Tyrese Gibson Part 1

Tyrese Gibson joins Shannon Sharpe in this episode of Club Shay Shay for an unfiltered and insightful conversation that dives deep into his life, career, and the experiences that have shaped him.

The episode starts on a playful note as Tyrese humorously tells Shannon he needs to moisturize, setting the tone for a lively discussion. The two reminisce over a glass of Coca-Cola, with Tyrese sharing the story behind his iconic Coke commercial—a defining moment that skyrocketed his career. He reveals how he arrived late to the audition but still managed to land the role, earning his first $100 and feeling like it was Christmas every day since.

Tyrese reflects on his tough upbringing in Watts, California, where survival was the only goal. He talks about the 1989 California earthquake, receiving FEMA money, and repaying a friend's loan tenfold—a testament to his loyalty and gratitude. Tyrese recounts the harrowing loss of a friend who was the best basketball player he ever knew, a senseless tragedy in a neighborhood where violence was often indiscriminate.

The conversation takes a deeper turn as Tyrese discusses his challenging childhood, being the youngest of four children and the only one not born in St. Louis. He shares how his family moved to LA for his father’s singing career, only for his father to leave when Tyrese was just seven years old. He opens up about his mother’s struggles with alcoholism and her belief that he was special from birth.

Tyrese compares the devastation of the Watts Riots to the aftermath of the George Floyd protests, describing how the landscape of Watts was forever changed by the unrest. He reflects on how Rodney King’s brutal beating was the first time police brutality was broadcast to the world, and how it marked a turning point in the public consciousness.

In discussing his film career, Tyrese talks about his latest movie 1992, a project that faced significant hurdles in Hollywood. He shares how Snoop Dogg, the film’s executive producer, played a pivotal role in generating buzz for the movie. Tyrese praises Snoop as a genius who has reinvented himself time and time again, noting that Snoop’s influence is unmatched—even more so than Jay-Z’s. He also mentions how actors like Denzel Washington and Viola Davis continually reinvent themselves, and how working with Denzel is a dream he has yet to fulfill, as Denzel is the very reason he pursued acting.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
I seen all the comments when you got out the
car with your little orange toad bad got it right
over there.

Speaker 2 (00:06):
This shep right here, so famous.

Speaker 1 (00:09):
You gave niggas the orange fanny pack over the shoulder,
and you walked your ass out like you supposed to
see a.

Speaker 2 (00:16):
Chra practice that week.

Speaker 3 (00:20):
All my life, grinding all my life, sacrifics, hustle, pet
price Want Slice got the bron geist, swap all my life,
Poppy grinding all my life, all my life, and grinning
all my life, sacrifights, hustle, pet Price One. Slice got
the bronic geist, swap all my life, Poppy grinding all

(00:40):
my life.

Speaker 4 (00:44):
Hello, Welcome to another episode of Club Shade Shape. I
am your host, Shannon Sharp. I'm also the proprie of
Club shap Shape. The guy that's stopping by for conversation
on a drink today. Is one of the most popular
actors in Hollywood. A prominent figure in the billion dollar
Fast Infurious franchise, He's a part of two of the
highest growth franchises in Hollywood history. His movies have done
over ten billion in box office revenue. He's a global

(01:06):
superstar and iconic singer, platinum selling songwriter, Award winning R
and B veteran, a six time Grammy nominee, accomplished producer,
successful entrepreneur, multi talented performer, artist, model, rapper, New York
Times best selling author with over twenty five years in
the industry. Let's put some hands together for mister Tyrese Gibson.

Speaker 1 (01:27):
Wow, sir, I'm on club Shay Shay, you were here.
I feel successful. I gotta I gotta take this moment in, man,
Thank you Jesus.

Speaker 5 (01:39):
You know what.

Speaker 4 (01:39):
I know you don't, Dre, but you know what I
want to do, Tyrese. I want to take you back
to where it all started from.

Speaker 2 (01:45):
Oh you want it? Okay, I got it.

Speaker 5 (01:47):
This is this is this is where it all started from.

Speaker 4 (01:49):
Wing gonna lead these are brother, but I want to
take you back to where it started from. Wow, this
is kind of what got you on the map when
you did that.

Speaker 5 (01:59):
Did you wait?

Speaker 2 (02:00):
Come on, man, can I please just have a moment.

Speaker 3 (02:04):
In?

Speaker 2 (02:04):
Yeah, yeah, I got it.

Speaker 1 (02:06):
Well, you know what, while you're doing that, I'm gonna
take you even further back. You know, black Man or Ashy,
come on in here, your arms. We gotta get you
right man, it's just rubbed this in real quick because
you you're doing all that with the Coca cola. So,
but long before there was Coca Cola, there was the
black man ash and we got to get you right.

Speaker 2 (02:24):
Baby.

Speaker 1 (02:24):
You got message out here that's going to get on man,
get them right.

Speaker 2 (02:28):
We don't need you to go R and B music
video of them. Good. Yeah, you a little ashy out here.
Thank you so much. But there you go, Babby, smove
it up. I said what I'm saying. Y'all can laugh
off camera. I don't mind, Shay Shay.

Speaker 1 (02:41):
I just want to tell you brother, before we get started, man,
I am absolutely honored.

Speaker 5 (02:47):
To be here. We are honored to have you.

Speaker 1 (02:49):
I am very grateful there. Yeah, you're good man. I
appreciate it.

Speaker 2 (02:52):
There you go. Now we're right now. Don't be flexing
this ship. You ain't gotta you.

Speaker 1 (02:55):
Know, you gotta tell you know you rubbing it in
and giving niggas that the four.

Speaker 2 (03:00):
I don't know if all that so if I'm start
to move that what it is.

Speaker 1 (03:06):
I just want to say, man, what an honor and
a pleasure it is to be on your platform. And uh,
I think we live in a world right now, sadly
where black culture specifically, if we did a better job
in a department of giving the love and the respect
where it's due, we could all show up for each
other versus losing so much sleep over somebody else's gifts

(03:29):
and blessings.

Speaker 2 (03:29):
I want to just say to you, I appreciate that intro.

Speaker 1 (03:32):
It's a little uncomfortable to listen to my Wikipedia page,
but my brother, you are. You are doing it, and
I am not only proud of what you're doing, but
I'm proud of the pivots. You see, I came in
it like this, and I allow God to say this

(03:53):
and this and this, and so every time somebody laugh
at you when you're making the pivot, when God sends
you the vision, the idea to go do something else,
you get laughed at. People are making mockery because you know,
we love to put each other in the box. From
the NFL what you're trying to do, and here you
are breaking the internet with every interview. And I know,

(04:14):
Kat William is gonna be a tough act to follow.
And I'm not here to say nothing crazy or controversial.

Speaker 2 (04:20):
I'm gonna say some shit, but.

Speaker 1 (04:23):
I just want to tell you that I'm very proud
of you. And I appreciate you considering that moisture because
I wasn't gonna make it through this interview with ashy arms.

Speaker 2 (04:34):
The whole goddamn interview. But I'm here.

Speaker 5 (04:40):
We are.

Speaker 1 (04:40):
Listen, We've been in this black skin for a long time. Yeah,
light skin and white people they don't understand that the
moment you step out the shower, you put the lotion on.

Speaker 2 (04:49):
Damn.

Speaker 1 (04:50):
An hour later you're ashy. He put some more lotion
on your ashy again.

Speaker 4 (04:54):
So I just need to get some of that what
you got, because I knew I feel better right now.

Speaker 2 (04:58):
This moisture baby got you, man, little little little glistening,
not much. Yeah, there, you got to feel good. I'm
honored to be here, man, thank you.

Speaker 5 (05:06):
I appreciate that.

Speaker 1 (05:07):
Yes, sir, all right, well now you got Coca Cola.
I appreciate that.

Speaker 5 (05:12):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (05:13):
I don't drink as much as i'd like to.

Speaker 5 (05:15):
Uh uh wow.

Speaker 2 (05:18):
That's a real situation right there.

Speaker 1 (05:20):
But I'm going to do this, and I'm gonna still
hear the glass to celebrate. I'm not gonna talk about
the greatness of a black man. I'm gonna talk to
the greatness of a black man. Cheers to you, sir.

Speaker 5 (05:31):
I appreciate it.

Speaker 2 (05:32):
So proud of you.

Speaker 1 (05:33):
Man flying and keep killing it, keep using your stage
and your platform to bless us all man cheers to you,
mo bro. That Coca Cola kind of strong and it
is been a while since I had Hey, this is
a Coca Cola Product's many made apple juice.

Speaker 2 (05:48):
That's all in the family.

Speaker 4 (05:52):
Tell us how the Coca Cola commercial came about? Did
you audition for.

Speaker 2 (05:55):
It or a flower?

