Latest / The Steve Harvey Morning Show / Chris Lee discusses his career in the Broadway musical “Hamilton,” Showtime’s “The Chi,” and a regular on The CW series “Legacies.”

Transcript

Chris Lee discusses his career in the Broadway musical “Hamilton,” Showtime’s “The Chi,” and a regular on The CW series “Legacies.” · The Steve Harvey Morning Show

0:06
Speaker 1: Welcome to Money Making Conversation. I am your host, Rashaan McDonald.
0:10
Speaker 1: It's time to stop reading other people's success story. You
0:12
Speaker 1: hear me, Stop reading other people's success story and start
0:15
Speaker 1: writing your own. I always tell people leave with your gifts.
0:18
Speaker 1: That was what's the gift? Since your passion, your skilled
0:20
Speaker 1: and may be physical, might be mental, might be an inspiration,
0:23
Speaker 1: might be your faith. But know this, don't let your age, friends, family,
0:27
Speaker 1: or coworkers stop you from planning or living your dream.
0:31
Speaker 1: My interviews that I have on Money Making Conversations provide
0:33
Speaker 1: the consuming business down the access to celebrities. That's who
0:36
Speaker 1: I'm about the interview next. He's an entrepreneur, he's a CEO,
0:40
Speaker 1: He's an industry decision maker. His name is Chris Lee.
0:43
Speaker 1: He's played many roles on TV. Actor, singer, dancer, vampire,
0:48
Speaker 1: drug dealer, musician. He's currently on the cast of the
0:53
Speaker 1: c W series Legacy You Don't Know But I Watched
0:55
Speaker 1: That too, currently airing UH season three. He's a vampire
0:59
Speaker 1: match Day. On the music side, his latest release is
1:03
Speaker 1: the new single Miss available now. But Chris was in
1:05
Speaker 1: the College Wash. From college, he was casting the broad
1:07
Speaker 1: we hit musical Hamilton's where he played two characters. We're
1:10
Speaker 1: gonna talk about that how you swing between them, to
1:13
Speaker 1: Thomas Jefferson and all that stuff for their Chicago production.
1:16
Speaker 1: After that, he shifted to television, appearing on The Empire
1:19
Speaker 1: because you can say swap because he got physicality and
1:23
Speaker 1: recurred where I really fell in love with him on
1:26
Speaker 1: the shot. He was the He was the coolest drug
1:28
Speaker 1: dealer since Fringer Bell. That's what I'm just telling you
1:31
Speaker 1: right now. It's Fringer Bell is legendary from the wire. Please,
1:34
Speaker 1: welcome to money making conversation telling the young act. I'm
1:37
Speaker 1: happy to have more money making conversation. Chris Lee. How
1:40
Speaker 1: you doing, Chris doing well? And thank you for having
1:43
Speaker 1: had to start to Chris has to let you know
1:48
Speaker 1: I appreciate I appreciate it. Well, let's let's talk about
1:51
Speaker 1: you man a little bit. You were you based that?
1:53
Speaker 1: Where you get started and how did you get started
1:55
Speaker 1: in the and the just the love of entertainment because
1:58
Speaker 1: we have so many people have these aspirations but don't
2:01
Speaker 1: know how to jump it off. Yeah. So, I mean,
2:04
Speaker 1: I'm originally from Georgia, right outside of Atlanta. I was
2:06
Speaker 1: born in Augusta. My mom moved to Atlanta when I
2:12
Speaker 1: think I was about for and uh so that's that's
2:14
Speaker 1: where I grew up in. I mean, you know, grew
2:15
Speaker 1: up in a regular you know, black household, you know,
2:18
Speaker 1: a single parents situation. Um. And you know, my mom,
2:22
Speaker 1: you know, instilled in me the ideals of of Christianity
2:26
Speaker 1: and and and my entire life is definitely rooted in
2:30
Speaker 1: the true relationship with Jesus Christ will first given honor
2:33
Speaker 1: to heaven and so thankful that I'm here to be
2:35
Speaker 1: able to share with you guys and everything. But yeah, man,
2:38
Speaker 1: so I went to actually went to a boarding school
2:40
Speaker 1: when I was about fourteen years old, and uh just
2:43
Speaker 1: to kind of get out of the situation I was
2:45
Speaker 1: in and to kind of explore more opportunities when it
2:48
Speaker 1: came to, you know, the potential I feel my mom
2:51
Speaker 1: thought I had, and um, my my peers and my
2:54
Speaker 1: my educator start I had. And so the school is
2:57
Speaker 1: called My College School located in the Tennessee. It's a
3:00
Speaker 1: college prep school and they really just offer everything, you know.
3:03
Speaker 1: I mean I remember the first time I toured the
3:05
Speaker 1: campus and you know, found that you could not only
3:08
Speaker 1: do the you know, like basketball and football and soccer
3:11
Speaker 1: and baseball, but they had like water polo and ben
3:14
Speaker 1: and canoeing and and crew like growing and so it
3:17
Speaker 1: was just seeing stuff I had never known and being
3:20
Speaker 1: cultured in a way that was that could only be
3:22
Speaker 1: beneficial because you know, the knowledge I would gain, I
3:24
Speaker 1: didn't know I could use it later. One of those
3:26
Speaker 1: things being theater, right, And so make a long story short,
3:30
Speaker 1: I lost a bet and and uh I had to
3:32
Speaker 1: audition for the play. And I loved it. I mean
3:36
Speaker 1: I absolutely, you know, I was so I wasn't really
3:40
Speaker 1: drawn to it, but once I was in it, I mean,
3:42
Speaker 1: the feeling that I had it was kind of that
3:44
Speaker 1: space where you just know where you're supposed to be
3:46
Speaker 1: for the first time in your life. And I was,
3:48
Speaker 1: you know, fifteen years old, I think fifteen sixteen years old.
