against him? That is me. That was like, they was like, so to me, I was their clear-cut choice, but they can't go to the studio and the network like Chris Lofton. He's the only guy. No other options.
SPEAKER_00That's what happened with me with Newgirl.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, that's the whole story.
SPEAKER_00I told, yeah, we had Lamar here. It was between me and Lamar for Newgirl. Yeah. And they did the exact same thing. They knew they wanted him. He had already auditioned 10 times, but they brought me in as the ringer, is what they call it, the person that they just gotta put up for studio. Yep. Somebody for Lamarne to test against, but they knew they wanted Lamar. That's how it was.
SPEAKER_03So yeah, and to go back to your question, the uh co-star is just generally you may or may not have some lines, but possibly like one or two, and you're in that episode, and that's it. And that's and that's it. A guest star is it could be potentially that one episode, but you'll have like the majority, not I ain't gonna say the majority, but a lot of the story for that specific episode is based around you. Like it could be a top-of-show guest star, meaning they'll they'll show your name at the beginning of the credits versus at the end of the show. Yeah. That's a top-of-show guest star. And then you got the recurring guest star where you'll be in this episode and maybe two more down the line throughout the season. And then that's the that's the recurrent. Then the series regular is all shows produce. You're pretty much in every episode. Right. That's that's the difference. And then the pay fluctuates every step. You know what I'm saying? See, there, look at you guys learning shit.
SPEAKER_02Already. That's why we that's why we have these people that are killing it, because they know what they're talking about. Yeah, bro.
SPEAKER_03You know the business very, very well, bro. Keep going. I know absolutely, man.
SPEAKER_00Hey, well, I ain't gonna say who said it. Somebody said, hey man, don't ask to be on this show. If your credit is being on killing it, don't ask to be on this show.
SPEAKER_02Dude, no, no. Uh people, I think people are gonna find out if they continue to watch the show, the caliber of guests that we have on here, that people are really not just sitting at home chilling, but people making moves, man. Like you've been at this, we're going back over 20 years. Yeah, too.
SPEAKER_03Hardball, 27 years.
SPEAKER_02Hardball with big names, countries. We let's go all the way up going forward to Snowfall, man. Yeah. It just uh damps and Idris, and just the cast that you've been able to. Also, Michael B. Jordan was in that joint as well. Hardball, absolutely. Yeah, we gotta talk about hardball, but everybody, stop what you're doing right now. Make sure you subscribe to Killin the Pie. Boom. You know, of course. Uh so going back to when we met, I we we met on my birthday on the set of balls. Usually stopping through to hang out this particular day. Because I was at Holly Room, I remember. Yeah, yeah, we in Hollywood, shooting the scene. I think YG was there that day. It was a whole lot of different people. And um always been good energy, always been very solid with that. And um what was wild about this is that when I was auditioning for, when I was auditioning for Raising Canaan, I ran into Chris on the way out, and that's also the same day I met. Uh I didn't meet Paige then, but I knew who Paige was. Paige Kennedy? Yeah. Shout out to Paige. Um he was just here with us yesterday. But what was cool is that I remember hearing you say that how you want to be a series regular. And so when you auditioned for Raising Canaan, what part were you going for?
SPEAKER_03Originally I went for Lulu. I went for Lulu, my very first audition, I went for Lulu, and then they brought me back for one callback. And then after the callback, they were like, yo, we want you to come in just for shits and gigs, read from Marvin. And then that day I saw you, I read from Marvin that day. And then you was coming in and killed it right after me. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Dude, so what was what was dope about that situation is that knowing that you wanted to be a series regular, and then I remember giving you a call, and I think I might have sent you some money for some shots, because I tend to do that. Yeah, you did, you did, he did. But I be, I was so happy for you because I just felt like even though Raising Candy didn't work out for you, the fact that you was a series regular on Force and the fact that it was in Chicago, I felt like that was a perfect shoe size. Man, how did that how did that change for you as far as your angle? Did it how inspiring was it to book at series regular at home?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, bro, it was it was everything. Because for me, like the whole acting thing in general, I don't I don't particularly like the fact of, you know, I live in LA, booking something that shoots in LA, and I just drive myself to work or Uber to work. To me, that feel too much like a job. I love the on-location filming. I love getting picked up by the white van. I love the pre diem. I love staying in a hotel and being in the lobby meeting random people or finding other actors. I just want to. What do you feel here?
SPEAKER_00I just want to say, picked up in a white van by white people. Yeah. White people might not have. On the real. Like, I like that.
SPEAKER_03Like, to me, that's a part of the whole thing. Like, I want all of that. So for me, when I booked that, I was very happy that it that it was on location and then the fact that it was Chicago, the crib, to finally go back home and not be poor. I was like, oh, nigga, I unlocked the whole side of Chicago. I didn't even know it exists. Like, I'm living here, but hold on, nigga. This has been downtown the whole time. Like, god damn.
SPEAKER_02This is nah. Nigga, what? Speaking of that comes come from Chicago, so what brings you out to LA? How does that even get going?
SPEAKER_03Bro, uh delusion, I guess. You know, the best way to put it was delusion. I did that super cliche shit, bro. Moved to LA with a one-way ticket, $300 in a backpack 10 years ago. And like, and that that was it. I quit my job. I was working at a steakhouse in Chicago. I was like a security guard of like a top steakhouse downtown Chicago called RPM Steak. And I was like, bro, I quit, filed for unemployment, and just got on the plane and said, I'm moving to LA.
SPEAKER_00What clicked in you for you to say, fuck this, I'm out, I'm going to LA?
SPEAKER_03I just did, I just found myself like I was like, alright, cool. I'm 27. I made it in Chicago, 27. I ain't got no record. That was a goal. I'm like, alright, cool. I ain't a nigga in and out of jail. I was like, I ain't got no baby mamas, I ain't got no kids out here. I was like, all right, let me get the hell out of Chicago before I fuck it all up. I'm like, because I'm hanging with the wrong people. You know what I'm saying? I'm still trying to act. I'm double dutching both sides. Like, do you want to be a street nigga or do you want to be an actor? Pick one because it ain't no such thing as halfway crooks. Yeah. You're gonna have to make a decision and make it soon. Otherwise, life is gonna make the decision for you. So if you still want to be able to make the decision on your own, make it and make it now. And and don't half-ass it go all the way in. And I said, so you know what? Let me just get out of Chicago, period, because I'd already auditioned or been on every show that was in Chicago at a guest star capacity, so I couldn't reappear. Like I was already on Empire and Chicago PD and Chicago Fire. So it wasn't like I could show up as a whole nother character. Like, nigga, you was just Grayshawn eight episodes ago. How you gonna be Daryl today? So I was like, you know what? Yeah, they say we look alike. You're right. And I told myself, I'm like, well, if um if I'm gonna be the guest star king, let me at least go to LA where they shoot everything. So if I'm never gonna book a series regular, at least I know I'll survive. I could book 40 guest stars a year and be great instead of trying to wait on the five or six that are shooting in Chicago. I said, well, you know what? If all I'm gonna do is book guest stars, let me go book 15 of them this year and move to LA. Because I know they're filming at least 20, 30 of them out there. I'll book all of those. I've never been on them.
SPEAKER_00They used to. Now they don't shoot a goddamn thing.