Speaker 1 (05:59):
So my music teacher rest in peace, name is Reggie Andrews,
and I was at school that day that week and
he got a phone call that they were doing a
national audition and like five different parts of the states

(06:23):
like DC, you know, Philly, Atlanta, that they were looking
for this face, this fresh face for the co commercial.
And they called my school because my school was known
for the performing arts. I went to Locke High School,
Lock graduated in ninety six.

Speaker 2 (06:42):
I'm old. I'm forty five, but I look seventeen. You
see what I'm saying.

Speaker 1 (06:47):
I just got off the bus. So so yeah, they
called my high school and said that they were looking
for a male black sixteen through eighteen. My music teacher,
who's also a legend, named Reggie Andrews. He wrote all
the hits for the dads man Whip It Baby, So

(07:07):
you know, the horn section of Earth Winding Fire came
from my school, Gerald Albright rest in peace to the
drummer Michael Jackson. Drun of his drummer's name, Indogo Chancellor
all came from my school, Patrise Rushing, famous piano player.
So we were kind of on that list of schools
that if you want some talented people, call Lock High School.

(07:32):
And what a blessing it was, you know, I think
my music teacher had to shut down the music department.
I mean I was broken and broke. My stomach was
touching my ribs. I didn't have a car, didn't have
a ride. There was no way I was getting on
the bus, especially with a transfer, because it was like
close to downtown LA and I was living in Watts

(07:54):
South central LA. So he literally had to work a
full day a school and he ended up taking me
to this audition and I was three hours late. And
the only reason that the woman wasn't gone is because
her ride was stuck in traffic, so she had her
bags all packed up. Her name is Tony. I'm still

(08:17):
in touch with her.

Speaker 2 (08:18):
To this day.

Speaker 1 (08:19):
And she said, I'm so sorry, the auditions are over,
and I begged her, shay, I beg I said, ma'am,
I got here as soon as I can. I'm so sorry,
I'm late. Is there any way that I can audition?
And she said, I'm sorry, blah blah blah. We kind
of went back and forth for like five minutes. I

(08:40):
charmed her, and then she said, okay, okay, okay, just
you know, warm up over there. I started singing. So
she started pulling her equipment out faster.

Speaker 5 (08:52):
Oh okay, okay, you're feeling good.

Speaker 1 (08:54):
She's feeling good about whatever she's hearing from the little
black dude with the big teeth.

Speaker 2 (08:59):
So she gave me some headphone.

Speaker 1 (09:02):
She put the shirt on me that I wore in
the commercial, and I just went down and sung a
bunch of R and B songs and then she said
to me, you know, start singing anything about Coca cola.
So I'm just kind of freestyling. And I had no idea.

(09:24):
I've never done a commercial or an audition ever in
my life. Don't come from a family of entertainers, no agents,
no managers. Doesn't matter what kind of singing I was doing.
I was just another regular nigga in the hood singing.
So when we did the audition and we got the callback,
didn't even know what it meant. That's how completely green

(09:49):
and oblivious I was about the process of trying to
get on. And so we got the call back. Then
they made me kind of audition again, and then we
got the call back that I booked it.

Speaker 2 (10:04):
Wow, And so I'll never forget.

Speaker 1 (10:07):
I was in watts born and raised in WI was
martin Luther King Hospital, seventy eight. I remember what street
I was on, Parmalley Avenue. I ran up and down
the street, screaming and yelling. Did not know what my
life would be, did not know what God was up to,
what he was gonna do.

Speaker 2 (10:25):
I actually had two.

Speaker 1 (10:26):
Things in mind. I wanted to know, for the first
time ever, what having over one hundred dollars in my
pocket would be. And there was this girl who lived
at the end of my street. She had a mean
ass daddy named Steve, and I was flirting with his
daughter for months, trying to get her phone number.

Speaker 2 (10:47):
And that's all I wanted from the audition.

Speaker 1 (10:49):
From the Kokumer, I was like, i'm'a finally get one
hundred dollars and hopefully I'm gonna finally get this girl's number.

Speaker 2 (10:55):
So, as you can imagine, almost.

Speaker 1 (10:57):
Thirty years later, everything about my life literally feels like
Christmas to this day, like I'm sitting there with you, bro,
like I'm a huge fan of you as an NFL
star and on air personality Club Chay Shay, and so
every day I allow myself to enjoy the gifts, the
unexpected gifts.

Speaker 2 (11:17):
They're all the stuff that comes with it too. You
deal with I deal with it.

Speaker 1 (11:20):
But every day feels like Christmas because when I first
got on, I was waiting on the shooter drop. I
was waiting on someone to say, okay, let me get
that glass slipper back. My life felt like the prom.
Right you went to the prom, right went to the prom.

Speaker 2 (11:38):
So we get a limousine for eight hours.

Speaker 1 (11:41):
We got on our best suit, we got our girl,
we got our little you know, and we going big.

Speaker 2 (11:45):
We got the sun roof.

Speaker 1 (11:46):
But at some point you know that that damn limousine's
got to go back. That's what my life felt like
when I first got on. So I've been in a
limousine for thirty years, Sir, I can't believe it.

Speaker 4 (11:58):
Was that your aspiration to be a professional singer. What
did you did you sing in the choir? Did you
sing at talent shows? When did you know you could sing?

Speaker 1 (12:07):
I started singing at fourteen, that's late. I'm forty five.
I did the co commercial when I was sixteen, and
I wanted two things one hundred dollars that phone.

Speaker 5 (12:25):
Up and that phone up? Which one did you want worse?

Speaker 2 (12:28):
I wanted both, but all things being equal.

Speaker 4 (12:32):
If you could just get that phone numb and not
the one hundred dollars, would you have been straight?

Speaker 2 (12:36):
I wanted both cause I'm being honest with you, man,
I want them both.

Speaker 1 (12:40):
I was really like, man, I really hope this girl
see this commercial and decide to give me her phone numb.
I got the phone number occasionally, and then her father
called us sneaking on the phone one night, and she
got She was a punishment.

Speaker 2 (12:54):
But then by the time you know, we got to
the other side of that whole, you know, I had
our at that point.

Speaker 4 (13:00):
So so all of a sudden, you weren't as interested
as you originally worked.

Speaker 1 (13:04):
Listen, man, the line got along rolling decks, you know
what I mean. So it was it was beautiful, and
I said to her, man, I gave you all the
shot in the world. Man, I was just readily available,
all these teeth, all this dark skin. I'm right here,
and you ain't give me a shot. And now you

(13:24):
want to give me some attention. It's too late.

Speaker 4 (13:29):
After that commercial, you started modeling, ar Talmmy, He'll figure
you did. Guess you signed a recording contract. Now all
of this is starting to happen. Yep, instantaneous life changing.

Speaker 2 (13:41):
You're not Tyrese Gibson. You're Tyrese one name now I.

Speaker 5 (13:45):
Am How did how did that?

Speaker 2 (13:47):
How did that change?

Speaker 4 (13:49):
You're from watch South Central and now they see everybody
in the hood and neighborhood, they see you on television.

Speaker 5 (13:55):
That commercial came on in an hour and an hour.

Speaker 4 (13:58):
It came on at least three times, so that's how
many times they saw you continuously.

Speaker 5 (14:03):
How different was your life?

Speaker 1 (14:05):
My life changed forever and it's never been the same
ever since. I mean we've been talking for longer than
thirty seconds. Other people have the luxury of saying you
got your five minutes of fame. Five minutes of fame
would have been like five hours. In my world, I
had thirty seconds. And if you don't know the Lord

(14:32):
Jesus Christ, and you don't understand the power of what
God has in mind for you versus your small limited
scope of thinking.

Speaker 2 (14:44):
There was no visions, There was no idea.

Speaker 1 (14:46):
My mama's not glad As Knight, Anita Baker, my mama's
not Patty LaBelle where I'm a young singer being raised
by a singer.

Speaker 2 (14:56):
My daddy is not Marvin.

Speaker 1 (14:58):
Gaye, Teddy Pendergrass, Luther Vandros. I did not grow up
in a household with someone in the business so that
they can get get give me a peek into what's
possible before I did it. I'm not an NFL legend
raising an NFL son child star. You know, there was
no sign and indication whatsoever that I would be here.

Speaker 4 (15:21):
Was there anybody in your neighborhood that you could look to,
because you know, sometimes you know entertainers, they would come
somebody from your school or from your neighborhood would come
back and you can see them.

Speaker 2 (15:31):
You're like, oh, he from here.

Speaker 4 (15:33):
Well, if he from here and left and went and
did that, I can be from here and leave and
go do that. Also, was there anybody for you to
look to that says, you know what I can be bad?