3:51
Speaker 1: I knew, okay, I want to be on stage. I
3:53
Speaker 1: didn't even know what that would look like. I didn't
3:54
Speaker 1: think I could have a career doing it, you know
3:56
Speaker 1: what I mean, because I was informed and just where
3:58
Speaker 1: I grew up, you didn't really hear about too many
4:00
Speaker 1: people trying to pursue acting for real, you know, I mean,
4:04
Speaker 1: it just kind of you saw people on TV and
4:05
Speaker 1: that's where it was. Um. But thankful God and thinking
4:09
Speaker 1: for my mom for encouraging me seeing the gifts that
4:11
Speaker 1: I had. I was you know, I come from a
4:13
Speaker 1: musical family. Everybody could sing, so it wasn't really impressive
4:16
Speaker 1: to me that I could. I could that I was
4:18
Speaker 1: musical at all, because that's just I was normal in
4:20
Speaker 1: my household. He sing all the time, singing church. It
4:22
Speaker 1: was kind of like more like to write a passage,
4:25
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, you have to be kind
4:26
Speaker 1: of musical. You have to know how to worship and
4:28
Speaker 1: you have to know how to use that game. And so,
4:30
Speaker 1: you know, I'm in high school and my mom she
4:32
Speaker 1: sees me do a play and she's like, well, you're
4:35
Speaker 1: really good, dude. You should You should about going to
4:37
Speaker 1: college for it. And I was like, oh, you could, look,
4:39
Speaker 1: you could like major in this. She's like, yeah, you
4:41
Speaker 1: can major musical theater, acting, music, all that, okay, And
4:45
Speaker 1: I was like, what would I do? She said, you
4:46
Speaker 1: can go to Broadway and I was like, they get paid.
4:49
Speaker 1: She's like, Chris, they get paid. I was like, oh man,
4:51
Speaker 1: let's just do that. And that's really how I went down. Bro.
4:54
Speaker 1: It really went down like that. Like I, I auditioned
4:56
Speaker 1: at a bunch of schools, fell in love with Bellmount
4:59
Speaker 1: University and that's where I again my my formal education
5:01
Speaker 1: on theater, where I had my first voice lessons, acting lessons,
5:05
Speaker 1: dancing lessons, and UM kind of honed the talent I
5:09
Speaker 1: had into like real skill. And during that time, I
5:12
Speaker 1: think it was around Hamilton's came out and I became
5:15
Speaker 1: obsessed with the soundtrack like everybody did, because at the
5:18
Speaker 1: time you couldn't see it. You could just listen to
5:20
Speaker 1: it um you know, via the Spotify iTunes. You could
5:23
Speaker 1: hear the plot and you can hear everything the characters
5:26
Speaker 1: are going through. And it was becoming this phenomenon. And
5:28
Speaker 1: I remember hearing it for the first time saying like,
5:30
Speaker 1: I'm gonna do that one day. I didn't think it'd
5:32
Speaker 1: be six months later. It ended up being six months later.
5:34
Speaker 1: I was UM casting a role and opening in Chicago.
5:38
Speaker 1: When to Chicago started doing Hamilton, I played the roles
5:41
Speaker 1: of Lafayette, my Keeping Lafayette and Thomas Jefferson, which is
5:44
Speaker 1: an iconic today. UM role originally performed by Darby Digs
5:48
Speaker 1: was a good friend of mine now and at the time,
5:50
Speaker 1: I was just blown away for for the opportunity. So
5:52
Speaker 1: I was just a sponge. I was on stage with
5:55
Speaker 1: Broadway stars Tony or winners, Tony on the knees like
5:58
Speaker 1: taking that in and to me at the I remember
6:01
Speaker 1: at that point feeling like, okay, this this is it,
6:03
Speaker 1: Like this is as big as it's gonna get, Like
6:05
Speaker 1: this is I've reached the pinnacle. I'm gonna just sit
6:08
Speaker 1: here and enjoy it. And immediately, you know, after having
6:12
Speaker 1: done it, I felt this, you know, this kind of
6:17
Speaker 1: unsatisfactory feeling, like this thing like, oh wait, there must
6:19
Speaker 1: be more. I've accomplished one thing. Maybe there's more to come.