SPEAKER_03Exactly, they used to, but then 10, 11 years ago, that was my that was my psyche. So I said, you know what? Let me just leave before I either end up in jail or go. Get some girl pregnant that I don't want to be pregnant and let me just go now while I have no obligations or ties to Chicago, no responsibilities. Let me go and just see what if, bro. Cause to me, I don't care about getting turned down at auditions, not booking roles. I care more about never even auditioning for it or never even seeing what could have happened. You know? Like as actors, we sit there, we watch TV, we watch niggas roles. Sometimes it turned into a little hating, but sometimes it's just like, damn, I could do that. I could have done that. And I got tired of watching TV in Chicago, thinking like, nigga, I could do that. I could be, and I'm better than that nigga. Yeah. And is he he's booking? Bro, no. Hell no, though. What's the difference between me and him? And I just start going through the checklist. I was like, all right, well, for one, Chris, let's take some accountability. That nigga wake up every morning doing push-ups and we're jogging miles. You wake up smoking backwoods. So let's start there. Let's start there. Let's start there. Man in the mirror. Let's start there, you know? Let's start there. Secondly, that nigga lives in Los Angeles and you live on the west side of Chicago. I said, so what can we change and change today? At least I can be in LA with that nigga. I can go to the same audition office he's going to. Now, whether or not they pick me, erroneous. It may not happen for years. Don't give a fuck. I'll be there though. And that's what I did. So look at that, bro. This is crazy.
SPEAKER_02He's chopping this stuff up, bro.
SPEAKER_03So I went to uh I was trying to book TV stuff. And I called uh the people that I know that work a lot. I called you at the time. I called Paige. I called my homegirl Chandalia. Just people that I know that they be cooking. Yeah. And uh I couldn't call you, Justin. You everything you get is fucking crazy.
SPEAKER_00I say you didn't call me, but I was busy on set. I know. That's why I didn't call. But I was like Now I'm free. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03But just trying to try to figure out, what are you guys doing in the audition room? Because commercials are going very good for me, but trying to transition into this world is different. And everybody was one of the things, what I got out of it, because everybody had their own habits on how they did it, but one of the things I noticed was the instrument of yourself was setting it up in the best way possible. Like, like you're saying, like, all right, maybe I need to change the the brand. Let me let me get this right, let me change this, this, that, or whatever to go in. I say that to say, what do you think is is identifying you in these auditions because you work a lot. And see, I don't think I work a lot. Shit! Not at all to me. Really? Bro, it took me I ain't booked my first SAG ultra low budget for almost two years out here in LA. And then like we've been off what? Power, we've been done shooting at. My last day of work on Force was July 22nd of 24. It's January 26th, right? That ain't a lot to me. I ain't worked since then. My last day, the power check's been gone. Yeah. You ready to get it though, yeah. Yeah, like I feel like it's been consistent, like I guess, like over the years and like my face being out, but I don't feel like I work a lot. Yeah. But I I do feel like I think I'm more it maybe it's impact. It's like when I see you every time, it's uh it's a moment. It's not necessarily no, when I do get some work, it's some work. Yeah, and it's always good shit. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. So like I've I've gotten very blessed in that department, but um I don't know. For me, I I think it's just what I do in them audition rooms is I think I think my authenticity, I think the fact that I haven't been, for everybody it don't work. And and I do admit that I wish I would have gone to school and and like took acting classes and had formal training. I wish I knew what the Meisner method and shit was. But for some people, I think that's my superpower. I think because sometimes it's better to be lucky than good, and sometimes ignorance truly is bliss. So I'm going in there, not in my own head. I'm not thinking about all these methods and the breathing techniques, because I don't know any of that shit. Yeah. I just don't. I'm a nigga from the west side of Chicago, bro. And I read this script, and this is what I think. And I've been I'm a TV kid. TV raised me. Like I had a family, I don't cover no broken home. I got mama and daddy, they still married, ain't none of that crazy shit around here, but I was a TV kid. I was one of them kids who locked myself in the room, wasn't talking to my family, locked myself in the room, and I was watching movies and TV shows. So I felt like because of that, I know. Like, I know. And then with power, I watched so much power, bro. That was my favorite show before I got on it. Like, before I got on it, power was my favorite show. Like, period. Of all time. I felt like I watched so much of that shit that I knew how to be a nigga on power. Like, I knew, I knew the way the camera did those, those slow pans at the end of a scene and they just ended on your face. I used to call them, you get that power moment. Like, the scene is over, ain't no more dialogue, but they'll just push in on your face and hold it there for a second right before they cut to the next to the next B-roll footage of like a bridge or some shit, an establishing shot before they go into the next scene. So I was doing shit like that in my audition. Even though the take was over, I'm giving the power moment.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03I'm staying right there with my face on it because I know I'm like, oh nigga, I know this the moment right here. After that, after that line, this the power scene. They're gonna stay on my face. Because it's the power. I watched so much of it. So that's how I feel like with me in those auditions, I think authenticity is simple as put, my authenticity because it hasn't been coached out of me. And I think that's that is hilarious.
SPEAKER_00And man, people need to do their homework. That's what I got from that too. You watch so much power that even when it came for you to do your audition, you already knew probably what they was gonna be looking for.
SPEAKER_03Bro, I knew they beats. I know the beats of power. I know the I know the tone. I know the I knew the beats, even down to what I was wearing. I wore a black turtleneck, gold chain with a black leather jacket. I I wanted to ask you this. Yes, just to give a quick note. And that's a note to every actor I talk to that when I talk to her, I'll be like, man, what you watching? Well, I don't watch TV because I want to be on TV. You need to start fucking watching.
SPEAKER_00Oh, well, they're insane. Those are non-working ass niggas that I hate with like this.
SPEAKER_03I can't watch anything because I have to be on everything. Anyway, go ahead, bro.
SPEAKER_00Um This is what I wanted to know about you. From Chicago, West Side. I my my best friend in uh in college was from Chicago, South Side. Uh, were you a bad kid? Because I'm gonna be honest, you look like you could have been one.
SPEAKER_03Okay, so here we go. Um, full transparency. I wouldn't say I was a bad kid because my mom and daddy weren't playing that. Okay. I come from ass whoopers. I'm 37 years old. Okay. I'm from the era where you got your ass whooped. So like I wasn't, I wasn't that much of a bad kid. Now, what I was, I was a smart ass kid. I had a smart ass mouth and would talk back to adults and questioned authority all the time. Okay.
SPEAKER_02We can wring all that up in that. But I don't think I was a bad kid.
SPEAKER_03I went out here doing bad shit, getting suspended from school. Yeah, my brother was a was bad. But the teachers would definitely be calling my mama because of the talking back I did and the my reasoning, like, yeah, why would why would I do that? Like shit like that. Like, no, this is stupid. I'm not doing that. That makes no sense. I'll never need this.
SPEAKER_00No fights? You ain't getting fights and stuff?
SPEAKER_03No, maybe a couple, but not for real. Nah, like because I was in Harbaugh in like sixth, seventh grade, like seventh grade. So from seventh grade all through high school and stuff, everybody was like, oh man, that's hardball. Leave Harbaugh alone. I ain't have to worry about gangs or nothing like that. Like, I had the luxury to low-key be the worst kid out of the whole bunch, and nobody believe it. And I had the luxury to be able to hang out with different gang members and nobody get mad at me. Like I could be with the Mexican Latin Kings, I could be with the Vice Lords, the GDs, the BDs, the Moes, the Foes. I could be with all of them and nobody looking at me crazy like, boy, I just seen you with GDs yesterday. Now you with Lords and you with these niggas and these niggas. Man, that's Harbaugh. Like that's the nigga from Harbaugh. Like, he the actor in the school. Like he everybody loves Harbaugh. So I was able to get away with a lot of shit in school.
SPEAKER_00I did want to ask, did you have a memory from Harbaugh? That was one of my questions I had. You remember anything?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I remember a lot.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, what's your favorite memory from that? Because that movie is fucking classic to me. I mean, so many, so many great actors came out of it. Um, I think that's what I remember.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I think my favorite memory from that would be. I think I told this story before. Us um when I got my first check, we was downtown Chicago staying at a hotel, and there used to be a Toys R Us on State Street in Chicago. And the Sega Dreamcast that just came out. Oh I got my first check. And I went to that Toys R Us on State Street and balled out. I bought the Dreamcast and every game that came out.
