WEBVTT - Questlove Supreme: Robert Townsend Part 2 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:03.040 Quest Love Supreme is a production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:05.519 --> 0:00:08.560 What Up, y'all, It's Laiah and we are back with 0:00:08.640 --> 0:00:12.360 part two of our interview with the incredible, incomparable, trail 0:00:12.440 --> 0:00:16.319 blazing Robert Townsend. Y'all know, this conversation is everything I 0:00:16.320 --> 0:00:20.600 love about Quest Love Supreme. It's funny, informative, and life 0:00:20.920 --> 0:00:24.360 so heartfelt. Last week, Robert spoke about his roads to 0:00:24.440 --> 0:00:28.440 comedy and acting as he lighted us all with a 0:00:28.440 --> 0:00:32.240 bunch of impersonations. He spoke about working on The Warriors, 0:00:32.479 --> 0:00:36.320 the movie y'all, nearly joining SNL, and a deep dive 0:00:36.400 --> 0:00:39.320 into how he made Hollywood shuffle with a dream and 0:00:39.360 --> 0:00:40.120 a credit card. 0:00:40.760 --> 0:00:41.519 So now we're. 0:00:41.360 --> 0:00:42.480 Back for part two. 0:00:43.200 --> 0:00:46.120 Join us as we celebrate Black History Month with an 0:00:46.120 --> 0:00:51.000 American treasure Robert Townsend. Part two taped in studio at 0:00:51.080 --> 0:00:53.600 iHeart Hollywood. Enjoy y'all. 0:01:01.760 --> 0:01:06.959 Once the success of the film brings you to this platform, 0:01:07.840 --> 0:01:11.520 what's your internal feelings? Because oftentimes when person has like 0:01:12.440 --> 0:01:14.320 that type of success, out the box, I mean we 0:01:14.520 --> 0:01:17.240 could say this is the illmatic nod situation or whatever, 0:01:18.000 --> 0:01:21.560 like the follow up getting over the mountain, Like in 0:01:21.600 --> 0:01:27.039 your mind, what are you envisioning your next step to be. 0:01:28.040 --> 0:01:31.360 You know what's funny is that I've always known exactly 0:01:31.400 --> 0:01:34.000 what I want to do, and then it's just that 0:01:34.560 --> 0:01:38.480 when you like, after Hollywood Shuffle, I was being offered 0:01:38.520 --> 0:01:42.039 everything in the universe, every project, every script. 0:01:41.680 --> 0:01:42.480 Every da da da dad. 0:01:42.560 --> 0:01:43.560 What was being offered to you? 0:01:46.880 --> 0:01:50.640 It was all kinds of bad comedies. It was like 0:01:50.800 --> 0:01:53.520 a lot of bad stuff that I wouldn't want to do. 0:01:54.120 --> 0:01:56.440 And so I was like, you know when people go like, 0:01:56.480 --> 0:01:58.640 well this, you haven't made a lot of films. This 0:01:58.760 --> 0:02:01.120 is funny, and then it's like, no, it's not funny. 0:02:01.200 --> 0:02:03.760 And you're dealing with TV Guide because I grew up 0:02:03.760 --> 0:02:05.040 on television, so there's a. 0:02:04.960 --> 0:02:07.440 Certain I have my money to them. 0:02:07.760 --> 0:02:10.320 Yeah, And so I was being offered everything, but there 0:02:10.360 --> 0:02:12.440 was nothing that spoke to me. And the one story 0:02:12.440 --> 0:02:15.160 that I wanted to do when I was a kid 0:02:15.480 --> 0:02:19.000 in Chicago in nineteen sixty eight, Herb Kent the Cool 0:02:19.080 --> 0:02:23.000 Gent gets on the radio and says the Temptations are 0:02:23.000 --> 0:02:26.240 breaking up and David Ruffin is leaving the group, and 0:02:26.480 --> 0:02:27.760 that was my favorite group, and so. 0:02:27.760 --> 0:02:30.960 I was like, what what happened? This is wrong? 