6:23
Speaker 1: Maybe there isn't a line, Maybe there isn't like a ceiling,
6:26
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. Maybe I can you know,
6:28
Speaker 1: do to TV like see you know, grow up watching
6:31
Speaker 1: a Murphy and Martin Lawrence and Will Smith and Denzel
6:34
Speaker 1: these black actors have such a wide range and do
6:37
Speaker 1: comedy and do music and play roles that you know,
6:39
Speaker 1: we're more serious and heart thrives and you know, more
6:42
Speaker 1: dramatic and dangerous and action packed and superhero stuff. Maybe
6:46
Speaker 1: maybe I can do all that kind of stuff. And
6:49
Speaker 1: so I took a shot. I left Hamilton in twenty
6:53
Speaker 1: I think January twenties or I guess it was June,
6:57
Speaker 1: and just moved to l A with no job. Just
6:59
Speaker 1: took with a little money I had had acquired um
7:02
Speaker 1: doing Hamilton and went out there. Got a spot audition
7:06
Speaker 1: for a show called Legacies. A week and a half later,
7:09
Speaker 1: I was not even though it was I think it
7:11
Speaker 1: was about five days I was casting. Told I gotta
7:13
Speaker 1: come back to Atlanta because we're shooting Atlanta and I've
7:15
Speaker 1: been here ever since. Um. In between that time, I
7:19
Speaker 1: got the pleasure because I was doing Hamilton's Chicago, the
7:22
Speaker 1: pleasure of doing shows like Empire that shoots there and
7:24
Speaker 1: and other shows, and the shot was was definitely the
7:27
Speaker 1: one that kind of gave me the book. The shot
7:29
Speaker 1: was the one where luckily, you know, lean away than
7:33
Speaker 1: Adam Glass. I mean, shout out to everybody who was,
7:35
Speaker 1: you know, helping me out over there. Um, I got
7:38
Speaker 1: they let me fly, like they let me take a
7:40
Speaker 1: character that they wrote for me. Oh it was beautiful,
7:43
Speaker 1: beautiful character. Man. Yeah, I appreciate. I think he's great.
7:46
Speaker 1: You know, I remember auditioning for a role and I
7:49
Speaker 1: can't I think it might have been. Um, I think
7:52
Speaker 1: the character's name is Melick, and he's just weird old
7:55
Speaker 1: to do you know what I'm saying it with a
7:56
Speaker 1: trap house, And I remember they said, yeah, you're not
7:58
Speaker 1: the right age the record. Look look like we're not
8:00
Speaker 1: really looking at you for that, but you're really talented,
8:03
Speaker 1: so we'll see if anything comes up. Next day, I
8:05
Speaker 1: get a call saying like, hey, we want to write
8:07
Speaker 1: a road for you. We want you in the show.
8:10
Speaker 1: That's why you see him show up in the third
8:11
Speaker 1: episode and eventually have a you know, make his appearances
8:14
Speaker 1: here and that, right, But I remember by the time
8:16
Speaker 1: I got to the fifth episode, which is the block
8:18
Speaker 1: part of the big one, where he uh Brandon and
8:21
Speaker 1: spending the whole day with his cousin Hannibal. Um, it
8:23
Speaker 1: was just it was one of those those weeks when
8:26
Speaker 1: we shot it and I was like, they really let
8:27
Speaker 1: me play, Like they're really letting me come up with
8:30
Speaker 1: who I think this guy is in conjunction with who
8:32
Speaker 1: they the spirit of what they want the character to have,
8:35
Speaker 1: and they let me, i mean, go off script and
8:38
Speaker 1: just kind of the beauty of it. The beauty of it, Chris,
8:40
Speaker 1: was that you know that like I said, you know,
8:43
Speaker 1: you're drug dealing, okay, and and and and it so,
8:47
Speaker 1: but you were able to make him likable. You were
8:50
Speaker 1: able to make him like, man, I like that dude.
8:54
Speaker 1: You was a first of all, you want to make
8:56
Speaker 1: everybody's thing. You were a new stupid guy. Okay, this
8:59
Speaker 1: is a busy decision. You know, you're just making business
9:02
Speaker 1: because and I love that spin on it, because you're
9:05
Speaker 1: going like, okay, look at especially when you open that
9:08
Speaker 1: a little cool shot where you always had to have,
9:11
Speaker 1: you know, uh membership to get in, you know. But
9:16
Speaker 1: but what I want to talk about that character because
9:19
Speaker 1: the brilliance, because you're brilliant. Man. I'm just gonna let
9:21
Speaker 1: you know it. Because I had the pleasure of being
9:24
Speaker 1: a lot a lot I know still the day, work
9:25
Speaker 1: around a lot of talented people, and that little acting step,
9:28
Speaker 1: the ability to be able to connect the dots, you're
9:31
Speaker 1: able to pull it off. And so my whole thing
9:33
Speaker 1: is that that's stepping beyond what they put on paper.
9:37
Speaker 1: What natural instinct is leading you in that direction because
9:40
Speaker 1: you're brilliant, you know man. It was a person like
9:43
Speaker 1: you I wanted to bring on the show because you
9:46
Speaker 1: step into another level and I was just gonna throw
9:48
Speaker 1: it out there. We're talking on that Denzel Washington level.