SPEAKER_02How old were you? Like 11. So they wait. So your your parents were with you then, they like they got it in their name or whatnot, and they gave you the money.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, the uh the money, they put the money in a block trust account under the Coogan law for child entertainers, and you got to pick either 18 or 21. You know, I chose 18, but my mom was the trustee of the bread. So, like, yeah, they would get they would give us per diem every week in the little manila envelope, and then the check and stuff too. And yeah, my mom let me take my first check. That's cool. And um, yeah, I bought my Dreamcast and bought NBA 2K, NFL 2K, the original. Yeah. Like, I bought all of those. The one with Alan Iverson and the two green arrows and shit freaked out. Yeah, yeah. What? The memory card with the visual in the middle. I bought all that shit, bro. I bought every accessory, extra controllers, everything. I balled out.
SPEAKER_02How was it growing up with your parents, man? And being that you started in the acting thing, how and what way were they supportive?
SPEAKER_03Man, my parents were very supportive in it, man. Because it it was an accident. I ain't know nothing about acting. I don't come from a family of entertainers. Like my mom and dad, blue-collar, hardworking people. They from backwoods of Mississippi. They don't know nothing about acting or entertainment. I just heard something on the radio in Chicago saying it was some people in town looking for um young black boys that know how to play baseball, and I'm so ignorant. I was like, mama, take me where the radio said. They putting together a traveling baseball team in Chicago. It must be the best traveling baseball team ever, because they're talking about it on the radio. I was like, Ma, I want to go try out for the team because I play sports in real life. I play baseball and football. So I was like, yo, take me where the radio said. I show up and it's a movie audition. I didn't know that. I thought it was an actual baseball tryout. I show up with my glove and everything. Like, and it's a movie audition, an open call. So I end up doing the open call. Five, six hundred kids showed up, they picked five. I was one of them. Sheesh. Never acted a day in my life, fresh off the streets, and they end up picking me for it. And ever since then, my mom was just doing all of that stuff, like calling off work to take me on countless auditions that I never got. You know what I'm saying? All of that type of stuff. They they last dollars, big, borrowing, and still, and taking up fun, taking up offerings at the church to get me new headshots, to send me the to send me the uh acting class. All of that. So yeah, my mom, my whole family was hella supporter. Still to this day, they supporter. Yeah, my mom and them uh they'll beg, borrow, and still it if they got to. You you think that's what uh prevented you from going down that bad route? Because getting something that early, that child star, that thing could can carry, it could be right behind you, like, oh shit. Yeah, it could go very bad, but from booking that young, you were still able to keep it all together and stay solid. Yeah, man, I think it just it opened up something in me as far as like possibilities. It didn't, it opened up my world to say, like, okay, there you don't have to just play sports. You don't have to rap. Because you turned down a scholarship, right? Yeah, yeah. I had a full ride with Grambling. Yeah, the Grambling to play football and baseball. And I was like, all right, oh, niggas, I ain't know niggas could be on TV. So I opened that. But also, like, the the bad decisions that I made in my life have nothing to do with my parents or family. Them niggas raised me in the suburbs. I chose to be with niggas. I chose to do niggas shit. Niggas is fun. Yeah, you know what I'm saying? Like, in my parents' defense, nigga, they did not do that. Like, you know, what happened is I got emancipated when I was 17. My whole family moved to Georgia, and I stayed in Chicago by myself my whole senior year of high school for the next four to five years. Right. That's when I took the turn to the bad shit, because I was there in 2,000 miles away. Now you got emancipated because you didn't want to move or well, no, I got emancipated because um I was my my parents were about to move and my whole family, and I didn't want to leave because I was acting. I was still actively trying to get scholarships. It was my senior year, so I was still thinking I was gonna play sports. And I'm trying to get, you know, recruited from my high school. I'm like, mama, nah, bro. Like, I play football, I play baseball, it's my senior year, and I got an agent here. I'm acting. I'm like, I'm not moving to Bumbafuck, Georgia. It wasn't Atlanta, it was Georgia. You know what I'm saying? They live in Georgia. Them niggas live closer to Alabama than they do to Atlanta. So I'm gonna put it to you like that. Yeah, you know what I'm saying? I said, oh no, that's not happening. I'm a Chicago kid. I'm like, I'm not finna move to the country. No. Right, right, right. So I'm like, all right, bet. Y'all could go ahead. I'm gonna stay here, finish school, da-da-da. At 18, I got this chick coming up. Exactly. So I was in my head, I'm like, it's cool. I can manage six, seven months without y'all until that check hit at 18. I'm cool. And I'd um I was up for this movie called Gridiron Gang. Oh, wow. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, so I was supposed to be Willie Weathers. Oh, shit. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I like that movie. They flew me out to LA from Chicago. I was doing the football training, shit. I was in the camp because I really in shape then. With The Rock, yeah. I was doing this shit with The Rock. That was when I first met Dwayne. I was doing this for Gridiron Gang. It comes down to sign a contract. They wanted me to drop out of high school, take the GED test so they can work me like an adult. Because it was my senior year anyway. And they didn't want to have to tutor me all them hours because the Willie Weathers character was damn near a main role up underneath Exhibit and The Rock. Right. He was damn near them two and Willie Weathers. They was like, we can't have you in school that long. Well, we gonna we can't film shit without you pretty much. Right. So just take the GED test. You're almost out of high school anyway. Take the GD, you pass, the role is yours. My mama wouldn't sign the contract. She was like, no, my son getting a diploma, not no damn GED. What did you want to do? I said, Mom and if you I was like, fuck this. I will wipe my tears with hundreds. So I was like, I'm like, it's all good. And I'm like, bro, but she would not sign that contract, and they kindly put my black ass back on a flight to Chicago and said, so sorry. And then they brought in Jade Yorker because he was already 18 and out of high school. How was that flat home, man? I ain't talked to my mama for about two months. And then a couple months after that is when she hit me with the yo, we moving to Georgia. I was like, oh no, nigga, y'all are moving to Georgia. And I said, okay, you know what? Just in case something like this happens again, probably won't, but while you're gone for these seven, eight months, let's just say I get close to booking another role and I gotta sign a contract. That won't happen. I don't think it's fair. I said, you can't, like I said, ain't no such thing as halfway crooks. You can't leave me here to fend for myself at 17, 2,000 miles away, and dictate what I'm able to do to take care of myself. You can't do both, nigga. You gotta pick one. He's still questioning authority. No, but that's what I'm talking about. You gotta pick one. You can't just leave me here at 17 in Chicago, 2,000 miles away from help, and then tell me what I gotta do to survive, what I can and can't do to survive out here on my own. Fuck that. Pick a side. And if you choose to leave, sign here before you go.
SPEAKER_00And that was it. Man, you know what I love about it's good to meet another, another nigga that be as turned up as I be.
SPEAKER_01So I'm like, this might be his comments ever.
SPEAKER_00Hey man, because sometimes I be getting turned up and I'll be like, Justin, just chill. I'm like, maybe it's me. And I'm like, no, it's other niggas like me. There it is, Prince. Other niggas like me, man.
SPEAKER_03That is crazy. Um, so you're you're on the set at I I wanted to, we have to discuss Harbaugh. Uh watching, working with Keanu, working with Michael B at the time, and then seeing the journey after and being a part of that. What is the relationship like, you know, uh maybe with them now, or was it like then to see it turn into what it turns into? Man, it was dope to watch what both Mike B and Keanu became, even Stilo, because Stilo Bram was in that movie with us too. If y'all know Stilo. Yeah. Yeah, that's how Stilo and Mike B. Jordan became best friends because of that movie. Oh, wow. Because we were in that movie together, and then him and Mike B became like this, and then they moved to LA together shortly after Harbaugh, a few years after we shot Harbaugh, Mike B and Stilo moved to LA together. And then Stilo bumps into uh drama, who was Rob Deardek's cousin. Yeah. Then they start doing all of that stuff together, and then Stilo does his thing. Mike B does his thing. So watching that was like, wow, it just gave me hope. I was like, all right, I could do this shit. And it was, it was very dope. My relationship with them now is still good. Like, it ain't like I got Mike B number or nothing, but if I see Mike B, that nigga's always like, yo, Crick, what up, Mr. Lofton? Like, it's nothing but love. Every time he fucking sees me. I don't, I don't have his fucking phone number or nothing like that. I had Mike B until Fruitville came out.