0:02:31.080 --> 0:02:31.880 Blah blah blah. 0:02:31.880 --> 0:02:34.440 And so then that kind of stayed in my head. 0:02:34.639 --> 0:02:37.639 And so my thing was, you know, I told Keena 0:02:37.680 --> 0:02:39.640 and I said, we could do a story. I wasn't, 0:02:39.720 --> 0:02:42.200 you know, arrogant enough to say we could get the 0:02:42.240 --> 0:02:44.600 temptation story. I said, let's let's make our own movie. 0:02:44.919 --> 0:02:47.200 But I want to know what happened. I want to 0:02:47.200 --> 0:02:48.920 know what happened to that singing group? Why did they 0:02:48.960 --> 0:02:51.160 break up? You know, because I was devastated as a kid. 0:02:51.200 --> 0:02:53.800 I just remember looking at the radio and I was like, going, what, 0:02:54.720 --> 0:02:55.600 why did he's leaving? 0:02:55.639 --> 0:02:55.720 What? 0:02:55.960 --> 0:02:56.160 You know? 0:02:56.280 --> 0:02:58.200 And then that took me on the journey for the 0:02:58.200 --> 0:03:00.000 next movie. But all the stuff that they were offering me, 0:03:00.320 --> 0:03:02.560 there was nothing that I was really like, you know, 0:03:03.560 --> 0:03:03.880 with The. 0:03:03.840 --> 0:03:07.919 Five Heartbeats you at the end credits you mentioned the Dells. Yes, 0:03:08.520 --> 0:03:11.160 how involved were they in, you know, with making a 0:03:11.200 --> 0:03:13.440 movie with you? And how much of the story is 0:03:13.480 --> 0:03:15.960 from their personal kind of experience. 0:03:16.040 --> 0:03:21.240 So so let me give you the backstory behind the film. 0:03:21.600 --> 0:03:24.280 I did a documentary on it. It's called Making the Heartbeats. 0:03:24.880 --> 0:03:26.959 So the whole the whole thing that I would say 0:03:27.040 --> 0:03:32.320 is that initially I wanted David Ruffin and Eddie Kendricks 0:03:32.360 --> 0:03:35.360 to be the technical advisors, and so I had reached 0:03:35.400 --> 0:03:38.280 out to them and David he was going through his 0:03:38.360 --> 0:03:40.440 drug thing. He was he was struggling, and so I 0:03:40.480 --> 0:03:42.360 went to meet with him, and you know, he was 0:03:42.400 --> 0:03:45.560 strung out a little bit. And Keenan and I we said, hey, 0:03:45.640 --> 0:03:48.320 once the film gets green lit, we're gonna put him 0:03:48.320 --> 0:03:48.760 in rehab. 0:03:48.960 --> 0:03:50.600 We'll just pay for it to just take care of him, 0:03:50.600 --> 0:03:51.480 and blah blah blah. 0:03:51.520 --> 0:03:53.800 So that's our that was our plan because I told 0:03:53.840 --> 0:03:57.560 Keenan man, David doesn't look good and he was doing 0:03:57.560 --> 0:03:59.520 that snorting and all that, and I could just tell. 0:03:59.600 --> 0:04:03.000 And so we were gonna, you know, uh, take care, 0:04:03.200 --> 0:04:06.240 you know, put you know, put them in rehab. So anyway, 0:04:06.760 --> 0:04:10.840 the studio Joe Roth, finally green lights the movie and 0:04:10.880 --> 0:04:14.080 so I go, hey, I got David Ruffin and Eddie Kendricks. 0:04:14.120 --> 0:04:16.880 And then he goes no, And I said, why not? 0:04:17.040 --> 0:04:19.479 He says, because everybody's going to think it's the Motown 0:04:19.560 --> 0:04:22.719 story and you got that big red character, and so 0:04:22.720 --> 0:04:25.840 they're gonna say, oh, the Temptations, and you're gonna get 0:04:25.880 --> 0:04:28.840 lawsuits up the wazoo because people are going to say, oh, 0:04:28.880 --> 0:04:31.680 this is the Motown story because you got these two 0:04:31.760 --> 0:04:33.120 as your technical advisors. 