9:50
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying, and and and and that's
9:52
Speaker 1: a beautiful thing. But he can't sing, though, So you
9:55
Speaker 1: got that blessing. Okay, So so talk about really trusting
10:00
Speaker 1: yourself walking through that that that next wong. Yeah, man,
10:05
Speaker 1: it really is. I think it's all about what your
10:08
Speaker 1: desire is, you know what I mean? A lot of
10:10
Speaker 1: people value um different things. I find that and when
10:14
Speaker 1: people have to pursuit of entertainment, a lot of times
10:18
Speaker 1: they see the glamorous part of it, right Like they
10:20
Speaker 1: see the money you can make, the fame you can gain,
10:23
Speaker 1: Instagram followers, TikTok streams and all that kind of stuff,
10:26
Speaker 1: like you see, you know what it what it could
10:28
Speaker 1: what you could gain from it. And I think that
10:30
Speaker 1: I just kind of I don't I don't know why.
10:32
Speaker 1: I just never had that in me. It was really
10:34
Speaker 1: more about the art. Like I love acting, I love
10:37
Speaker 1: seeing you love writing, I love performing, I love telling
10:40
Speaker 1: stories and completely different vehicles. And so I'm not really concerned.
10:46
Speaker 1: I never was really concerned about getting the job, or
10:50
Speaker 1: or or making the money or or what I'm on
10:52
Speaker 1: the level I'll be at. And I think that's what
10:55
Speaker 1: it is. I think the trick is too The level
10:58
Speaker 1: should be personal. Right if you're trying to uh, you know,
11:00
Speaker 1: reaching the next pinnacle of whatever it is you do,
11:03
Speaker 1: let you you be the pioneer of that journey, you
11:06
Speaker 1: know what I mean. Don't let it be uh some
11:08
Speaker 1: kind of outside standard informing where like what move you
11:12
Speaker 1: should make? Right? Like if if that's like money follows excellence, right,
11:16
Speaker 1: So you walk in anything and an excellence and and
11:19
Speaker 1: and in the heart like crazy work, ethic and um,
11:22
Speaker 1: and you keep there's this reality check that you're keeping
11:25
Speaker 1: yourself saying I'm in the right place, doing the right thing,
11:27
Speaker 1: and you consistently better yourself in that regard. You never
11:31
Speaker 1: have to worry about what it looks like to everybody
11:33
Speaker 1: else or what do I make this look like? Oh
11:36
Speaker 1: you know, YadA, YadA, YadA. And so it really comes
11:39
Speaker 1: down to what is what is your true goal? What
11:42
Speaker 1: is your true passion? If it is being an excellent actor,
11:45
Speaker 1: it shouldn't be about the Oscar. It should be about
11:47
Speaker 1: being an excellent actor. If you get the Oscar, cool,
11:50
Speaker 1: that's that Like, that's for something those shade to any
11:52
Speaker 1: kind of wards. But like the goal shouldn't be to
11:55
Speaker 1: to to get a thing rather than to be a thing.
11:57
Speaker 1: And so when it comes to that role, like the show,
12:00
Speaker 1: I I was given an opportunity to do something that
12:03
Speaker 1: hadn't been done in some regard and so that was
12:06
Speaker 1: what was important to me. So I studied. You know,
12:09
Speaker 1: when it came to him, the guy has multiple streams
12:11
Speaker 1: and that of revenue. Him being likable is beautiful, the
12:14
Speaker 1: fact that he's a drug dealer, But it's because him
12:16
Speaker 1: being a drug dealer was only a means for him
12:18
Speaker 1: to uh broaden the scope of his revenue income. It
12:22
Speaker 1: wasn't like he was trying to push on anybody. You know,
12:25
Speaker 1: you need to sell weed because you know, you know,
12:27
Speaker 1: you need to be a bad person. It's like, no,
12:29
Speaker 1: we're in a situation as black people in Chicago where
12:31
Speaker 1: they're we're limited. There's always so many things that people
12:33
Speaker 1: are checking for us to do. And so I found
12:35
Speaker 1: a way to take that thing that is bad or
12:38
Speaker 1: evil or whatever and turned into a positive hurd into
12:41
Speaker 1: something I could build on, employed people, keep myself eating,
12:44
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12:47
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Speaker 1: ai Now is special. Man. When I see you, I
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Speaker 1: see you as directing one day and and I'm pretty
14:55
Speaker 1: sure you because the creative side of you. Here's a
14:58
Speaker 1: great thing about it. I gotta go back to your mom,
15:00
Speaker 1: you know, because you know, as kids, she didn't you know,
15:05
Speaker 1: you know a lot of people say they she entertainment,
15:08
Speaker 1: they see sports, they go, my kid can't do that.
15:11
Speaker 1: Your mom. Your mom say Broadway. And she wasn't thinking
15:16
Speaker 1: small with you. She said Broadway. So talk about your mom, man,
15:20
Speaker 1: because my mom beautiful. I mean, I'll get to emotion
15:23
Speaker 1: if I get too deep, but I can. I can
15:25
Speaker 1: definitely say that my mom is is the reason that
15:28
Speaker 1: I mean, anything good in me came from her. You know,
15:31
Speaker 1: anything bad at me? That was what I learned the
15:33
Speaker 1: mom because because it's just not an evil bone in
15:36
Speaker 1: her body. And then and the encouragement was specific because
15:38
Speaker 1: I I want to I want to make myself clear.
15:41
Speaker 1: I don't think you know, my mom is a big believer,
15:44
Speaker 1: and um, she doesn't like the same follow your heart right.