SPEAKER_00I had his number until Fruitville came out. Oh, wow. I was like, uh the the blue bubble turned green. I was like, oh, you changed it? Okay.
SPEAKER_05Exactly.
SPEAKER_03Like, yeah, nah, I don't think so. Um, and Keanu, I ain't seen that nigga since Harbaugh. Oh, wow. Yeah, legit. I ain't seen him since.
SPEAKER_02Growing up, did you uh what was your and this is for y'all too. Did y'all have a struggle meal? Struggle. Struggle meal.
SPEAKER_03Struggle meal like I don't eat it no more because I still go to noodles and uh uh every now and then. The struggle meal was fry bologna. Yeah, yeah, fry bologna. It pop up like that. My mama.
SPEAKER_00I'm gonna be no, because my parents. Hold on, hold on. My parents were well off. My parents were well off. My father owned a beauty salon and my mother was a principal. So no, I did not have a struggle meal, unfortunately. However, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches were a delight.
SPEAKER_02Listen, let me tell you how well I know this nigga. What does it say? What does it say down here? Just what does it say down there? Just a moment. I know this nigga.
SPEAKER_01What does this nigga don't say? Just the name of the rest, but we got a summer.
SPEAKER_00Middle class, um, a little upper, but whatever, whatever.
SPEAKER_03I still like mature Tron Raymond to this day. Okay. I'm telling you.
SPEAKER_00You know, that's what I wanted to ask you, man. Because you done been on set with a lot of people. You have you have you ever had like an onset or seen an onset like horror situation, like horror story? Like you ever been on set and seen, you don't gotta say no names, but you ever been on set and seen somebody kind of wild out.
SPEAKER_03Uh I ain't gonna say I seen somebody wild out, but I've seen like some some shit that I'm like, oh wow. Not somebody wild out. It was just like, whoa, what's happening here? Yeah. I remember I was on a set, it was an indie. And I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna say no names, but it was an indie. And um, I've been sitting in my trailer. I'm I've been through the works. Like I've been through hair, makeup, I got on my wardrobe. I'm just chilling in my trailer.
SPEAKER_02Is that the hurry up and wait situation?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it was a hurry up and wait situation. Now we're going on like three, four hours. I just I've been here, I've been here five, but I've been fully dressed and in hair and makeup for about four now. Just sitting on the stairs of my trailer, looking around, and it doesn't look like nothing's getting better, nothing's moving. I'm like, what's going on? Then all of a sudden, I start seeing the crew instead of taking stuff off the trucks, they loading everything on the trucks. I say, Well, goddamn. I was like, hold on, maybe.
SPEAKER_02Come on, I want to hear the rest of your thoughts. What's going on in your mind? Stay in that voice. Let's go.
SPEAKER_03Did I come on the wrong day? I'm like, this is a nigga production, so maybe I didn't take it as serious and read it all the way. Maybe I'm not supposed to be here, man. Maybe they are rapped, man. That's your conscience. I was like, I'm your conscience. I said, no, check my phone. I said, no, Chris D, number three. I'm on the call scene. You look in the mirror still. No one stopped me here. Okay. And then all of a sudden, they putting shit on the trucks, and another dude comes over here and he's like, ah, Chris, man, I'm so sorry. I said, What? What's going on? Man, uh, none of the crew wants to work. I'm like, excuse me? He's like, yeah, no, uh a lot of my guys just haven't been paid in like a month or two. We've been shooting, and they just keep showing up doing these long days, and they just haven't been paid, and da da da da. Da da da da. So we're sorry to waste your time, but they're just loading up the trucks until somebody gets to the bottom of this. And bro, I'm like, oh wow, I ain't never seen that shit before. And then, this is what was even crazier. Indy, nigga production. The producer, about another hour go by. Mind you, I've been here six, seven hours now. We ain't shot one friend. The producer walks on set. The man pulls up with a goddamn Louis Duffle. Just full of racks. Cash. Shit. Hundreds, fifties, and twenties. Like cash. Start passing, and I had them niggas in line like the motherfucking carter. Hand them niggas hundreds, fifties, and twenties in cash. How much, how many hours? How many hours? How many days? How many times? How long has it been since you've been paying? Three weeks? Okay. How long for you? A month and a half? How long for you? Today? How much more how much more I owe you?
SPEAKER_00I owe you what? I'm gonna just take care of that now. Now was he passing it out apologetically or was he taking like, here, take your bitch ass money and fuck out my body?
SPEAKER_03Apologetically. Okay, okay. Apologetically. Okay. Apologetically in cash. Wow. Damn. In fucking cash, that nigga showed up in a McLaren. Hopped out that bitch with a Louis Duffel bag with at least a hundred or so cash. Yeah. And passed that shit out to every crew member. I had it the whole time. Worker. Actor. And then everybody went back to work. And then them niggas unloaded that goddamn plate. Louis bags do it. Louis Bags do it.
SPEAKER_02Hell yeah. Fire. I have I had one like that, but it ain't the the money never came, but they was we was on set, we was dressed, and on GP the director, independent, you know, and he's like, hey man, we uh Yeah, they they he was like hey man, we we went first of all, what happened was we was on set. I get a call from my ref saying, uh, you need to leave now because you're gonna lose your sag because the money is not there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I was like, man, they in the middle of setting up shots. I said, really, say you you you gotta leave, man, or you're gonna they're gonna take your SAG card. So then I they I guess word started spreading around, so we all just started leaving, but then I remember the director showed up to a comedy show of mine and was like, no, actually, two other guys was like, hey man, we really want you to do this. The money will be there. I was like, the money will be there. So these things happen on independent on independent films. So so go that's funny.
SPEAKER_03So going, um, now you're in a I want to go back to to Force. You're in a totally professional set. The um working with 50 and him identifying these uh these organic stories and the way that they're they're told. When you're going into this role which is heavily layered, what's your mindset? Because there's a general got a lot of stuff going on. He's a lot of different things at once. What is your approach to a role like this? Um, for starters, I never judge the character. I don't judge none of my characters. I don't judge them because it's like a lot of times, you know, you a lot of actors be on scene and they'd be like, hey, I would never say this. I know, motherfucker, because it's not you. I know you would never say this. I would never do this. I would never say this. I would never handle this situation this way. But don't judge Jannard because he would. You know what I'm saying? Lean into that. So, like, I kind of tried to come from a place like that. And then also, like, obviously, it's a lot of the a lot to Jannard I ain't never done. Like, I ain't no big time drug dealer. I ain't killing people, I ain't doing drugs, I ain't never did heroin and cooking, all that shit in my life, you know? So for me, it was a lot of research in that department because I just didn't want it to look crazy. I ain't want it to look corny. Because I'm like, all right, what's the closest thing I could do outside of trying it myself to make sure that this shit looks somewhat authentic. So I I took that approach. I was like, okay, I watched so many movies. It was this movie with Don Cheetle called Rebound, where he was like supposed to go to the like the NBA or college, and then he like got hooked on heroin back in the day. I watched that show. I never seen that one. It was called Rebound. I watched that a lot. And then um one of the writers on the show, his name's Sammy, Sammy Horowitz, he was a former addict. He was a former uh heroin addict and everything. The guy that played um fuck, what was his character name? Uh Joey on on uh Force. Okay. The guy that I was shooting up with for the first time. Yeah, yeah. That's the writer Sammy. He wrote that episode, and the that scene where I shoot up for the first time with him was how he was introduced to heroin for the first time. He wrote that scene based off his life, and he basically played the person that got him to do it for the first time, and I basically played him. Oh, wow. And he acted in that scene with me. So outside of set, I asked him so many questions. I tapped into his friend group of people who may or may not be recovered, you know? And I watched them. I just observed them do it in their element. Wow. And I was like ah, ah, ah, okay. I was like, all right, I think I've seen enough.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_03You know, like and then that was pretty much, that was pretty much how I went about it, man. And um, and I just tried to not like, because also a lot of people say things like, even with uh with our show, they asked me when we were done shooting season two, like, Chris, do you want do you want to go to therapy? Do you want us to get you in any therapy because you had to do a lot of deep stuff? We had to take you to some really dark places. And for me, it could be because of what I talked about earlier, how I'm not like this classically trained dude, and to me, I'm just a nigga. I was like, what you talking about? Like therapy for what?