0:04:33.400 --> 0:04:35.400 And so then at that point I had to say 0:04:35.440 --> 0:04:38.400 no to them, which broke my heart. And then. 0:04:40.200 --> 0:04:42.520 They were saying, who else would you want to be 0:04:43.120 --> 0:04:46.760 technical advisors? And then that's when the Dells, you know, 0:04:46.880 --> 0:04:49.040 I said, the Dells, and then the Dells. 0:04:50.000 --> 0:04:51.159 You knew, Marvin Jr. 0:04:51.680 --> 0:04:53.600 That's crazy, Oh. 0:04:53.279 --> 0:04:58.880 My god, Oh my god, yo, man, Like I was born, 0:04:59.279 --> 0:05:02.720 So I wasn't born in a Dell's concert, but my 0:05:02.880 --> 0:05:04.400 mom like, damn. 0:05:04.200 --> 0:05:06.200 Near on the eighth ninth month. 0:05:06.320 --> 0:05:09.120 But I started kicking at a Dell's concert And. 0:05:09.240 --> 0:05:12.680 Are you serious? Yeah, yeah, yeah I was. 0:05:12.880 --> 0:05:15.039 I was in the moon but yeah, I mean I 0:05:15.080 --> 0:05:17.720 grew up like I grew up in the Charles Stephanie 0:05:17.920 --> 0:05:20.000 period of the dell So like how sweet and funk 0:05:20.080 --> 0:05:24.679 being all but yeah, Marvin Junior like to me even 0:05:24.880 --> 0:05:27.880 knowing like the briefly, like my dad knew Teddy Pentagrads whatever, 0:05:27.960 --> 0:05:31.800 Like Teddy would even say like that's his north start, Like. 0:05:32.400 --> 0:05:34.360 What was it? What was it? 0:05:34.440 --> 0:05:34.520 Like? 0:05:34.680 --> 0:05:37.400 Just dealing with it because the world does not know 0:05:37.480 --> 0:05:39.400 about the Dells and how how. 0:05:39.720 --> 0:05:43.400 So let me so the Dell's, you know, my favorite 0:05:43.400 --> 0:05:45.880 singing group. People know, Oh what a Night is one 0:05:45.920 --> 0:05:48.960 of their big, big, big songs, and Marvin singing the 0:05:49.000 --> 0:05:52.400 long note, and at first they got pushed back from 0:05:52.400 --> 0:05:56.000 that record because they go, this record is too long, 0:05:56.360 --> 0:05:59.040 but the DJs eventually loved it because they could take 0:05:59.040 --> 0:06:00.280 a break and people. 0:06:00.360 --> 0:06:02.479 Love that long note and then the whole thing. 0:06:02.880 --> 0:06:06.240 So the first meeting with the Dell's could have been 0:06:06.240 --> 0:06:09.440 the last meeting because they were at the will Turn 0:06:09.560 --> 0:06:12.160 Theater and I was like, oh, you know, like after 0:06:12.160 --> 0:06:14.320 the whole thing happened with the Temptations, I was like, 0:06:15.000 --> 0:06:17.480 they're in town, so I'll go talk to them. 0:06:17.560 --> 0:06:17.720 Now. 0:06:17.720 --> 0:06:19.599 I don't know how to interview people, so I was 0:06:19.640 --> 0:06:23.320 never like that, so we I do my research before 0:06:23.360 --> 0:06:26.920 I go there. On their first album cover, they weren't 0:06:26.960 --> 0:06:27.520 on the cover. 0:06:27.720 --> 0:06:29.040 It's a white couple. 0:06:28.920 --> 0:06:32.200 Walking along Michigan Avenue looking so in love, and so 0:06:33.080 --> 0:06:35.640 I'm like, and they're on the back of the little 0:06:35.680 --> 0:06:37.240 square this big and so then I was like, that's 0:06:37.279 --> 0:06:38.880 kind of messed up their first album, and I was like, 0:06:38.920 --> 0:06:41.400 that's kind of weird. So anyway, I go to the 0:06:41.400 --> 0:06:43.720 will Turn. They're getting ready for the show. They're all 0:06:43.760 --> 0:06:46.560 in their white bathrobes and they're putting their makeup on 0:06:46.680 --> 0:06:48.520 and just chilling and everything. 