15:47
Speaker 1: She doesn't like that the idea that if you want
15:51
Speaker 1: to do something, that's the thing you should do. She
15:53
Speaker 1: believes that guy gaves us gave us specific gifts. There's
15:56
Speaker 1: something that makes people individuals, right, like you know that
15:59
Speaker 1: I can't do what you can do, what he can do,
16:02
Speaker 1: what she can do. We all are different for a
16:04
Speaker 1: specific reason. Find what it is that is your gift
16:07
Speaker 1: and then think big with that right, if I would
16:10
Speaker 1: have gone to her and said, I want to be
16:12
Speaker 1: a ballerina and I'm fourteen years old, never taking a class,
16:15
Speaker 1: you know, never you know, stretched the day in my life,
16:18
Speaker 1: never done any kind of dancing, that would be kind
16:20
Speaker 1: of out of pocket, right, that would be kind of like, well,
16:23
Speaker 1: that may not be your gifts. You have not shown
16:25
Speaker 1: any interest in it. You don't really seem like you
16:27
Speaker 1: have the talent or the discipline to to live that lifestyle.
16:31
Speaker 1: What you do, however, show is that you know you
16:34
Speaker 1: have a very creative mind, and you can translate that
16:37
Speaker 1: very well physically in your voice and your acting, and
16:41
Speaker 1: you're writing, et cetera. So why don't we see if
16:44
Speaker 1: you know we we can go in that lane. And
16:46
Speaker 1: I want you to think big. I want you to think,
16:48
Speaker 1: what's the best thing you can do? Makee that the goal,
16:50
Speaker 1: and do all you can do to get to that place.
16:52
Speaker 1: It's never and there's no plan B. There's no second option.
16:56
Speaker 1: There's no like, if this doesn't work out, I should
16:59
Speaker 1: go here. It's like, no, you said you were gonna
17:00
Speaker 1: do this, do what you can to make that happen.
17:03
Speaker 1: To die trying, you know what I'm saying, and that
17:08
Speaker 1: is something that's practical for you. But you say, Christie,
17:10
Speaker 1: you understand you said no playing B. But you're playing
17:13
Speaker 1: a acting, you're playing a singing, you're playing a dancing,
17:18
Speaker 1: you're playing a being a musician. That's a hell of
17:21
Speaker 1: a play A brother that wasn't playing a And one
17:24
Speaker 1: thing that what she saw. She was telling you, Look,
17:28
Speaker 1: you are my child. But this is what I see.
17:31
Speaker 1: That's why I say for you that you can't say
17:34
Speaker 1: there was no playing be because you're plan A was
17:36
Speaker 1: stacked stand him. I think I think it just kills
17:40
Speaker 1: the narrative that your career has to be singular, that
17:43
Speaker 1: there's a one thing you do and one thing you're
17:45
Speaker 1: good at. Right, I believe wholeheartedly that. And and this
17:48
Speaker 1: is why we have different kinds of friends, and we
17:50
Speaker 1: meet people in different areas of life and they are
17:52
Speaker 1: they we have a relationship with them that's very specific
17:55
Speaker 1: to how we met them. Is because people are multifaceted.
17:58
Speaker 1: Who are we to limit anybody? Who? Who who am
18:00
Speaker 1: I to tell you I'll stick to that and don't
18:02
Speaker 1: ever think about doing that? Why would why would I
18:05
Speaker 1: do that? And who has interested in that? Like you know,
18:08
Speaker 1: the beautiful thing man, is that you can have multiple
18:10
Speaker 1: plan AI's for sure, but it's because you're a multiple
18:13
Speaker 1: planned person, like you're a multiple multi faceted human beings.
18:17
Speaker 1: So there shouldn't just be one thing that you're good at,
18:20
Speaker 1: you know what I mean? Something I mean when I
18:21
Speaker 1: think about some of my favorite actors that also have
18:23
Speaker 1: these hobbies of like making shoes or design and clothes.
18:27
Speaker 1: I mean, you look at the the icons, when you
18:28
Speaker 1: look at the Kanye's and jay Zs, you know you're
18:31
Speaker 1: lead Like you think of people who we they started
18:34
Speaker 1: out as something that they were excellent that and today
18:36
Speaker 1: we know them and kids know them to the kids
18:39
Speaker 1: that are coming up know them for completely different things.
18:41
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying. I remember going up with
18:42
Speaker 1: Jamie Fox being on in Living Color and having the
18:45
Speaker 1: Jamie Fox Show. Today he's an Oscar War winning Grammy
18:49
Speaker 1: War Women like household name. That's not the same thing,
18:53
Speaker 1: and it's because of it is mostly fat, multi faceted
18:55
Speaker 1: um way of going about life. Wayne Brady another example.
18:58
Speaker 1: I remember him from the show Who's Lying? Is It Anyway?