SPEAKER_02So you just turned it on and turned it off.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, they're like I'm like therapy. For that? Right. I was like, lady, you you said cut, right? I said, bitch, cut. It's over. Like I'm done. I'm okay. I'm like, but I guess I could get how some people could fall into that, but I don't know. For me, man, it's not, I don't think it's as deep as it is for a lot of people as it is for me. For me, it's really, it's really a very natural thing, bro. Like, especially if I just lock in and take it serious. Like, I'm not, I'm not playing when I do this. Like, I want I didn't want to ruin my favorite show because I knew power was my favorite show. So to me, the pressure of that alone, that's how I fucking prepared for it. Yeah. You on power now, nigga. Don't be the nigga that ruins your favorite show. Don't be the nigga that everybody's talking about that can't act or that they don't like or they hate. Why did they pick him? Right. I didn't want to be that person. So to me, that was all the motivation and preparation I needed. You got a follow-up for this section? Uh, not it's not exactly. It's it's it's definitely still for force, but uh, and this is uh for both of you guys. In this universe, um, this is one of the few shows I saw. Uh what's the what's the young lady's name? She who the shy? Who am I? Uh the director, creative. Linda Waith was talking about when she was putting out a movie about seeing black people intimate, humanizes them. On this show, and you guys both can answer this, what is the relationship and the protocol with the ladies? Because I knew a lot of women on Force. Uh Kelly Howard is a comic that I know from Chicago. Uh Blythe, I went to Blythe Howard. Blythe, I went to Academy of Arts with, and Portia's the Hummy. Oh, Porsche is the show. Yeah, yeah. So, so uh yeah, thank you, because they be correcting me all the time. I'd be leaving out last names. Uh when what is the the protocol on a show like this for how the because all the women feel very comfortable when I'm seeing them talk about it, it was like, no, it's super professional. So just how is the setup for a show in this world?
SPEAKER_02Uh for me with Patina and Jubox and the other actresses, uh, first of all, just you come into this with a with a lot of respect for them as just artists anyway. I'm like, yo, um you know, that's the first thing. It's just respect. Guys having respect for women. Period. That's that's the first start. But then also, too, my thing was I never wanted to do anything that was gonna compromise the the scenes. Because, you know, truth be told, sometimes you get on set, man, you run it to actors who, if their attitude isn't right, you know, I've been on some sets like that, and and obviously I'm glad it didn't show up on on picture, but it's like, man, you people gotta leave that stuff at the door. And we just hit a work, let me just and then also I got so much, I'm so busy, like you say, I'm just so busy trying to do a good job. I'm not I'm not in the, you know, let me just stay focused. And I'm in, I'm working across with some stronger, or working across with some strong actresses. And I'm like, man, it makes sure I pull my weight because I'm not trying to be a disappointment to the scene, to the universe. So it that was my that was my experience. Absolutely.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, and uh with those type of intimate scenes, like they got this, uh, they got intimacy coordinators on set.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03It's basically just like the a mediator between it is somebody else that they can talk to if they don't want to tell you something, or then they tell you, and they just make sure everybody's comfortable. They come with the the robe. As soon as they say cut, they throw a robe on you so you just ain't standing there for 15 minutes in your draws. Right, right. Or with the pasties on or the titties out. They come to make sure, just make it a comfortable place, and they they limit the amount of people that can be on the on the set while you're filming an intimate scene. Like, yeah, the camera and the people are there, but instead of it being 80 people around, they limit it to only seven of them can be right here right now while you do this scene. Nobody could be watching from Video Village in the monitor but the director or this person. You know what I'm saying? Not like everybody just chilling around Video Village while you're naked. Like they don't they don't allow that. They they they try to limit stuff.
SPEAKER_00I'd be around Video Village with a with a bottle of lotion, turning plug and plug in Oh, funny as hell.
SPEAKER_02Dude, how was it shooting how is it for you preparing for the sex scenes with the chicks? Because you know the question that that I get asked is I think people think that you're actually aroused shooting the intimate scenes. I'm like, for me, I'm busy trying to make sure it looks real. And I'm not thinking, let me really knock this down. But I get it. How was that for you?
SPEAKER_03Well, see, I definitely never get aroused. Right. And yeah, I'm just trying to make it look real, for sure. But for that that scene with Portia Coleman, in my head, I was thinking, let me try to knock this down. Not in real life, but make it look like I am on camera because I was like, this scene could be decent. I'm like, this scene could really be a raw scene if I really like take it there. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? Portia Coleman is uh she's an actress, she's fully committed, yeah. She's super committed to it. And because we knew each other, she was hella comfortable. She was like, look, Chris, I don't care. She's like, You my homie, nigga. Do whatever. She's like, just fuck me. I'm like, yo, do you care about you? Pour some champagne on you, because I asked props, can I get a bottle of champagne? Y'all got some fake champagne, da da da da. I want to pour it. I'm like, this is my this is my Rico for paying it full moment. I was like, this is my Rico for paying it full moment. I was like, I gotta take it there. I'm like, I'm already, I'm high, I'm I'm drunk. I'm like, let me just take it. And she finna catch you too. It's like, you know, yeah. Yeah, let's make it go like this so it can go like, oh, so that that moment when she catch me hit harder. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? So like that, for me, that that was what I was trying to accomplish in those moments. Okay, so now it's aired, so I can I can talk spoiler-free. Did you know the turn that that the story was gonna take, or did, or is it uh getting unveiled to you? Did you know which regard? Did you know that you'd be the new kingpin of Power Legacy? I don't know. Okay, don't know that. Let's take that out. Uh did did you know you wanna edit that out? No, you can't. Oh, okay. Okay. So uh did did you but did you know that the character was gonna take this turn that you'd be the new head show? You you was you took over. Diamond Gold is you, baby. You not for nothing. You did the work. Oh look at it like that, bro. You know what's so crazy, bro? I I but I was telling my homies, like, as we were filming it, I was getting those scripts, and I remember hitting one of my homies. Shout out to Patrick Cage. Um, he's actually my reader in the audition tape. Oh, yeah. That's what everybody asked about the reader. Patrick Cage, the best best friend ever. Um I was calling him when I was getting these scripts, and I was like, bro, oh no, man. It's just I just feel like Jannard ain't in this shit that much like I was season two. I was like, bro, it's like they said, you know what, nigga, this ain't the Jannard show backup, nigga. I was like, I felt like as I'm getting the scripts, I was like, bro, I'm gonna come in to page 21, nigga. I'm like, God damn, I'm like, nigga, every one page is equivalent to a minute of TV time. I'm like, nigga, 21 minutes before I'm gonna do it. It's so funny I was at this point. We definitely scroll through. I'm like, nigga, where am I? I'm like, God damn, page 19? Page 23? I was like, shit. I'm like, all right, in the moment. But after watching it on TV, I was hitting him up and he was like, yeah, nigga. I was like, no, okay, yeah, you might have been right. I am I'm running through this motherfucker. I'm gonna be able to run through this motherfucker. I was like, in the moment, though, because we was knocking it out, because it take us 10, 11 days to shoot an episode. I was finishing rapping episodes in three, four days. So to me, I'm like, bro, they still got eight, nine more days of filming. I ain't in this shit for real in my head. But I guess, you know, as I'm filming it, I don't know what the impact of these scenes are gonna be. Yeah, like that King Kilo scene. In my head, I was just I was just happy that I got to whack somebody. I'm happy I get to kill somebody. And I'm like, all right, and I'm like, ooh, yeah, I know Tommy's gonna be coming from me. I'm like, ooh, people gonna be mad. But I didn't think that it was gonna be this big thing. Yeah. You know, I what I learned to do, I feel like actors, we kind of all pick subconsciously, or whether it's on purpose, we pick who we're acting for. Some people are acting for themselves, some people are acting for the director, some people are acting for casting to try to get another job. I chose to act for the editors. Because I know my position. Like, I'm not number one on this show, I'm not number two on this show. So, what is your number on the car sheet? I'm number seven. Yeah, that's a man, that's a good spot. Really? Yeah, I'm number seven on the car sheet on my show. So I'm in my head, what I tried to do every time I stepped on set is I tried to act for the editors. I tried to think like an editor. In my moves, in my buttons that I would add at the end of scenes or at the beginning, in my facial expressions, in the way I listen, even when I'm not talking, in the way I respond to his line. I thought, like, okay, if I'm an editor and I'm sitting here chopping this shit up, I'm finna make it where damn near every scene, you ain't gonna have no choice but to end that shit on Chris Lofton's face. And it's gonna make Chris Lofton's character seem bigger than what it is. It definitely did. Because I was acting for the editors. I didn't give a damn about what the this, the director, or this or that. I'm like, nah, I know what them editors looking for because I've watched power so much.