Speaker 1 (15:43):
No, sir, all I had was the list of people
that I mentioned that graduated from my high school, right,
and I'm trying to think of well, a few of
them came back to speak with us at this school,
but they didn't take me with them. I didn't go

(16:05):
to none of they concerts. They didn't say come to
the studio. It did not go beyond the scope of
an appearance at the school to say we are alumnized,
and we graduated, and this is what we are, what
we've been. I mean, we're talking about Gerald Albright saxophone,
but like I mean another legend that you know, some

(16:27):
of y'all folks would be like, who is that Ricky
Minor basica player, the Blase guitar player, all the Grammys,
all the award shows, the most famous music director in
the game. He went to my high school and I
run into Ricky Minor. To this day, he'll tell you
he'd probably be very embarrassed if I tell this story.

(16:50):
But way back in the day, forgot what year it was,
but we had a massive earthquake. This is when the
Golden State Bridge and everything knockdown the Bay.

Speaker 2 (16:58):
Yeah, yeah, it was huge.

Speaker 5 (16:59):
Right.

Speaker 1 (17:00):
So when my house got flooded, Uh, and we was
out here trying to milk fema.

Speaker 5 (17:10):
I don't know this statute limitation definitely.

Speaker 3 (17:12):
No.

Speaker 1 (17:15):
Look, we're gonna go ahead and put some of these
clothes and it's got their water.

Speaker 2 (17:22):
We're gonna go turn the goddamn water falls on moment. Ship,
We're gonna flood this out. This house wasn't even flood
We're gonna flood this guy.

Speaker 1 (17:30):
They out here handing out free money for people out
here that's dealing with flooding.

Speaker 2 (17:34):
Ship, We're gonna get this guy.

Speaker 1 (17:36):
There were flooding now got there, goddamn underway on the
floor and flood them draws.

Speaker 5 (17:41):
Got there.

Speaker 2 (17:42):
Uh.

Speaker 5 (17:45):
So you know, we were.

Speaker 2 (17:46):
Out here trying to get this young fema.

Speaker 1 (17:49):
Uh and and uh. I called Ricky Minor literally uh
at the time, it was the most money I e
was seeing in my life. We me and Ricky Minor
exchange numbers. Please don't be offended by be telling you
this people, this story. Ricky, I love you. I just
want people to know how big your heart is. I

(18:10):
called Ricky Minor and I said, look, this is the situation.
And it was true. We was messed up. We was
you know, the house had damage. You know, we told
the FEMA niggas it was flooding, but I couldn't tell,
couldn't tell, couldn't tell Ricky, you know, but Ricky is
a little rough and and you know, I don't know

(18:33):
what you can do to help me out. But you know,
school is starting in three weeks and mama's out here
trying to figure it out like everybody else that's dealing
with the trauma of this earthquake. And Ricky sent me.
Ricky sent me seven hundred dollars FedEx. Never forget. I

(18:53):
could not believe this is before the co commercial brother.
He sent me that money.

Speaker 4 (19:00):
When you look at the fed X guy wasn't trying
to get some of that feemal money too, because he
got the cash.

Speaker 1 (19:03):
Up that fat Ex nigga would have called five piece
and a biscuit. Because I knew the money was coming,
I was outside waiting on net. That was also my
first faed Ex delivery.

Speaker 2 (19:14):
He said fair eggs.

Speaker 1 (19:15):
I ain't know what it was, so he said it's
gonna be at your door by blah blah blah.

Speaker 2 (19:22):
On this date.

Speaker 1 (19:23):
Shit, I was outside, I think I missed school a
couple of days waiting on that fair ex man to
pull up.

Speaker 2 (19:28):
So I got that package.

Speaker 1 (19:30):
It was it was seven hundred dollars man, and I
went and bought all my clothes and school supplies.

Speaker 2 (19:36):
I even bought stuff from my brothers and sisters.

Speaker 1 (19:39):
Man.

Speaker 2 (19:39):
I went grocery shopping, put food in the.

Speaker 1 (19:41):
House, and uh man, when I when I finally made
some money, I literally gave Ricky.

Speaker 2 (19:48):
I gave him ten x that amount.

Speaker 1 (19:52):
Wow, And he was offended again, like, come on, man,
I didn't do that to try. I said, Ricky, you're
gonna take this money and you're gonna understand what you
did for me, and you're gonna understand how grateful I am.
You might not need it, you might feel a way
about me trying to give it back, but.

Speaker 2 (20:11):
I was very blessed.

Speaker 1 (20:12):
So every time I go to an Oscar party or
pre Grammy party or any award show, I see that
man standing on that stage with that bass guitar, directing
that band, and we always have a moment where I
go because that man showed up for my dreams and
then showed up for my family in a real way.

Speaker 2 (20:30):
After that major earthquake.

Speaker 4 (20:32):
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Speaker 4 (21:45):
What did you want to do prior do you start
singing at fourteen?

Speaker 5 (21:48):
What was your dreams? What were your ambitions?

Speaker 4 (21:50):
What did Tyreechs want to do when he was twenty one,
when he was twenty five, when he was thirty.

Speaker 2 (21:57):
Live? That's it. It's all of 'em.

Speaker 1 (22:02):
S sh you on watts, crips, bloods, gangsters, police, murder,
excessive force, prostitution, heroin, crack, the whole list.

Speaker 2 (22:16):
That was my life see in the hood.

Speaker 1 (22:19):
But I want y'all to understand, Uh, for you folks
that don't know nothing about the hood, you ain't gotta
be crippling in blood and to get killed me bruh.
You gotta be out here selling dope, selling weeds, selling
whatever you selling, and you go and try and sell
in the wrong neighborhood or in the wrong territory, and
niggas come through and lay lay lay you out. No, sir,

(22:42):
I had to walk through at least twelve hoods to
get from my house to where my school was going
through Black and Mexican gangs, crips, bloods.

Speaker 2 (22:54):
I'm just trying to go to school.

Speaker 1 (22:55):
I don't know if anybody wanna take my shoes, take
whatever it is I got on. I don't know if
somebody just want to fuck me up, beat me up
just because it's a Wednesday. So ain't nobody thinking about
the future. I wasn't no dreamer. I think some of
y'all niggas is running way too running gamut. I was
a dreamer. I wasn't no dreamer. I was hoping I

(23:17):
didn't get killed, broh. I was hoping that these crips
and bloods didn't decide that today was my day to
see my last birthdate. That's what my life was. And Watts,
So it wasn't no twenty one, wasn't no tomorrow with
me the gold because I'm playing basketball. I'll never forget

(23:38):
one of my homies named Scott Watts, one of the
most talented niggas period in basketball, used to kill niggas
at Rial Rogers Park. Shout out to all my niggas
a watch. I'm being real right now. Sorry, it's club
Shay Shape, my nigga. Scott Man. Long before we knew

(23:58):
about a Michael Jordan Man. Scott was out here from
the half court. Scott ain't had a crip of blood,
a dope or marijuana, a gang bang Scott. I don't
even I don't even think Scott had a crip walk
in him.

Speaker 2 (24:14):
Scott got killed.

Speaker 5 (24:15):
Bro.

Speaker 1 (24:17):
So we playing basketball on a Wednesday, and now we're
washing cars and doing a fundraiser trying to raise money
for Scott. Scott ain't hurt nobody. Scott ain't bothering nobody.
Why is Scott dead. That's where I come from. That's
where I'm from.

Speaker 5 (24:35):
This is all this.

Speaker 1 (24:38):
Movie stars shit and everything you just mentioned on their resume.
When I tell you, it's hard to listen. I'm grateful
about my life, but when I tell you all of
that still sounds foreign to me. It's because in the
reality of my life, I feel like that's still fresh.
So it's been kind of hard to like completely embrace

(25:03):
all that God has done and still doing, because you know,
every time I get hungry, I'm reminded of where I'm from.
Every time the credit card declined. If I'm just randomly
at a restaurant. Now, I'm doing all right, but sometime
your shit just declined because some shit just happened. You be,
you go to chick fromlate, then you'd be like, yeah,

(25:24):
you go ahead, you know, put all the decline and
you like, holy shit, you know, let me call the
bank because I don't know what just happened. They clear
it all up, and then it goes through. And that
reminder that broke is very real. It's very here starving
and living on the edge and not understanding what might

(25:46):
happen today.

Speaker 2 (25:49):
People are still in that right now, Yes, for sure.

Speaker 1 (25:52):
Right they ain't got nothing to do with waking up
every day and saying I am a bad person with
ill will and bad intentions.

Speaker 2 (26:00):
But bad things still happen, and.

Speaker 1 (26:03):
You go to church, you love Jesus, you ain't doing
none of that stuff.

Speaker 2 (26:10):
Still can get shot and killed when you're living in
the hood.

Speaker 4 (26:12):
Bro I got a two part question for you, Yes, sir,
how did you handle fame as a kid and what
advice would you give now that you've gone through what
maybe some of these young kids are having the fame
that they're starting to come into, say, as a teenager,
how did you handle it? And what advice would you
give them?