19:00
Speaker 1: And like, okay, that show talent you can improv I
19:03
Speaker 1: mean I've seen that man that he's grammar nominated and
19:06
Speaker 1: in multiple active world roles from all stretches of the imagination,
19:09
Speaker 1: and it can it has his own multiple businesses. You
19:12
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying, it's a household name. So for me,
19:15
Speaker 1: it's about if one human being can do that, who's
19:18
Speaker 1: to say that all human beings can do that? So
19:20
Speaker 1: I'm I'm an encourager to young people. I'm encouraging to people,
19:23
Speaker 1: to older people, to anyone in their journey. It's it's
19:27
Speaker 1: all about that. It's all about what they say. Success
19:29
Speaker 1: happens when preparation meets opportunity. If you're prepared for multiple
19:34
Speaker 1: things and opportunities for multiple things come up, you will
19:37
Speaker 1: succeed in those things. Right, But you have to have
19:39
Speaker 1: the preparation. You have to have done the work and
19:42
Speaker 1: have the discipline and and and really home the work
19:45
Speaker 1: ethic to get this thing that you do. You know,
19:47
Speaker 1: as a book called Outliers Are Love, and it talks
19:49
Speaker 1: about ten thousand hours, ten thousand hours doing anyone thing
19:52
Speaker 1: makes you an expert in that thing. How many of
19:54
Speaker 1: us have actually spent ten thousand hours a week? Can
19:56
Speaker 1: count you know, honing us for the skill you to
20:00
Speaker 1: me you spend ten thousand hours here, here, here, and here,
20:03
Speaker 1: you know, you take two hours a day and do
20:04
Speaker 1: the three things that you love. Eventually you get to
20:07
Speaker 1: the point where you're a master those three things simultaneously.
20:10
Speaker 1: And so I think it's just a different way of
20:12
Speaker 1: disciplining yourself. And really believe in a big part of it,
20:14
Speaker 1: bro big part of it is that belief, right that
20:17
Speaker 1: that faith aspect that I that I hold so dear
20:20
Speaker 1: is that there's nothing you could tell me I couldn't
20:22
Speaker 1: do if I say I want to do it, and
20:23
Speaker 1: I believe that, And that's that. I think that's a
20:25
Speaker 1: choice people really have to make in their lives. Is
20:27
Speaker 1: you know, how much am I gonna let the practicality
20:30
Speaker 1: of my situation, of my circumstance define what I'm really
20:34
Speaker 1: gonna do? How much of it? Can it just be
20:36
Speaker 1: me saying I'm gonna do it and really die and trying,
20:39
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying, because I'm really willing to
20:40
Speaker 1: go that, I'm really willing to die broken, hungry, chasing
20:43
Speaker 1: the thing that I know I was purposed to do. Wow. Uh,
20:46
Speaker 1: when you said the word imagination, Okay, and I want
20:49
Speaker 1: to bring imagination when we're talking about the third season
20:52
Speaker 1: of Legacies, because you better have an imagination. Were you
20:56
Speaker 1: dealing with vampires? Were wolves? Uh, demons? Okay, now that's
21:04
Speaker 1: the stretch of your imagination. You have an opportunity to
21:06
Speaker 1: say you can in l A you're audition for. It
21:09
Speaker 1: is the third season. You play the character Kleb and
21:12
Speaker 1: the other brother the show. His name is MG. You
21:14
Speaker 1: know that you said now your family in the sense
21:16
Speaker 1: you know he's a bad pire. So talk about that
21:20
Speaker 1: whole because you know I want you on the show.
21:22
Speaker 1: It's like you know, it's because because I've been around
21:25
Speaker 1: acting so much. You know, you can want to see
21:28
Speaker 1: a moment you're here where you have to imagine this
21:30
Speaker 1: is I gotta act like this real? But I know
21:32
Speaker 1: where they're real. Oh yeah, I mean, especially when you
21:35
Speaker 1: get into those scenes where you're just acting at a
21:37
Speaker 1: green screen, right master supposed to It ain't nothing that right,
21:41
Speaker 1: you know what I mean? But but that I mean
21:43
Speaker 1: the big reason, like, if not the number one reason
21:46
Speaker 1: I accepted the role when it was awful, was because
21:49
Speaker 1: it was something completely left field, different than anything I
21:52
Speaker 1: ever thought of, you know, and it takes I think personally,
21:56
Speaker 1: it takes a very committed actor to do a good
22:00
Speaker 1: a job in a supernatural world, you know, because you're
22:03
Speaker 1: dealing with things that absolutely aren't you know that just
22:05
Speaker 1: that cannot be proven that not we don't, like we're
22:08
Speaker 1: not talking about just you know, all my girlfriend breaking
22:10
Speaker 1: up with me and I slept with her best friend.
22:12
Speaker 1: And so now that's the story. And for me, you
22:14
Speaker 1: know what I mean, if I can get her back,
22:15
Speaker 1: that's something that can happen in real life. But a
22:17
Speaker 1: dragon appearing out of the air breathing fire and me,
22:20
Speaker 1: you know, taking my things and biting some girl's neck
22:23
Speaker 1: out like that, that doesn't happen. So imagination is key,
22:27
Speaker 1: and and and and and to be able to live
22:30
Speaker 1: in a world where you truly have to you have
22:32
Speaker 1: to believe in the moment as the actor that the
22:35
Speaker 1: character really believes this thing and it's really living in
22:38
Speaker 1: this world. That's the whole gig, Like, that's the whole
22:40
Speaker 1: in order for the show to work, everyone has to
22:43
Speaker 1: be that committed to that thing. And it's the same
22:45
Speaker 1: thing with superheroes. It's any any you know, Superman movie,
22:48
Speaker 1: Justice League, Marvel movie, those actors. The reason they're so
22:51
Speaker 1: successful is because we look at that world and we
22:54
Speaker 1: believe it. We believe Yep, I'm man is going because
22:57
Speaker 1: he's what I'm saying. The whole is gonna get mad
22:59
Speaker 1: and turn green because that's what happens in this world.