SPEAKER_00Yes.
SPEAKER_03I know I'm gonna put a button at the end of this, or y'all gonna think it's cut, but I'm not gonna stop right away. So y'all gonna keep these cameras rolling. I'm not gonna just stop as soon as soon as I finish the last line and I know the scene over. I'm not gonna just take myself out of the scene. I'm gonna stay here for another 10 to 25 seconds, and I'm gonna give you something to cut to or from. That's so crazy.
SPEAKER_00So you you mentioned something a lot of people don't know. Like you said it took y'all, it took y'all like 10 to 11 days to film an episode. Yeah. And so I I know about that because when I was doing my network stuff, it was like seven, eight days to film an episode. What is the most challenging thing? Because I a lot of people don't know this. They think they see an hour show and they think it only took one day to shoot it. No, no, no, no. They don't know you've been, you was on set 12, 13 hours for 10, 11 days to shoot that one episode. Yep. What do you feel is um one of the most challenging things about filming uh a one-hour series like a like a force?
SPEAKER_03Um at a series regular capacity, I would say the um is the consistency of showing up day in and day out, like people don't look at it because it's like it unlike sports, there ain't no subs. It ain't no nigga Chris Chris don't feel the best, or I'm just not feeling, or my ankle hurt, or my back hurt. Can't nobody else go out there and be Jannard.
SPEAKER_02Can't nobody do it.
SPEAKER_03Can't nobody go be Uncle Marvin, bro. Can't nobody ain't no sub in second man off the bench for this shit, bro. Every day you have to show up and not only show up, show out, be on. Like, you know what I'm saying? Like, I think that, and then also I feel like um the all the director changes. Because on ballers, we used to shoot in blocks. You know what I'm saying? Like we would have like one director do two, three episodes as opposed to switching it every single episode, right? On power, we switch it every episode. So that's a new personality coming in every episode, a different way, a different method to the madness every episode, a different way they block or direct, a different, just a different way. So you could have gotten comfortable or used to your way, and then this episode, Robert Townsend, or this episode, Modern Raiden, this episode, they got a whole new approach. They actually, this director walks you through the entire blocking where he wants you to stand, where he wants you to, when he wants you to stand up, when he, as opposed to that director, just kind of lets you play the world. Yeah. So, like, to me, that was the most challenging part too, of the accommodating of the community in which actually gets this shit done. Because it's not one person doing all of this shit, it's a village, for real. I feel like uh correct me if I'm wrong, Robert Townsend directed a few episodes. He's in this world a lot. Yeah, he didn't. But he definitely did that finale. And then last season he did, I forget which episode, but he did an episode season two and two episodes season three. Yeah, what is it like working with the legend, man, Robert Townsend? Absolute fucking legend, bro. Any game? Oh man, yeah, no, he gave me so much game, bro. The man, he would call me, be like, Chris, man, bro, like you got the goods, like just really bigging me up. Uh, I took him to Soul House, had him drinking gin and juice. Yeah, sitting at Soul House for hours, man. I just unpacked his brain. He he read one of my scripts, gave me notes. Like, Robert is like, I got nothing but love for Robert Townsend, man, and the way he directs is unlike none other. Like, one of my homies just hit me, uh, because they they shooting season eight of The Shot right now, and they just got word that Robert's doing an episode of theirs. He was like, bro, we got Robert Townsend too. I was like, oh nigga, here's what to expect. He gonna here's what he's gonna do. He I'm like, hey, them rehearsals gonna be long, but trust them. Like when he when he read uh reading the words, you know, you first get there to do the blocking. He wants to read them words. He's like, let's just hear the words, let's just hear the words, let's just see what he's gonna do. Let's just hear the words, everybody, right now. Quiet, quiet, quiet, everyone. Quiet, quiet, quiet. Settle, settle, settle. Let's just hear the words right now and in action. And boy, you're gonna hear them words probably for about 45 minutes. But when you go. But I'm talking about because he's doing that shit like a play. Because you know, he's a real thesbian. Robert Townsend is a thesbian. Yeah, he the truth.
SPEAKER_00He put me in my first pilot when I was, he was, he had a company in, he was trying to do like his own studio in Atlanta when I was like 18 when I went there for Clark go to school or whatever. But, anyways, that was my first time meeting him. Um, super, super good dude. This I want to know about Robert Townsend, though. Do you know, do you remember like any specific gym? Was there anything that he's kind of said to you that might have stuck for you, like that you carry with you?
SPEAKER_03Bro, so much that I can't like pinpoint just one thing. Yeah, I would literally have to go through, like scroll through our text messages and some of these voice notes. Oh, wow. And give you, because it's like we be talking. Like Robert be talking. He just he just keeps telling me to stay the course, bro. That's one thing. Just stay the course. And he he tells me all the time that like I I got the goods. He was like, bro, don't ever question it. Like, Chris, you you a talented motherfucker. He was like, I remember one good moment though, is uh the episode season two when Shanti was slapping me when I was uh high and she starts slapping me like it's me or the drugs. That was Robert Towns' episode. Okay and I remember we were doing the um the slap and it was a fake slap. It was a fake slap, but it just looked so fake on camera. Like it looked very bad. And like I was watching in Village, Robert called me over there to the watch on the monitors, and he was like, look. I said, Yeah, that shit looks terrible.
SPEAKER_02I like how he let you let you observe it.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, he let me, he was like, Look, I was like, Yeah, that looks terrible, Robert. I was like, she just gonna have to slap me. I was like, that's like the only way we could do it. Shanti's gonna have to slap me for real. So I pulled Adrian to the side who plays Shanti. I was like, yo, Adrian, I just looked at the camera, you're gonna have to just slap me. She was like, oh my God, no, I'm not slapping you, Chris. Because this was her first series regular, her first couple episodes. So she like, I'm not slapping one of the stars of the show. I'm not doing it, Chris. She was like, I'm not doing it. I was like, Adrian, that looked terrible. There's no way to fake it. I was like, just do it. I'm like, it's cool. I'm telling you, just do it. I'm in it, I'm with you. I'm telling you to do it. All right, so we get we're about to film it. We're doing it. She slapped me, cool. But she kind of still holding back. Like she's actually doing it, but she's stopping herself, like kind of when she gets to my face, and it's still showing up on camera, like right. I said, Shanti. Slap me. I called her shanti. Slap me, Shanti. And then all of a sudden, Robert Towns is he's a he in Village, and we're doing it on a series.
SPEAKER_02Oh, yeah, series is when they let the cameras roll and you just continue to slap. You just do it over and over.