Speaker 2 (26:33):
Club Shaysha, I'm having a moment his brother right here.

Speaker 5 (26:38):
With them, Oily.

Speaker 2 (26:39):
All that was deep, that nigga deep right there. But
see you could have you know what's wrong?

Speaker 1 (26:46):
He ain't even send me the questions for the interview.
He ain't no pre interview. He just don't boom okay.
So so what I would say is, oh, thank you Jesus,
give me the words, because somebody is listening and either
they're about to stay with me God, they're about to
get the breakthrough is about to happen for them. And
there's other people that's experiencing the breakthrough right now as

(27:08):
we speak. This is what I would say, Thank you Jesus.
Your family has nothing to do with what God is
doing and about to do. You will be the first
millionaire in your family. How does your mama feel about

(27:28):
that you would be the first one to graduate? How
does your mama feel about that you will be the
first or the second or the third in your life
and your story to get into the NFL or the NBA,
or go to college and graduate from college. How do
the people in and around your life feel about what

(27:49):
God is doing for you? Individually. And I have to
say to all of the people watching, not just the kids,
but to everybody, as far is my understanding of DNA,
as far as my understanding of how this thing works.
When it comes to fingerprints, would you agree that your

(28:10):
momma and daddy created Shannon? Would you agree to mommy
and Daddy made you now? Would you also agree that
mommy and Daddy's fingerprints are very different than your fingerprints?

Speaker 2 (28:19):
Absolutely if you were.

Speaker 1 (28:20):
If mommy and Daddy were to do their fingerprints right now,
would the mommy and daddy co created Shannon?

Speaker 5 (28:27):
Yes?

Speaker 1 (28:28):
Did your fingerprint come out the same as mommy and Daddy?

Speaker 2 (28:31):
No?

Speaker 1 (28:31):
Okay, there's a lot of power in recognizing your individuality.
Your people, your family, your surroundings, your environment will try
and convince you that you are sheep. You're a pigeon,
You are like everybody else. Your uncle was a crip.
It ain't got to be a crypt. Shut up. Your

(28:51):
mama's a blood, your daddy's a blood. You grew up
in this. They selling dope, so I gotta sell dope.
They got the gun, so I gotta get the gun.
I gotta dressed the way they dress, and I gotta
look the way I'm sitting there with a whole You
see what I'm wearing. I'm an alpha male wearing a
full on outfit. Okay, head to toe that they wear

(29:14):
the Middle East. Okay, Jesus never wore shoes, He wore sandals.
You ain't never seen a photo or Jesus wearing a
pair of pants in your life. Recognize the power of
individuality and there's a lot of strength that you can find.
And recognizing the power of visuality, and you get away

(29:37):
from this is.

Speaker 2 (29:38):
What we're all doing, This is what we all.

Speaker 1 (29:40):
Wearing, this is what we all thinking, this is where
we're all going. Oh the fuck, We're not where I'm going.
I'm gonna get to a point where I'm gonna try
and hold onto as many familiar faces as I can.
Because familiar it's comfortable. But you realize where God is

(30:00):
about to take you. You ain't gonna be able to
look to the left, right and see nobody. Now, Shannon,
I love you. You got a lot of white people out
here behind these cameras. A lot of these people did
not grow up in your neighborhood. Correct, They ain't look
the way you look. So as God continue to elevate
you and take you to these other places and spaces.

(30:24):
It's going to continue to become and be more uncomfortable
and more unfamiliar, because nothing about God is familiar.

Speaker 2 (30:33):
We should be on. We should go to the rest
of our life trying to figure out who is God?
Who is this man?

Speaker 1 (30:38):
Why does God love me so much to have all
of this in mind for me? And why do I
feel so bad about embracing all that God is doing?

Speaker 2 (30:53):
So you have all of this in mind for me.
But I want to take all the homies.

Speaker 1 (30:58):
We grew up together, We fed each other, that, we
protected each other, this we that.

Speaker 2 (31:03):
Now they gonna make me out to be disloyal.

Speaker 1 (31:05):
Now they gonna make me out to be like, Oh,
once you got on, you know what I'm saying, You
turn your back on all your real niggas. Uh No,
I didn't. Some I can't understand what God is doing
and where I'm going. But something about oxygen. It's a
little thin.

Speaker 2 (31:24):
How you go up?

Speaker 1 (31:26):
You know, they say snakes can't snakes can't survive certain altitudes.

Speaker 2 (31:34):
That snake.

Speaker 1 (31:36):
You cut that grass lower in your life and the
snakes will be revealed. See some of y'all y'all are
keeping it so real. The grass is high. Loyal there's
an expiration date on loyalty. The grass is high. Soon
as you cut that grass in your life, the snakes
will reveal themselves. As soon as God does this and

(31:57):
start elevating you. Them snakes die, bro And I'm as
loyal as it gets. Most of the diggers who I
cut off will never tell you why they got cut
off because they still in the hood.

Speaker 2 (32:08):
They playing victim.

Speaker 1 (32:09):
They gonna tell everybody they mama their version of the story.
I got people around meeting. I've been rocked like one
of my homies in here right now. Kenyata, that brother
right there, that's my best friend since eight years old.
When I was hung, we broke fucked up. My mama
always drunk out of her mind. May God rest her soul.
Drunk out of her mind. Every level of dysfunction was

(32:32):
in my house, mentally, emotional, physical, psychological abuse.

Speaker 2 (32:36):
Drunk.

Speaker 1 (32:37):
That's a drunk drunk. So I love you, but I
don't even want to sit next to this bottle no more.
That's for you over there, sir. Alcoholis fucked my life up.
That's why I drank apple juice. I ain't never had
a drink in my life. I don't smoke, I don't drink.
Nothing about what I do every day is connected to
anything that I grew up in and around. And that

(32:58):
doesn't mean that I'm bigger and better.

Speaker 2 (32:59):
That's the other thing.

Speaker 1 (33:00):
So as soon as you recognize the power in your individuality,
you feel bad that you're different, but nothing God will
never do anything different in your life. Trying to say
the same as everything that you grew up in and
around your family has nothing to do with what God
is about to do for your career. So that's some
long advice for the sixteen year old, but I wanted

(33:22):
to get that over to the to the old heads too.
You know what I'm saying, Like you ain't too old
to get that breakthrough.

Speaker 5 (33:28):
You said something very interesting.

Speaker 4 (33:29):
You said, your parents, your family has nothing to do
with what God has planned for you.

Speaker 2 (33:36):
Do you believe that you grew up in a situation.
I didn't quite say that, but go ahead, but you.

Speaker 4 (33:41):
Say, okay, different, You said mom, Dad, different. They created
Shannon bringing Prince, but my finger print is nothing like that.

Speaker 2 (33:47):
Yes I am I'm speaking to.

Speaker 1 (33:51):
Don't I'm speaking to the power of individuality. And I'm
saying like, I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for
my mother and father coch create me.

Speaker 2 (34:00):
But my mind, my heart, the empathy.

Speaker 1 (34:05):
I'm an alpha EmPATH, big, big, big energy and personality,
but I feel and care for everything. So you say something,
you do something, you go through something. If you're in
a coma, likely when you open your eyes, it's gonna
be me standing over you. So I'm saying something about
me and where I'm from and the environment that I
grew up in created me and had me early on

(34:28):
to recognize the power of my own individuality. And I
stepped into that and that was very uncomfortable, because why
do niggas stay in the hood because you don't want
nobody to think you change? Well, motherfucker, I did.

Speaker 2 (34:43):
Change, and you wanted the people to know that you change.

Speaker 1 (34:46):
I changed, but I didn't change with any negativity on it.
I changed because God is in the changing business. God
don't keep nobody the same. Right that's self sabotaged, self defeat.
You are wearing that, doing that, thinking that your net
worth is that you living, that you drive, that your

(35:09):
hair look like that, your baby mama is that because
you have literally became a carbon copy of everything you knew,
and anything that's beyond the scope of what you grew
up believing, thinking, or that you were familiar with makes
you and everybody else uncomfortable.

Speaker 2 (35:28):
You see, That's what I was saying.

Speaker 4 (35:29):
Okay, you also said that you love You like to
carry people, and sometimes things get so heavy.

Speaker 5 (35:37):
That we can no longer carry them anymore.

Speaker 4 (35:39):
How difficult was it for you people that you know
that you grew up like you said, you grew up
around You saw these people and they became too hairy
for heavy for tyreth to carry. You have to set
them down.

Speaker 2 (35:51):
Yeah, that is a version.

Speaker 1 (35:54):
Loyalty has an expiration date, Like, hey man, I'm loyal.
You're gonna die if you hold on to everybody that
you showed up with. Like we're not talking about death specifically,

(36:21):
that too, everything that God is about to do and
he has in mind for you trying to hold on
to everything and everybody that's connected to your family, your friends,
your environment, it's going to die.