0:06:48.360 --> 0:06:50.360 And so they're all friendly and nice. Robert Towns is 0:06:50.440 --> 0:06:52.760 coming to see us. Man, Robert Towns, Hey, how you doing, Robert? 0:06:52.760 --> 0:06:53.200 How you doing? 0:06:53.520 --> 0:06:54.400 And so then we're. 0:06:54.240 --> 0:06:57.039 Talking, and so then I'm looking at them and I'm 0:06:57.080 --> 0:06:59.640 like going, I say, hey man, I'm trying to do 0:06:59.680 --> 0:07:01.560 this move. I want to get it real about how 0:07:01.600 --> 0:07:03.840 groups were treated, how much money you made. And I 0:07:03.839 --> 0:07:06.280 could see their faces changing in the mirror, and I 0:07:06.360 --> 0:07:08.719 was like, okay, I just said something wrong. And so 0:07:08.839 --> 0:07:11.200 then they were like, yeah, man, yeah we made money. 0:07:11.280 --> 0:07:15.000 Yeah we did, we did. And so then they're continued talking. 0:07:15.040 --> 0:07:17.520 Then I said, your album cover. I said, why would 0:07:17.600 --> 0:07:19.600 y'all on the front page of the album cover? And 0:07:19.680 --> 0:07:21.480 I don't know, I just because I was I had 0:07:21.520 --> 0:07:24.160 just looked at it. And so then in the mirror, 0:07:24.840 --> 0:07:28.480 now they're in their seventies, late sixties, and I see 0:07:28.520 --> 0:07:34.440 Marvin Junior go and I go, oh, man, Rob, you 0:07:34.440 --> 0:07:36.720 shouldn't have brought that up. And then he goes, oh, 0:07:36.800 --> 0:07:39.920 you know, they made a decision and we just decided that, 0:07:40.000 --> 0:07:41.520 you know, that's how they was gonna go. 0:07:42.040 --> 0:07:48.120 And then all of a sudden, it was Vern, and 0:07:48.240 --> 0:07:49.480 Vern says. 0:07:50.920 --> 0:07:53.840 They wanted us to cross over. They said it would 0:07:53.840 --> 0:07:55.840 be good for our audience, you know. And then then 0:07:56.040 --> 0:07:58.880 then I forgot. Mickey said, you know yeah, because they 0:07:58.960 --> 0:08:01.480 couldn't they you know, they could hear our music, but 0:08:01.800 --> 0:08:03.640 white people don't want to see our faces. And so 0:08:03.680 --> 0:08:05.720 they started going back and forth. And then I was like, 0:08:05.880 --> 0:08:08.680 and I was in the mirror, right, and I was 0:08:08.720 --> 0:08:12.920 like the crossover cross that came from them, and so 0:08:13.040 --> 0:08:14.680 as they were going through it, and it kind of 0:08:14.680 --> 0:08:19.200 broke my heart because they were old, older men. But 0:08:19.240 --> 0:08:21.160 then when I was looking through the mirror, cause I 0:08:21.160 --> 0:08:22.640 was sitting back while they were all in the mirrors, 0:08:22.680 --> 0:08:23.720 but they couldn't they could see me. 0:08:23.720 --> 0:08:24.480 They couldn't see me. 0:08:24.760 --> 0:08:28.040 But then as I was looking at them, that memory 0:08:28.120 --> 0:08:31.720 was like it was yesterday, and I was like, oh my. 0:08:31.760 --> 0:08:33.400 God, the pain. 0:08:33.559 --> 0:08:37.040 Because then then Mickey said, yeah, man, we went to 0:08:37.080 --> 0:08:40.200 the barbershop and they clowned us hard man. Everybody at 0:08:40.200 --> 0:08:43.560 the barbershop was like, what is this bullshit? And we 0:08:43.640 --> 0:08:46.840 felt so disrespected and dah da da da. But then 0:08:47.120 --> 0:08:48.800 you know, they made. 0:08:48.640 --> 0:08:50.520 It up to us and blah blah blah blah blah blah. 0:08:50.559 --> 0:08:53.679 But so that's how, that's how the Dell's and that's 0:08:53.679 --> 0:08:54.559 what the Dells gave me. 0:08:54.840 --> 0:08:57.679 So how much of Johnny Carter's life was in h 0:08:58.240 --> 0:09:01.120 the High Voice? 