SPEAKER_03Just keep going until we say stop. Keep doing the same thing over and over and over again. Do it, wait a beat, do it again. Wait a beat, do it again. That's what we're doing. We're doing it on a series. That's what that's called. So she's slapping me on a series. Robert Towns on his NVIDIA Village just screaming at the top of his lungs. Slap him. Slap him, Shanti. Slap his ass. Shoppy. Slap that nigga. Slap his ass. That's just a slap him right now. And I'm just boom, boom, boom, boom. And then one of them times because she's getting into it, because she hearing Robert hyping her up, she getting into it. So it's coming. Everyone's getting harder and harder and harder. And then that last one, she's missed. Forearm. Clubs me in the lip. I start bleeding, lip busted. I don't break character though. But I add lip. I said, and I look at her. I said, damn, shanti. And he was like, cut, that's it. That's the one we're gonna use. That's my Robert Towns. Yeah. I got a slap for Robert Towns about 33 times. That's how much I love Robert Towns.
SPEAKER_00And Robert, we would love to have you right here on Killing Linux.
SPEAKER_03I'm trying to tiptoe around this so I do this correctly. Jannard is alive.
SPEAKER_01Jannard alive, baby.
SPEAKER_03We know Tommy's in the show. Tariq is there. I don't know, man. I don't know what that means for me, though. I just worked there, bro. I just worked there. I'm number seven on the call sheet. And I just worked there. I love you, stars. I respect it. Did 50 ever show up on set? Yeah, he came um, he came once season one, and then I think once season two. I don't think he didn't come season three. Yeah, he didn't visit our set like that either. Yeah, he didn't uh do that. But did he direct the episode at all? No, not ours. Oh, no, Joseph did. Yeah, Joseph did. Okay, I can't wait to see that episode. What is it like working with him? Because he's been in this character for so long. Bro, amazing. Because like I said, being such a fan, to actually sit down and be like, okay, nah, like now this is like my co-star is Joseph Sakor, Tommy. Yeah. Like, that was that was crazy, bro. I had hella starstruck moments with that dude. And just learning a lot from him, just the way he carries being a number one with just Grace and he's truly one of them ain't nobody bigger than the program type of dudes. He he demanded respect on the set. He demanded the actors to show up and be on time and and not be disrespectful to any of the crew members or each other. Like from the first Zoom call we had when I booked it for the from the first table read, he took about five, ten minutes of that Zoom call to tell us it's a no-nonsense on this set. Like, we not doing that. Ain't gonna be no egos. If you got an ego, log off this fucking Zoom right now. You can and will be replaced. Like he he he set that tone from the beginning.
SPEAKER_00Like a true OG. Man, has there been anything about his acting that you've taken away or used?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, but honestly, it had nothing to do with his acting, but it's just something that he does with his character. Well, technically, I guess that is acting, because even the walk, the everything, right? So I call it, I call it the Tommy stance. I would be, I would be in scenes with him and I would just watch him. Like I watch other actors, like I watch everything that they do. And I noticed that every time he would make it to his mark where he had to stand and just be stationary, he would stand completely like symmetrical. Like he would never just stand like one leg like this, one leg like this, or the foot tilted out. He would be planted, both feet straight ahead, directly in line with the shoulders like this. And it was, and he always had on them black timberlands. And I would always look and I would see his feet be so just still. And then I was wondering, like, why do I feel inclined to listen to him more? Absolutely. It was something about that posture that gave power, no pun intended. Right. And it was just every time, because like, yeah, he might be loose, he might be high off coke as Tommy in that moment, but then as soon as he came right here, what's up? And then he didn't do too much moving. Yeah, less is more. It was a stillness about him. Like he wasn't doing all that pacing back and forth, da-da-da. That nigga planted. I call it the Tommy stance. And I and I started doing that by like season two. I started walking in scenes and standing just straight feet like this. Yeah, man. And just staring right at a nigga, not even blinking. It added power. It added, it added power, and I stole that from him. And I tell him that all the time. I stole that Tommy stance. I was like, no, this nigga's on to something. And then they started giving me black timberlings, and I was like, oh shit. I'm becoming I was like, I'm becoming Tommy nigga.
SPEAKER_00You got a last question. Good, good. I know where you're going. We got a game on this show. Okay. Called Kill It or Let Live. All right, kill it or let live. I'm gonna throw out a topic and you say whether we should kill it, you're not messing with it, or let it live. It's all good. I bet. All right, kill it or let live.
SPEAKER_02I don't know what's on these stars.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_00Okay. Okay, I'm not holding it.
SPEAKER_01I don't know.
SPEAKER_02You know it's a good one.
SPEAKER_00Put it in the group chat, man. They have approved every one of these questions. Kill it or let live. You get to have over a hundred million followers on every social media platform, but you got to wear a dress in a talipair movie. What? Kill it. I'm not doing that.
SPEAKER_03Not a hundred million followers? Followers or dollars. Even that I'm not doing that. I'm cool. Okay, all right. See where you're standing on this. Murder it to not just kill it.
SPEAKER_00Kill it or let live. Hooking up with the cast member.
SPEAKER_03Oh, let it live. Let live. Let it live.
SPEAKER_00Not gonna get into all of that. Here go, here go another one then. Kill it or let live. Hooking up with a white woman on Juneteenth.
SPEAKER_03Kill it on any 1th. Any day. Any day that ends in day.
SPEAKER_00No, you don't like the snowflakes?
SPEAKER_03No, no. I'll say it on my no white women after 9 p.m.
SPEAKER_00No, okay. For all the white women out there, I'm married. You know what I'm saying? If I wasn't, you know, I ain't doing nothing. Lundy would do it. Um I gotta get paid. I gotta work. He did it on that show too. That's right. Uh kill it or let's remember the other day. Kill it or let live. People listening to music and and and and podcasts and all this shit or in public without headphones.
SPEAKER_03That one's kind of tough because it's subjective. Yeah. Because one, it depends on what music they're listening to. Because if I like it, then I maybe I'm gonna kill it from it. You know what I'm saying? Turn it up. So, yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, yeah, and if it's a podcast, maybe I would want you to turn that shit off. Like, you know, so it's like I think it's subjective. So I'ma just say, kill it. Okay. Just kill it. Just kill it.
SPEAKER_00Okay. I got two more. Hmm. No, no, no, no. Okay, okay. Kill it or let live. Another actor shitting in your dressing room. What? Kill it. No way.
SPEAKER_04No way. No fucking way.
SPEAKER_00Oh, God's green earth. No way. No way.
SPEAKER_04No way.
SPEAKER_00Oh, okay. Here's the last one. Kill it or let live. You get the star in movies for the rest of your life. Movies, TV shows for the rest of your life. But the films and TV shows are only seen on Tubi. Oh, yeah, kill it. I'm cool.