Speaker 2 (36:36):
So how does that make you feel?

Speaker 1 (36:40):
And so when I also say loyalty has an expiration day,
that means agents, managers, lawyers, people in business.

Speaker 2 (36:52):
We was good for the first seven.

Speaker 1 (36:54):
Years of us brainstorming and connecting about the vision. Now
every time I talk to you, buy some shit I see,
and I want to do and where I want to go.
We ain't really on the same page about where we're going.
So I don't wish any harm on anybody. You see

(37:14):
what I'm saying. Now, A lot of us we deal
with the pressure.

Speaker 2 (37:18):
Of the hood.

Speaker 1 (37:19):
All of my Let me make sure I'm being clear here,
all of my real niggas I grew up with from
day dot. There is nobody in the world more happy
for me than them. All the niggas running around talking
about you know, you got history and then you got
his story.

Speaker 2 (37:36):
Motherfucker. I didn't know.

Speaker 1 (37:37):
You, right, Okay, we take my hat off for a secon.
You running around showing niggas that picture with your little
roll up camera, a little flip phone. That is a
fucking lie. We did not grow up together. I don't
know you. I've never heard of you. And if you

(38:00):
send one more person to walk up to me like, hey,
you know a little nug nuck, No, no, sir, I
don't know a knuck or a knuck. Get your goofy
assthm in front of mirth man. He told me that
y'all ain't y'all.

Speaker 2 (38:15):
Used to be with bus.

Speaker 1 (38:16):
So you gotta sit through seven minutes to that shit
while you bumping gas because little Knuck Knuck has ran
through the hood for the last twenty five years, convincing
niggas that y'all grew up together, all my real niggas
that I grew up with for real, for real, no jealousy,
no envy. And if I ever have a problem, they say,

(38:37):
look here, bro, we love you.

Speaker 2 (38:39):
We know what you are.

Speaker 1 (38:41):
Know we told you off top that you different. They
didn't let here's the thing, gang banging.

Speaker 2 (38:46):
It's cool.

Speaker 1 (38:47):
They didn't let me bang. They didn't let me sell nothing.
They ain't let me get in it. I had a
big homy named dirt Bike.

Speaker 2 (38:54):
Fred.

Speaker 1 (38:55):
I was just on the phone with him three days ago.
He coming to my movie premiere for nineteen ninety two
with his wife. They've been together for forty years. Where
would I be without the big hommy dirt bike. Fred
I reach, come here, bro.

Speaker 2 (39:08):
What's going on? Bend over? He would take his timbling boot.
He ain't just do it to me.

Speaker 1 (39:14):
Anybody who's trying to get into that life and he
knew you ain't cut from that cloth. He'll literally say,
bend over and not with the not with the tippy toe,
because I wouldn't be able to have kids if he
gave a nigga to boot with the print, so he
would kick a nigga from the side by. Get your
ass out of here. Put that weed, damn nigga, put

(39:36):
that drink down. Put anything you doing. The big hummies,
and that's why all these young niggas out here lost. Now,
the big hummies don't understand.

Speaker 5 (39:44):
They roll true, that's real talk.

Speaker 1 (39:48):
You signing up more crips than you are college student,
that's the fucking problem. How many more young niggas you're
gonna sign up and teach him the game?

Speaker 2 (39:56):
Shit?

Speaker 1 (39:57):
The recruiting woods and quip recruitingness heavy set them up
for success. Man, use that same og status to set
us up. Because my big homie set me up for
success and said, if you thinking about doing this, been
your ass so boot they could kick my ass into

(40:21):
a billion dollars in the box office.

Speaker 4 (40:27):
Kyri's you spoke a little bit about your mom. You
said your mom was I don't want to put words
in your mouth when you said she was a drunk
I think.

Speaker 2 (40:34):
Alcoholic alcoholic sadly, yes.

Speaker 4 (40:37):
And your father you haven't spoken about him. What was
the relationship with your parents? What was your relationship like
with your parents?

Speaker 2 (40:43):
Well, my mother and father from Saint Louis.

Speaker 1 (40:46):
Okay, I'm the last child of four, the baby boy
for real. All three of my brothers and sisters were
conceived and born in Saint Louis. My mother and my
father got pregnant with me. I'm child number four. My
father says, we moving to la.

Speaker 5 (41:08):
You know.

Speaker 2 (41:09):
He do a little singing. He can. He get hit another.
So that's where you got it from. He hit a
note or two.

Speaker 1 (41:14):
He been telling the niggas hes gonna get a record
deal for the last sixty five years.

Speaker 2 (41:19):
You sit at your old as that, Hey man, I
love you, Pop, I love you.

Speaker 1 (41:26):
You know, look if that deal is coming, that motherfucker
being stuck in the iCloud for sixty eight years. But yeah,
my musical my musical talents come from my pops.

Speaker 2 (41:36):
And uh he's sang, he played the piano.

Speaker 1 (41:39):
He's he's a music guy and he's in Saint Louis
right now. So yeah, man, he basically told my mom's
with all three of their kids at the time. We
getting on the greyhound bus and we going to LA.
So you know, my mom was pregnant with me on
the greyhound went to LA and we ended up in
Watch and that's where she that's where I was born

(42:03):
Martin Luther King Hospital, Capcorn, December thirtieth, seventy eight. And
you know, right before my mom passed fast forward. She
passed two years ago and I'll never forget probably like
you know, five years before she passed, we had one

(42:26):
of them, one of them Mommy's son moments, right, and
she said, my mama was in a coma three different times,
and the third time she was in a coma was
when she finally passed because of pneumonia and COVID. And
when she woke up out of her second coma, I
just found myself becoming more intentional about spending time with

(42:48):
her because my childhood was a fucking nightmare. And I
think everybody know that because I've been very vocal and
I was spoken about it. So she said to me, uh,
when I gave birth to you, I knew you were special.
And I said, what does that mean? She never told
me this in her life. My mama was not the

(43:08):
best support system. She didn't say you can send your
ass off and you gonna be something. If anything, shut up,
bring big teeth, they could bring all bringy loud as hell,
and how it bringing that down? So there was no
family love and support. My mama didn't come to my
talent shows and wasn't on the front row chair, and
she wasn't a soccer mom at all the basketball games.

(43:30):
So I'm I'm I got this gift in this talent,
but when it comes to the validation in my house,
it was not there for me to understand I got something.

Speaker 2 (43:40):
So I'll never forget. Uh. She said, probably five years
before she was born. She said, you know, I knew
you were special when you were born.

Speaker 1 (43:50):
And she said, I got my tubes tied after you
because I knew that you were special.

Speaker 2 (43:59):
And I'm crying and shit.

Speaker 1 (44:03):
And and I'm like wow, you know, but I'm like, Mama,
tell me more, because she never said anything like this.
And then she says, she says, you know you got
you got movies in over two hundred countries, and you
got billions and billions. You have literally changed our family's life.

(44:25):
We have seen been the places and countries and cities
and met celebrities and entertainers. We didn't been some of
the best cars, and we didn't. We didn't been around things.
And nobody in our entire bloodline has ever seen, heard,
or experienced. And you're gonna live and die and not

(44:47):
be able to meet every fan of my baby boy
named Tyrese over two hundred languages, my films come out
and trans the two.

Speaker 2 (45:04):
And then she just walked off.

Speaker 1 (45:06):
That was whatever, Hello, will walk off? Just just left
me there. You know, we didn't talk much. But if
you give your mama or your daddy a chance that
you might dislike, if you give them a chance to talk,
they can drop drop a couple on you.

Speaker 4 (45:21):
How did that make you feel? She's saying this, and
you say this is five years before she passed. Yep,
did a party you wish like? Damn, Mom, if you
felt like this, why did you tell me when I
was five? Why didn't you tell me this when I
was ten, fifteen, twenty? Why are you just telling me?
Do you think she realized that that moment that obviously
she's you know, you'd say this was a second time

(45:41):
being on a call and she wakes up and she
tells you this. Do you think she all of a
sudden she started her mortality and she felt she needed
to get that off her chest. She's like, I need
to let him know what I actually think about him.

Speaker 2 (45:55):
No, I don't, I don't.

Speaker 1 (45:58):
I don't remember my mother ever having that type of
a time clock in her head. It was actually, and
I'm sure a lot of people can relate to this
when it comes to our parents or grandparents. There was
a particular arrogance about I ain't going nowhere right, So
you got Jesus and and and some people's relationship with

(46:21):
Jesus is abusive. I can drink what I want, do
what I want, go about my life in any way.
I won't rather I take my medicine for my blood
pressure is up, or I do this, or I do that.

Speaker 2 (46:34):
I got Jesus by my side. That's a tumor. You
have to go visit the doctor to get that taken
care of.