23:02
Speaker 1: We're not thinking about. All this is make believe. That
23:04
Speaker 1: there's no fun in that. There's like we're not watching
23:06
Speaker 1: it to pick it apart and say, oh, this is
23:08
Speaker 1: a make believe world. Now we're in it because it
23:11
Speaker 1: is convinced us in our imagination that it's a world
23:13
Speaker 1: that could exist, that does exist. And so that's the
23:16
Speaker 1: fun part of it. I think imagination is key, and
23:18
Speaker 1: it's the it's so like that's the that's the fun part.
23:22
Speaker 1: I can. I mean, I could play some kids from
23:24
Speaker 1: Atlanta that's black with dreads that you know, it's musical.
23:28
Speaker 1: I could. I could do what I am, But to
23:30
Speaker 1: to to to portray something that I'm just not to that,
23:33
Speaker 1: I mean, that's the that's the acting part, you know
23:35
Speaker 1: what I mean. But the beauty of it is that
23:38
Speaker 1: when I'm watching that these different levels you know, whether
23:41
Speaker 1: it's a Suad empire, the shot, you know, the Hamilton
23:45
Speaker 1: experience and now there's legacies. I'm I'm looking at you
23:49
Speaker 1: and going, Okay, then he's unstoppable. You know. My purpose
23:53
Speaker 1: of bringing you on the show with just let you
23:54
Speaker 1: know you're unstoppable. Just and and I didn't know that
23:57
Speaker 1: you already had that that queen you call your mom,
24:01
Speaker 1: you know, then she'd let you know you was gonna stoppable.
24:04
Speaker 1: So I'm just added fuel. You know what I'm saying.
24:06
Speaker 1: If you're on five, I'll just putting more wood on
24:08
Speaker 1: the five, put more das on that five, because you're special. Man.
24:12
Speaker 1: And but before we leave, I just want to talk
24:14
Speaker 1: about you know, one at one scene, you know, you're
24:17
Speaker 1: you're rapping. I said, that's brother, this brother, you know,
24:19
Speaker 1: and I can tell you're adding man. Yeah, I'm telling
24:21
Speaker 1: I'll be looking at this. I lovemptis. I love looking
24:25
Speaker 1: the talented people. Man. I just sit back, my wife,
24:27
Speaker 1: go boy you I said, I said, I'm gonna interview
24:29
Speaker 1: this younger man. I said, look at him, I said,
24:32
Speaker 1: And and then and so you have some music is support?
24:35
Speaker 1: You got a single I called miss you got a
24:37
Speaker 1: new album one thousand, you know, so talk about the
24:40
Speaker 1: single because I want to make sure you know we're
24:43
Speaker 1: gonna play music on our show. But I want to
24:45
Speaker 1: talk about why music is a passion, why it's important
24:48
Speaker 1: to release this single and your upcoming CD. Absolutely so yeah.
24:52
Speaker 1: First of all, mses out streaming on all platforms. You
24:55
Speaker 1: can get on Spotify, Apple Music, wherever you listen to
24:58
Speaker 1: music there. Um missed by Chris Lee. That song was fun, man,
25:02
Speaker 1: it was it was. It was one of those beautiful
25:04
Speaker 1: moments that I wrote a song, um that I did
25:08
Speaker 1: not plan on writing or necessarily being good. And I
25:11
Speaker 1: put no effort into it. I was just having fun
25:13
Speaker 1: and I would show every friend I showed it was like, oh, yeah,
25:16
Speaker 1: this is the one you need to drop like now.
25:18
Speaker 1: And so uh, my partner, I got it together and
25:20
Speaker 1: we released it and um yeah man, I mean the
25:23
Speaker 1: whole music is it is truly a part of like
25:28
Speaker 1: the fabric of my being. Like it, I could not
25:31
Speaker 1: escape it if I wanted to. Like I said, my
25:33
Speaker 1: whole family's musical. My mom is the musician of the family.
25:36
Speaker 1: She's the singers, she has the voice. Um she is.
25:40
Speaker 1: I mean, she has the annointing on her that is
25:42
Speaker 1: just undeniable. And you know, and my grandmother, grandfather, my
25:47
Speaker 1: my father, his his mother, my entire family. It can
25:51
Speaker 1: sing their musical. So again, I came from a household
25:54
Speaker 1: that it wasn't really like. I just didn't think about
25:57
Speaker 1: it being something that you show off to make money,
25:59
Speaker 1: like something that you use to to really like, you know,
26:02
Speaker 1: in a in a career, because it was just it
26:04
Speaker 1: was like it was like drinking water. It was just
26:06
Speaker 1: the way it was. I as a kid, thought everybody
26:09
Speaker 1: could sing because my family could sing. I thought the
26:11
Speaker 1: whole world knows how to sing. It took it off
26:13
Speaker 1: for me to realize, oh, some people really don't have
26:16
Speaker 1: the same you know, ability of the same talent. But yeah, man,
26:19
Speaker 1: it's just a part of who I am. And so
26:21
Speaker 1: I've always sang. And then you know, I always wrote
26:24
Speaker 1: songs and I never really thought that I could really
26:26
Speaker 1: do it, as I didn't know if I wanted to
26:28
Speaker 1: be a music artist. Per se um and I had
26:30
Speaker 1: been in a group in college you know, to my friends,
26:33
Speaker 1: uh and I would we would perform shows and we
26:36
Speaker 1: had a fun run. And then when I got Hamilton's,
26:38
Speaker 1: like I said, it was a spark when I got there,
26:40
Speaker 1: like you know, after I had performed the first night,
26:42
Speaker 1: I realized, oh man, I really could do I could
26:45
Speaker 1: do anything I want to do, like anything, So while
26:48
Speaker 1: I try to like make music, and so I released
26:52
Speaker 1: the EP entitled in My Feelings that's available everywhere too,
26:55
Speaker 1: and it was my first thing and I did it
26:57
Speaker 1: by myself with with my friend. We wrote and produce
27:00
Speaker 1: everything by ourselves and just drop just to see the effects.