SPEAKER_03I'm cool. I'm cool. Just turned down one of those the other day. Yeah, I'm cool. No, but London, funny, I I didn't get to say this the whole time. I know it's over. I'm gonna say one of the other things. No, no, no, you know, yeah, okay. To this day, and I don't know why, but my biggest heartbreak in the industry was the hustle. Really? It's a great idea. Wait, wait, so were you supposed to do that? Yeah. What? For the other role, what was the name? Elon Noel. Yeah. I was up for that. What? I flew out here to test. You don't even remember. I met you in the production office. Oh. With Prentice Penny. That was when I first met you. I didn't first meet you on your birthday. I met you. I still lived in Chicago. This is pre-ballers. Neither one of us was on ballers. Right. Nothing. Like, I was a no-name nigga who lived in Chicago at the time. But I tested for the hustle. That shit, my biggest heartbreak to this day, bro. What was that though? I think the way it happened, because you know, I was still in Chicago, so I wasn't familiar with the testing process. To me, in my head, they flying me from Chicago to LA. I'm meeting, I'm in the production office. I've met everybody. I had a meeting with the showrunner and the creator. I'm doing wardrobe fitting. I'm da-da-da-da. They put me up in a hotel. I just like in my head, I'm like, oh, nigga, I got this. I don't know that they do shit like this just to not give a nigga the role. I wasn't privy to this shit. So that shit broke my little heart. And then at the time, I was still a very much so an active rapper. So at the time, I remember reading the pilot. I was like, nigga, the first episode is Breakfast Club or and like DJ Envy and all of these people got cameos in the first episode. I'm like, bro, I'm gonna tell them I rap. I'm gonna be da-da-da-da. French Montana, I think, was in the first episode, this, that. I was like, oh, yes, as the rapper. I'm like, so I get to be a rapper and act and then be around this. Maybe I can do music and this and this. Oh, and I'm a series regular and it's in LA. I'm bro, in my head, I'm just like, bro, I remember I was in my hotel room, and they um they called it uh they called me to say that the travel agent was gonna be reaching out to me to give me a flight back home. And I think the the person that called, the producer that called me, kind of heard it in my voice because I was like, oh, oh, oh, oh, okay. Alright. And calls me right back in less than three minutes. Uh hey, hey, Chris, I just want to let you know, buddy, that you're still in play over here. We just can't keep you here. I just wanted you to understand that. We just can't afford to keep you here until we decide, but you are very much so still in play. And I was like, all right. But before that call, after that first call when he said they were sending me back home, I did some actor shit. I remember I had the the bucket, the uh the ice bucket or whatever in the room, flip that shit over, nigga throwing shit in the room, threw my phone across the hotel room. Fuck! One of them moments. I had that actor moment. And then he called me right back and said that. And I'm like, whatever. Okay, fine. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Man, Matt Matt Damon talks about how sometimes it's worse to be all the way, all the way up to the point where you can almost, you know, see yourself in the row. You got the callbacks, and you're all the way up. Sometimes it's a lot easier, just, you know, what they what he called the um, okay, thanks. Yeah, yeah. You know, just and not even go through all of that for that. They hate thanks.
SPEAKER_00They hate thanks. I gotta hate thanks. I I tested for the Empire. For word. For the rapper, the youngest son. Oh shoot, yeah. And the crazy thing was, like, he raps too, though. For world. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. And the dude, but it's so crazy, the role wasn't a rapper yet. He was supposed to be an RB singer. So I actually had to sing during my final audition. But he wasn't even there. Again, they knew who they wanted. No, I was up for that too. You was up for that too? Haken. Hakim, that's the youngest son. Yeah. You didn't test for it, though. No, I didn't test. Yeah, so it was me and like three other dudes, and then none of us booked it, and then they was like, yeah, they got they found some kid in New York. And then I heard Philly.
SPEAKER_03In Philly. But you want to know the story behind that, though. Yeah, go for it. So the story behind that is because originally it was never Terrence Howard. It was Taraji and Wesley Snipes. And that's why I was up for the son because I could have been believable. I was darker. I could have been believable to be their son, right? Yeah. It was and Wesley Snipes, this is when he had just got out of prison for all that tax stuff, right? This would have been his first TV appearance post-prison. Oh, wow. And then he ended up not getting this, and then he did that little show called The Player. You remember? Yep. That ended up being his first show instead of Empire. So a couple weeks before filming, Taraji goes to production and says, I'll do it, but I'm not doing it unless you get Terrence Howard. They were afraid they couldn't get Terrence Howard because they didn't think they can get Terrence Howard to take a pay cut to Taraji because it was her show. And you know, Terrence Howard's such a big deal, it's a huge name. Yeah, they would have to pay him, but he did agree because he loved Taraji that much. And then they did get Terrence Howard. So then Wesley Snipes was gone. I was no longer in the mix, and they had to find three light skins. Yeah. To be the sons.
SPEAKER_00I was almost light enough. He was a better rapper than me, though. When they decided to turn him into a rapper, like he was he's a better rapper. Yeah, but he's wilding out now. Yeah, yeah, we've seen it. We've seen it. He will not be on killing it.
SPEAKER_03What is your uh relationship with music now? I'll leave it alone. Yeah. Yeah, I'll leave it alone. I'll write some shit for some niggas, but I I pretty much leave it alone. I got my uh my top five. Top five, especially because you're in this world, top five most unhinged characters in power universe. Oh, in the power universe. Unhinged?
SPEAKER_01I mean, well, definitely Kanan.
SPEAKER_03Okay.
SPEAKER_02Um Yeah, and he's crazy.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, Kanan's friend. Um Tommy as well. Okay. I'm gonna go Milan. Yeah, I'm gonna go Lobos. I'm gonna go Lobos, I'm gonna go Milan, Tommy, Kanan, and you know his name. Who Janar? That's what I was thinking. You don't know how to judge him. What's crazy is, bro, a part of me still don't even view myself in the universe. I'm thinking about I was thinking about that question as a fan still. Yeah, as a fan. Let me tell you something. He powered up on drugs before he went and took over. No, I was just watching a scene of his on Twitter, and I just commented. I said, all I said was I quoted it. I said, wow, Brown is phenomenal. It was a scene with you and Haley when you was like, uh, what are you, some kind of Lebanese, some kind of gun, some kind of early F-word? I said, oh man, nah. This nigga said, just because you uh just because you uh can think you don't mean you can fight like a nigga, just because you think you're a nigga don't mean you can fight like a nigga. I said, oh shit. It's going on. Oh shit.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, Mars Game.
SPEAKER_03But then the immediate realization. The immediate, bro, that shit was so good. I've watched that shit about eight times this morning. Like while I'm on the toilet taking the shit. Too much information. But I did. This morning. Uh thank you, man. All right, man. Uh, and this is my last thing, man. Uh, you can picture it exactly how you want it. What does your version career-wise of killing it look like for you? Everything is everything's going the way you want it in the next couple months, year, however you want to say it. What does it look like? Um TV, film, directing, writing. Yeah, definitely, definitely directing and writing, for sure. I want to direct some of the episodes of shows I've been. That's a that's a bucket list. I want to direct an episode of a series that I'm on. But also I want to just get in my creator bag with uh with my production company, 630 Entertainment. Um, yeah, bro, because I wrote shows. I got a pilot that I wrote, and I I want to get that filmed and uh star in it as well. That's what it looks like for me, just producing my own stuff, writing stuff, hiring my friends, working with my friends, and just really having them relationships with studios and networks to where I can get shit green lit. You know, that to me that's what it looks like. And just I envy those actors who know what their year looks like already. Like, yeah, I'm we're slated. I'm slated, I shoot this in August, I shoot that in da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da. Like, when I can get there, like to me, that's killing it. Like, at whatever capacity, honestly, that truly is killing it. If you know what your what your 26 or 27 looks like, and we in 25, nigga, that's killing it. But to me, you know what I'm saying? That is killing it. And then if I could actually have some skin in the game, a little bit of ownership, some producer credit, and actually get to tell my stories because I created them, that that I ain't complaining, man. I ain't gotta be Will Smith to make a living. I'm cool.
SPEAKER_00Hey, man. Hey, I'll gonna say just to uh uh piggyback on that, I was uh about the name drop, but working on something with Kevin Hart Company, and they said that it was like, yeah, we're looking at him to do this film in 2027, but it's because his schedule is already slated. Yeah, slated that they already know like 2027, 2028, we see him, he could be doing this film. Exactly.
SPEAKER_03Because yeah, like people like him, he got. I think he on his last uh movie in his uh deal with Netflix, I think he had like an eight-picture deal with Netflix. He had like a seven, eight movie deal with Netflix. And I think that I think his special, he put it on Netflix because I think that was it counts as a movie.
SPEAKER_00Oh hey man, hey man, phenomenal episode. Make sure y'all like, comment, subscribe, leave your comments, you know what I'm saying? Let us know what you feel about the episode. Uh, and we've been your host, uh, Justin Hyas. London Brown.
SPEAKER_03BT Kingsley, and we're here with the new star of the Power Legacy President. Hey, man.