Speaker 1 (46:45):
Now, God isn't all knowing. God, You're gonna get you
through a lot. But we can't get arrogant with the
relationship with Jesus. Jesus is gonna get you through. And
Jesus has already decided before you was born. When the
first breath happens and when the last breath is gonna happen,
we have a responsibility to do the best we can.
But this one temple that we were giving, So my

(47:06):
mama was one of those like, I ain't going nowhere right,
and I ain't gotta stop drinking or go about eating
healthy and working out and doing anything, which is why,
you know, I'm still trying to shake that devil.

Speaker 5 (47:21):
You know.

Speaker 1 (47:21):
I praise God that I don't drink and I don't smoke,
and I don't do all the things that I don't
do that I mentioned. But yeah, shit, I just finished
eating the Chick fil A sandwich with double cheese. Okay,
my mama ate everything in sight. I was that guy
coming home. House smelled like the bottom of the earth

(47:42):
with them goddamn chitling's burning in there.

Speaker 2 (47:46):
You ain't enough red rooster hot sauce in.

Speaker 1 (47:48):
The world that could make me like these fucking smelly
ass porks chitlings.

Speaker 2 (47:52):
We eating pig guts?

Speaker 3 (47:56):
What is this?

Speaker 5 (47:57):
You know?

Speaker 1 (47:58):
Everything imagineable right, And to this day, man, I'm trying
to get my food and take together, you know, But.

Speaker 2 (48:06):
It's it's it's it's it's that thing.

Speaker 1 (48:09):
Man.

Speaker 2 (48:09):
We don't take care of ourselves.

Speaker 1 (48:11):
We don't really respect what might happen if we don't
properly visit the doctor, get your prostate, and do all
the things that we're supposed to do. You got a
lump in your chest and you just you think you're
gonna just rub it out.

Speaker 2 (48:30):
That's a lump.

Speaker 1 (48:31):
You can't put no goddamn vasilin a baby all on that.
You can't give niggas no cleavage and think that's gonna
get rid of breast cancer. Put some baby all on
your tail. Did that get rid of the cancer? No,
that's what. That's that's what. So my mama did not
have that type of urgency. I think something is about

(48:53):
to happen, So let me go in and drop this
on my son.

Speaker 2 (48:56):
No, sir, that didn't happen. What about your father?

Speaker 1 (49:02):
You know, as much as I knew about him, he's
still with us, God bless him.

Speaker 2 (49:06):
But I didn't know him.

Speaker 5 (49:08):
He wasn't he was.

Speaker 4 (49:09):
So how when you guys, okay, you get on the
great hoound bus. Your mom is pregnant with you.

Speaker 2 (49:14):
She's married to my father, married to your father.

Speaker 4 (49:16):
So did they separate shortly after you got there was
he in the house.

Speaker 1 (49:20):
No, no, no, I knew my father up till I
was about seven years old, you know, seven, maybe six,
maybe five, but at least it was early and I
knew him. I knew of him, and there was a
reoccurring visitation, but not really. So I was that kid

(49:41):
looking at other kids at the park like, noam, I
wish I had my daddy here pushing me on the swing.

Speaker 2 (49:46):
And I wish my daddy would would.

Speaker 1 (49:48):
Show up to the school and curse the teacher out
when when they, you know, disrespected me or treat me
wrong in the classroom. You know, all the stuff that
you want from a dad. You know, I think it's confusing.
We all love us a mama. We love us and mama.
Most of us grew up in a single parent household,
and Mama, Mama did it all. She was daddy, mama, uncle, grandfather.

(50:12):
She was the crypto, blood, the og, she was everything.
But listen, man, you cut off the head, the rest
of the body will follow. It's no it's no mistake
that we got four million black men in jail right now,
no mistake. So all these women out here who did
not plan on being the mother and the father. That's
just what it is. And I ain't got nothing to

(50:32):
do with cripplin blood. It's just a lot of a
lot of black men that just ain't around. They're dead,
gone or locked up. And so you got women out
here having to figure out, like how do I tap
into more of my masculine energy. When I'm a woman,
I'm the mama. I gotta be nurturing, caring. I gotta
do all the things that a mama do. But then

(50:53):
I gotta become a boy. I gotta be. I gotta
wear the pants, to wear the pants, even though I'm
sitting here with a.

Speaker 2 (51:04):
Islam outfit on and not quite painted.

Speaker 1 (51:09):
You mother like man anyway, shit, if a truth be told,
God damn it.

Speaker 2 (51:14):
My luggage got lost.

Speaker 1 (51:18):
All the shit that my publicist sent me to wear
for my press run.

Speaker 2 (51:21):
I I live in the atl I was like.

Speaker 5 (51:23):
Look ahead, man, all that shit.

Speaker 2 (51:25):
Luck that shit lost.

Speaker 1 (51:26):
So I'm going to put this together because I ain't canceling, Shannon,
I'm gone shit, ILU appreciate. This was the only thing
in my closet that I didn't have to iron, And
I was like, I'm gonna.

Speaker 2 (51:36):
Put this together now.

Speaker 1 (51:37):
If anybody can smell me, I got dressed so fast
I forgot to put the odor in on.

Speaker 2 (51:41):
So I do apologize. Keep your distance.

Speaker 1 (51:44):
Let's keep these hugs shortened brief because it's cracking underhill.

Speaker 2 (51:49):
I smelled myself got damn.

Speaker 4 (51:51):
You mentioned you born in nineteen seventy eight, graduated in
nineteen ninety six, But there was a big event that
happened in ninety two, the riots. You're fourteen, probably fourteen
at that point in time, and it's mac dab.

Speaker 2 (52:05):
Where you grew up at Watt, south Central LA.

Speaker 4 (52:09):
What do you remember about that situation and how did
it shape the way Tyres looked at the world.

Speaker 2 (52:17):
I was in Watts, I was in the riots. I
was scared.

Speaker 1 (52:30):
Everything about that boilerplate that we feel and live in
every single day that I've been mentioning throughout this interview,
it went up fifty notches because see, when you're born
in Wats in the year nineteen sixty five, my city
was only known for the Watts Riots, correct, and everything?

(52:55):
You know, you grow up in the hood, no matter
how young old you get, everybody's talking about if you're
in Minneapolis, why he's gonna be talking about George Floyd.
You can move Minneapolis right now. That's gonna be the
energy of Minneapolis. Forever you go to Memphis, Tennessee, you're
gonna feel the energy of the assassination of doctor Martin
Luther King. I was born into the rebellion. I was

(53:17):
born into strife, not just gang affiliation. I'm talking about
the nineteen sixty five riots where they had to send
doctor Martin Luther King Junior to Watts to try and
get use this black man to influence black and brown
culture to calm down, because we was burning that motherfucker now.
And so now I'm living and reliving what I've been

(53:40):
hearing about my whole life, from nineteen sixty five, before
I was born seventy eight, all the way up until
ninety two, all we was known for was the riots.
I didn't get on career wise until ninety eight. So
ninety two, April twenty ninth, it was a bad day.
Five six weeks before we seen the sunshine, clear sky,

(54:03):
smoke everywhere. It was ashes in every your neighborhood, your streets,
your houses, ashes. Because what goes up comes down when
they come to burning shit and looting.

Speaker 2 (54:14):
And rioting, and you know, I got me some shit, now.

Speaker 4 (54:20):
Man, Terry, you always looking for a come up on
the on the sneak tip.

Speaker 2 (54:24):
I got miss shit. Shn got me a couple of pieces.
I'm scared getting it, but I got it.

Speaker 4 (54:32):
You mentioned obviously the date is ingrained because you remember
April twenty ninth.

Speaker 5 (54:39):
You wake up that day.

Speaker 2 (54:40):
Did you expect it to pop off like it did?

Speaker 4 (54:44):
Could you tell it was starting to brood like, oh,
by goodness, this somebody, this, this thing is about to
explode here.

Speaker 2 (54:50):
Did you know that? Could you since that? Yeah? Yeah, yeah, yeah,
we knew. But we also knew that.

Speaker 1 (54:58):
Uh see, when you're from the hood, all of the
non hood niggas was.

Speaker 2 (55:02):
Was was was shocked. None of us was shocked.

Speaker 1 (55:06):
See y'all, y'all look at y'all, look at all of
the trauma of police brutality, murder, excessive force, planting drugs
and guns, and you know, all of that over the
top abuse. At ninety two, there was no body cam, sir,
There was no There was no cameras on the cars
of police dashcams. There was no dash cam. There was

(55:28):
no there was no Google Maps. It's before MySpace, black
planet dot com. You know, This is before the internet.
This was before anybody could have any sense of what
actually happened because you can pull out your actual camera
phone and film it.

Speaker 2 (55:50):
Some of us have been grown for so long.