27:03
Speaker 1: And I gained fans from Hamilton and fans from the
27:05
Speaker 1: shot saw with two of the different cities and do
27:07
Speaker 1: little shows you know, where about two other people, three
27:10
Speaker 1: people will come out and it will come out and
27:12
Speaker 1: the music. So I was like, oh, maybe I need
27:14
Speaker 1: to like really kicking in gear and do this for real.
27:17
Speaker 1: At the same time, I booking legacies and my TV
27:21
Speaker 1: career is kind of taking off and taking a lot
27:23
Speaker 1: of my time. So it's been like a balance of
27:25
Speaker 1: like doing trying to like, you know, do my due
27:28
Speaker 1: diligence with my music and do my thu diligence uh
27:30
Speaker 1: in my acting career. So it's it's a it's a
27:33
Speaker 1: it's a fun ping pong that goes back and forth. Um.
27:36
Speaker 1: But music is definitely a huge passion of mine and
27:39
Speaker 1: I'm big on writing, you know, I'm doing the writing session,
27:42
Speaker 1: a copy writing sessions, this past week FIRS some core
27:44
Speaker 1: artists that we're gonna drop some cool music. Um, I've
27:47
Speaker 1: been in the studio with you know, legends in it
27:49
Speaker 1: and it's been so fun to absorb. So I consider
27:52
Speaker 1: myself in the beginning stages of putting my music out there.
27:55
Speaker 1: So ms is is a single that is starting a
27:58
Speaker 1: new era of the sound that will in you a
28:00
Speaker 1: game from me going forward. UM, So please listen to it,
28:04
Speaker 1: y'all definitely enjoy, send me comments, feedback in your Instagram,
28:08
Speaker 1: d M s, all that kind of stuff. UM, let
28:10
Speaker 1: me know how y'all avid into the music, and I'm
28:12
Speaker 1: gonna continue to release more. Uh, just to share with
28:15
Speaker 1: you what what what it is that I love to do. Well.
28:17
Speaker 1: I want to thank you. You know, we we did
28:20
Speaker 1: a journey. In this interview. We talked about the Hamilton experience,
28:23
Speaker 1: playing two roles, talked about being a Georgia boy, you know,
28:27
Speaker 1: talking about the mom who believes you and your board
28:29
Speaker 1: in school. Uh, talking about going from Empire Swad you know,
28:33
Speaker 1: the shy where I fell in love with your your abilities, brother,
28:36
Speaker 1: your abilities and now you're in the Legacies, which is
28:39
Speaker 1: on the c W in the third season, playing the
28:42
Speaker 1: character Caleb Harkins, Like I said you had you said
28:45
Speaker 1: playing b what the option? I go back to what
28:48
Speaker 1: I say, your plan anchors, Lye is that single Dans musician.
28:54
Speaker 1: I would tell how you more stack it is. In
28:56
Speaker 1: the beginning, I said I have celebrity. You got that.
28:59
Speaker 1: I said I was CEO. Keep your game music Okay, okay,
29:03
Speaker 1: I'll say you have entrepreneur, keep of game music okay,
29:07
Speaker 1: industry decision maker, you'll beach boy, You'll be don't encouragement.
29:12
Speaker 1: I appreciate you, and I love what you're doing. I
29:14
Speaker 1: love the encouragement you're given the black people to all people, man,
29:18
Speaker 1: and and and you know it's it's confident as I am,
29:21
Speaker 1: and I'm sure a lot of performers are. It always
29:23
Speaker 1: feels good to to to be reaffirmed over and over again.
29:26
Speaker 1: We have to build each other up, man, especially during
29:29
Speaker 1: this time during pandemics, we're coming off of a lot
29:32
Speaker 1: of huge racial tension and people dying. It is important
29:35
Speaker 1: for us to be able to boost each other and
29:36
Speaker 1: continue to share our gifts. So I appreciate you in
29:39
Speaker 1: your time. Thank you for having me on the show.
29:41
Speaker 1: It's my honor, all right, man, Thank you for coming
29:43
Speaker 1: on money Making Conversation. If you want to hear more
29:45
Speaker 1: money Making Conversation interviews, please go to money Making Conversation
29:48
Speaker 1: dot com. Roshan McDonald I am your host. In this
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