Speaker 1 (55:52):
We forgot the brick phone in the hood with the
cord attached, with the first cell phone. We forgot the
beeper typing out one letter at a time that says
I love you or fuck you.

Speaker 2 (56:08):
We forgot about the beat beat, beat, beat beep, beat
beat beep. We forgot about that.

Speaker 1 (56:14):
So somebody rolled out of bed and seeing something going on,
grabbed a big ass camcorder, put it on their shoulder
and film the whole thing.

Speaker 2 (56:27):
Then that thing went crazy, set it off.

Speaker 1 (56:30):
That thing went crazy on the news because there was
no Instagram.

Speaker 4 (56:36):
Because that was the first time that we could actually
that was really the first time you could see it,
because for the longest time, no, im sir ahead.

Speaker 2 (56:44):
That wasn't the first time I could see it. I
see it every day.

Speaker 5 (56:47):
You saw it.

Speaker 2 (56:48):
But the world, the world seen what we see every day.

Speaker 4 (56:53):
And that's felt what they put into report though, ty Reese,
what they said versus what we were later able to see.

Speaker 2 (57:00):
I'm like, hold on, wait a minute, y'all didn't mention
any of this. That's not no either.

Speaker 1 (57:07):
That's what I'm saying this this hood shit, Well, how
you saying tell me something I don't know about. How
they that didn't happen that police report? What the fuck
is that? That's why when black people get out of
jail thirty years later and they try and give a
nigga half a million dollars, like a half a million

(57:27):
dollars is gonna fix thirty years of me living in
that hell hole because you lied on the police report.
You documented, You made sure that you looked right in
the light of the judge that's going to make a judgment.
In front of the jury, you planted that you did that.

(57:50):
And so nobody who lives in the hood is shocked
about anything that we're seeing play out. And the arrogance
of it all is that you would assume, black man,
that they gonna clean this shit up. Now that there's
so many people filming everything, you can't do nothing without
being filmed.

Speaker 5 (58:07):
Nothing.

Speaker 2 (58:08):
You slap the shit out of somebody at the front door.
They got the ring, can you'll slap is captured?

Speaker 1 (58:15):
Yes, you're steal a package Amazon, thinking that you could
just creep your goofy ass in the yard.

Speaker 2 (58:22):
Everybody gonna see you.

Speaker 1 (58:24):
Yep, you can't do nothing without it being filmed, and
they still fucking us up. Now, imagine how much of
an open season it was and has.

Speaker 2 (58:37):
Been since ninety two and prior to.

Speaker 1 (58:41):
Come on, who took a picture of that black man
hanging up in that tree?

Speaker 2 (58:48):
Damn, that's fucked up.

Speaker 1 (58:50):
What if nobody took that picture, nothing would be fucked up.
Your heart, your mind, your spirit is only affected by
the things you see, by the things you hear, the
things that.

Speaker 2 (59:04):
You're exposed to. I'm gonna give you all a word.

Speaker 1 (59:08):
Here's your word of the day, Boys and girls, coin
tail pro Let's move on.

Speaker 2 (59:14):
Go ahead.

Speaker 4 (59:16):
Your movie nineteen ninety two. It takes place during the
La Rise. Why do you feel it was important to
do this movie?

Speaker 1 (59:23):
It was important because I'm from there. It was important
because I lived at and experienced that. It was important
because the diversity that's in this film made me say, yes,
I ain't mak no money from this movie, but they
paid me.

Speaker 2 (59:42):
I'm making per diem.

Speaker 1 (59:47):
The statement was much bigger than the press release, the
opportunity or the payment. That's where I'm from This is
a story that happened that I live, that I experience,
even Snoop Dogg told me he was looting and riding
in the right. This is some shit that when you're
born and raised in South central LA, we know this.

Speaker 2 (01:00:11):
It was real.

Speaker 1 (01:00:12):
The younger generation, just like I from sixty five. You
hear the stories about ninety two because you are two thousand, baby,
So I experienced that same thing about something dark and
fucked up and traumatic that happened prior to me being born.
But I had to do this movie because we deserve

(01:00:37):
for our stories to be told. Now this might be
a little confusing to you, big hommy, but I'm gonna
give it to you. Nobody in Hollywood wanted to make
this movie. No streaming platform, no movie studio, nobody wanted
to make this movie. So they ended up securing the

(01:00:59):
money need to make this movie from a billionaire from overseas.

Speaker 2 (01:01:03):
We shot the movie in Bulgaria.

Speaker 1 (01:01:06):
All the warehouses had to do it at a budget,
and then we came and shot the rest of the
movie in Watts in South central LA and off of Crenshaw.
And then after we made the movie, nobody wanted to
buy the movie.

Speaker 2 (01:01:24):
After it was made.

Speaker 1 (01:01:27):
They ended up selling the movie at a film festival
and that's when Lionsgate picked it up.

Speaker 2 (01:01:34):
Then they said, the disrespect just kept going.

Speaker 1 (01:01:37):
This is long before I was involved, by the way, right,
so they couldn't get the movie made without me being attached,
or prior to me being attacked. We got Rayliota, a
legend who has already worked with our current director named
Aero Roman, who was in Israeli from Israel. So when
I'm speaking to diversity, I'm talking about find another Israeli

(01:01:59):
who directed us our Central LA film. So Raleiota, Aerial Roman,
Scott Eastwood, Dylan, it was my brother. He was just
in the Christopher Nolan film. Like, this is a heist movie.
This is not a movie about black people trying to
get some free shit, right, So the heist element made

(01:02:23):
me say yes.

Speaker 2 (01:02:25):
The South Central La made me say yes.

Speaker 1 (01:02:29):
And everything about the father son dynamic in the movie
made me say yes because Raleiota is the father to
Scott Eastwood and they toxic and dysfunction or the.

Speaker 2 (01:02:44):
Motherfucker throughout the movie.

Speaker 1 (01:02:46):
I'm dysfunctional and toxic with my son in the movie,
and so everything about those other elements is what made
me say, yes.

Speaker 4 (01:02:55):
How much influence did you have? Because do you believe
that in order to and people going like, no, that's
not true. Do you feel that you need to have
experienced right the riots in ninety two in order to
fully tell and explain the riots in ninety two?

Speaker 1 (01:03:14):
No, which is why we have a British actor who
played doctor Martin Luther King and Selma. You ain't gotta
be born and raised in Atlanta to do a movie
about an Atlanta topic. I'm an actor, so if I
don't know anything about this life, this world, this situation,

(01:03:38):
I mean, most niggas is out here looking goofy as
hell fifty years old wearing Marvel comic outfits. You don't
even wear that shit at home for your son's birthday.
But you got your goofy ass in that dad damn
movie standing there with your fake chest muscles and your
twelve abs. You ain't got them abs underneath that goddamn
cot too. But we we as actors, we have the

(01:04:02):
blessing and the gift, And that's no disrespect for Marvel
because I definitely want you all niggas to keep helping
me out love Marvel, which which eye do I wink
on anyway? So yeah, we as actors we get to
oh and I love it. I love it, Thank you Jesus.
We get to become. Leave it at that, We get

(01:04:28):
to become. That's what we love about Denzel. That's what
we love about Viola Davis. That's what we love about Ruby.

Speaker 2 (01:04:39):
D and.

Speaker 1 (01:04:42):
Sidney, Sidney Poitier. You know, this is what we love
about the giants of our world. We've seen them, Harry Bellaphone,
We've seen them reinvent themselves over and over and over again.
Then John Singleton's got a spot. Then the Spike Lees

(01:05:04):
got a spot. That helped set up the Ava Duvene's
and the Antoine Fouquas and the f Gary Grays.

Speaker 2 (01:05:12):
We did that. We become Denzel became Malcolm X and
killed it. I'm talking about Jesus.

Speaker 1 (01:05:29):
I became an actor, which Denzel Washington. If you see
this movie, I don't feel like I've made it and
I'm not successful until I do a movie with you, Sir.

Speaker 2 (01:05:45):
Denzel Washington.

Speaker 1 (01:05:48):
I don't feel successful and I don't feel like I've
made it as an actor until I do a movie
with you, because you are the reason I decided to
become an actor. It wasn't John Singleton. He tried to
talk me in it seven years. He tried to put
me in the movie. Shaft told him no. He wrote

(01:06:09):
the movie Baby Boy for Tupac, not for me. But
after I seen Denzel Washington's performance in the movie The Hurricane,
I was in my living room with my dusty ass
VCR and I was reenacting all of the scenes from

(01:06:31):
that movie in my living room, and that's when I
knew I was ready to become an actor.

Speaker 4 (01:06:36):
You mentioned Snoop Dogg executive produced this movie nineteen ninety two,
and I don't think anybody has had.

Speaker 5 (01:06:44):
The guy.

Speaker 2 (01:06:45):
He can't go anywhere. And I can honestly say this.

Speaker 4 (01:06:47):
I've known Snoop over thirty years, and I've been around
a lot of people. I've never heard anbody say anything
bad about Snoop, but a guy that's been able to
change the narrative about himself. There's not a room that
Snoop can go walk. I mean, from Martha Stewart to
it like he's on the Olympics and the coverage is
going crazy because everybody loves Snoop. What's some of the

(01:07:09):
advice that Snoop is giving usually like the homie he knows.
I mean, what he went through was on trial and
to come out of that on the other side with
flying colors, someone lost their life. Sorry by fact, but
Snoop the metamorphosis that he's gone through. When you sit

(01:07:31):
down and talk to him from a business perspective, what
a Snoop talk to Tyree's about.

Speaker 1 (01:07:38):
Stop is a genius, he Snoop is. Can I ask
you a question, sure, who's a bigger rapper.

Speaker 2 (01:07:47):
Globally?

Speaker 1 (01:07:49):
The most famous of the two? Jay Z or Snoop
Dogg in your opinion.

Speaker 2 (01:07:53):
Globally around the world?

Speaker 1 (01:07:56):
Like if jay Z and Snoop Dogg was in a
moll in Moscow, who would shut them all down? Like,
I'm mnna have to go Snoop honestly, Okay, biggest rapper
in the world. We're not talking about Grammys because he
ain't won one yet. Biggest fucking superstar in the world.
That's my big hemy Long Beach West Coast. I wish

(01:08:23):
you know what I'm saying. Yeah, big onmy man, big Onmie,
Snoop Dogg man, biggest, biggest in the game. Man shit
Snoop might be announcing here a billionaire soon.

Speaker 5 (01:08:31):
I wouldn't be surprised.

Speaker 2 (01:08:32):
He shouldn't be. The nigga owned seven hundred and thirty
two businesses. Fuck you me, that bother FuG a weak up, and.

Speaker 1 (01:08:40):
His emails and notifications hit different brother. He just hosted
the Olympics and came home with sixteen million new followers,
sixteen of them.

Speaker 2 (01:08:51):
He did that in two weeks.

Speaker 1 (01:08:54):
Snoop Dogg being on board with this nineteen ninety two
movie changed everything about Listen Man. We did one hundred
million trailer views. Bro Wow, Okay, this is straight to DVD,
straight to streaming. So they thought nineteen ninety two, Bro February,
that movie was supposed to drop on the world. I

(01:09:16):
asked them, can y'all push this thing back? Can you
give me a shot? Can you give me an opportunity
at trying to create some energy around this film so
we can get it to the theater, so we can
get some more pressing energy and get the word out.
I brought Snoop on board as a producer. We posted
that trailer. It broke the internet and did over one

(01:09:36):
hundred million views. We go from no premiere, no soundtrack,
no press junket at my own club Sha Sha Right now,
this club Sha Shae.

Speaker 2 (01:09:49):
This is club motherfucker Sha Sha.

Speaker 1 (01:09:51):
We ain't doing Club shap Shape because shahe wanted to
interview me.

Speaker 2 (01:09:54):
We doing Club schach Shae.

Speaker 1 (01:09:55):
Because of nineteen ninety two, there was no budget to
do a press chunk and not one single interview was
connected to this movie. See I am walking, Leave, I
am let me get my worries records.

Speaker 2 (01:10:12):
This is all for God.

Speaker 1 (01:10:13):
I am the walking, living, breathing manifestation of favor. Because
you listen, I can't explain what God is to me.
Wait in line, I said thirty seconds approaching thirty years.
You know how many commercials have been famous, even the

(01:10:36):
nigga with the the Deodoran commercial. Okay, where's his ten
billion in the box office? Where's his record deal? Where's
his acting career? If we're winning the popularity contest doing commercials,
then why it didn't have it? Everybody, don't disrespect my hustle, motherfuckers.
I'm grinding and hustling. I'm getting that turning over all

(01:11:01):
the rocks. This is not just lazy with favor. This
is oh my God. Now that God then gave me this,
I'm gonna have to. I'm gonna have to figure out
what the pivots are. I'm not a dreamer, okay, I'm
not worried about next week. I got plans, I got visions.

(01:11:23):
I dream with my eyes open.

Speaker 2 (01:11:27):
What's that. Did you come up with the idea to
open up an alcohol.

Speaker 1 (01:11:31):
Company before or did you see somebody else do it?
And then you said, man, as soon as I can
do it out. You got your own name, you got
your own taste, you got your own look of your bottle.
But are you the first black man to release a
brown liquor?

Speaker 2 (01:11:44):
No?

Speaker 1 (01:11:45):
Okay, so you've seen somebody else do it, and so
you dream with your eyes open, and you did whatever
it takes to hustle your way into that, and then
you got that. That's why I was sitting on the table,
and that's why this motherfucker apple juice is sitting there too.
So we are technically experiencing every single day.

Speaker 2 (01:12:03):
Visions and ideas are physical. You mean, if.

Speaker 1 (01:12:08):
Someone had kept this chair that we're sitting on right now,
it's ugly ass. Just chair is ugly, And I'm mad
as hell that you didn't invite me to the real club.

Speaker 2 (01:12:16):
Chase Shade with the leather chairs and all that. Like,
am I what am I? Am I less than Cat Williams?

Speaker 5 (01:12:22):
That's a that's a LA, that's l A.

Speaker 4 (01:12:24):
And I came to you, they say, Tyrens will do
he want to sit down the club Chase Shade, But
you got to come to Atlanta. So I came down
here just to see you.

Speaker 2 (01:12:32):
That's bullshit where you located at.

Speaker 5 (01:12:35):
I'm in LA.

Speaker 2 (01:12:37):
I'm in LA, they say, So you're.

Speaker 1 (01:12:39):
Telling me them leather couches that Cat Williams said on
and all of your other stars is in l A
l A.

Speaker 2 (01:12:46):
And we over here sitting on this.

Speaker 5 (01:12:48):
In Atlanta, your hometown, your new home.

Speaker 1 (01:12:51):
Now, okay, Well, the point I was making was The
point I was making was is that ideas are physical.
And uh, if you have visions and ideas and it's
so clear and it's so specific, and you decide to
rob the world of getting that idea out, it ain't
gonna be sitting on the table. And if these chairs

(01:13:12):
that we're sitting on, even though I don't like them,
compared to the club Shad Shade chairs, that shit. I
was looking for it. I put an outfit on together.
I was like, shit, nigga, Hey, this this motherfucker black
outfit right here with that brown couch. Shit, it's gonna
have a vibe. Nigga, I was shit. You think I'm
about to wear brown? Sit on the brown couch? No serve,

(01:13:32):
But this chair right here that we sitting on. If
they had kept this vision and this idea in their minds,
we fall on the floor.

Speaker 2 (01:13:41):
Did you design them glasses you wearing?

Speaker 1 (01:13:43):
No?

Speaker 2 (01:13:43):
Did you design the T shirt you got no? Did
you design the necklace you wear?

Speaker 5 (01:13:47):
No?

Speaker 2 (01:13:47):
How about that watch?

Speaker 5 (01:13:49):
No?

Speaker 2 (01:13:50):
How about the cards?

Speaker 5 (01:13:53):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (01:13:54):
Somebody printed those out right.

Speaker 1 (01:13:55):
So if they didn't have a that's your logo and
all that.

Speaker 2 (01:14:00):
You should put it. Wait, let me see that again.
Can we get some lotion in here for sha your
motherfucking logo? Ashy? I'm just looking at it. She didn't
look a little ashy man.

Speaker 5 (01:14:20):
Yeah, you got to shout.

Speaker 1 (01:14:23):
So the point is, uh, we should go to the
rest of our life getting that book out, writing that script,
moving on those visions and ideas, implementing all that God
has bouncing.

Speaker 2 (01:14:38):
What's keeping you up at night?

Speaker 1 (01:14:42):
And if you think you're gonna be able to talk
to your friends, your broke ass family friends, homies and
they're gonna share in that same joy and energy that
you have about what you see and what you want
and what you envision for your life. You're gonna be
fucked up for the rest of your life just like them.

Speaker 2 (01:15:00):
Wow.

Speaker 1 (01:15:01):
Sometimes you gotta bless somebody from saying, y'all niggas don't
see what I see with what God is doing and
about to do. But I'm gonna show you one day
because if I talk to you about my visions and
my dreams, you're gonna laugh at me. You're gonna try
and talk me out of it. And if you talk
me out of it, then I can't come back to
that same hood and change the hood.

Speaker 4 (01:15:23):
This concludes the first half of my conversation. Part two
is also posted and you can access it to whichever
podcast platform you just listen to Part one on. Just
simply go back to club profile and I'll see you there.