0:09:01.480 --> 0:09:04.600 Yeah, we just took pieces of different you know. You know, 0:09:05.440 --> 0:09:08.000 let me say this, the thing of the church and 0:09:08.880 --> 0:09:12.120 secular music has always been there, so everybody dealt with that. 0:09:12.240 --> 0:09:14.440 So that's why we you know, it was that, you know, 0:09:14.480 --> 0:09:16.680 and which is real? You know, like, hey, you can't 0:09:16.720 --> 0:09:19.840 serve two masters, you know, so all. 0:09:19.600 --> 0:09:21.840 Actor the actor you castro, I can't remember his name 0:09:21.880 --> 0:09:23.120 off the top of my head, but you also he 0:09:23.160 --> 0:09:27.199 also played your dad, I think, uh. 0:09:26.480 --> 0:09:29.320 Oh, David McKnight. Yeah, yeah, David McKnight. 0:09:28.920 --> 0:09:31.880 And he was in Hollywood Shuffle and then also he 0:09:31.880 --> 0:09:32.880 played choir boys. 0:09:32.720 --> 0:09:34.320 Dad and David McKnight. 0:09:34.760 --> 0:09:36.000 No, I love him as. 0:09:36.080 --> 0:09:38.760 He was the first actor Pey Moon Ramie. 0:09:39.040 --> 0:09:41.040 He entered when I was in college and I was 0:09:41.080 --> 0:09:44.480 in speech contest in college. The first time I came 0:09:44.640 --> 0:09:48.560 to Los Angeles, he was the first person to show 0:09:48.600 --> 0:09:50.920 me around, David McKnight, and he had just finished a 0:09:50.960 --> 0:09:53.680 movie called JD's Revenge. 0:09:52.480 --> 0:09:54.800 Yes he was bad, he was JD. 0:09:55.400 --> 0:09:58.679 So yeah, man, wait, do you have another I have 0:09:58.840 --> 0:10:03.520 so many, but final five Heart Beats question one of 0:10:03.559 --> 0:10:06.839 the things I remember about that movie. It wasn't even 0:10:06.880 --> 0:10:09.679 so much about the movie. I remember because this is 0:10:10.320 --> 0:10:14.880 what ninety one. I was twelve, all right, So I'm 0:10:14.920 --> 0:10:19.160 watching teen Summit, you know what I mean, And so 0:10:19.720 --> 0:10:21.280 you know, back then, I would just go to the 0:10:21.320 --> 0:10:22.880 movies and my mother would just let me go to 0:10:22.920 --> 0:10:23.880 the movies by myself. 0:10:23.920 --> 0:10:24.720 I just go watch. 0:10:24.800 --> 0:10:29.520 And so I went and saw Five Heartbeats and I'm like, 0:10:29.600 --> 0:10:31.439 oh my god, this is the greatest movie ever, you 0:10:31.520 --> 0:10:33.880 know what I mean. So then later on I see 0:10:33.880 --> 0:10:36.240 you guys on teen Summit and you're like, yo, y'all 0:10:36.240 --> 0:10:39.319 need to support it, we need whatever. And it really 0:10:39.440 --> 0:10:42.120 kind of cracked the facade. I was like, oh wow, 0:10:42.280 --> 0:10:44.400 like this is is it not successful? 0:10:44.400 --> 0:10:46.400 Like how is it not? This movie is amazing. 0:10:46.760 --> 0:10:49.440 But I really appreciate it, just how real y'all kept it. 0:10:49.520 --> 0:10:51.840 I remember you and Michael Wright, he was with it, 0:10:52.160 --> 0:10:54.400 and they was just like, yo, like you know, we 0:10:54.440 --> 0:10:56.480 need to support this. And you were talking about the marketing, 0:10:56.880 --> 0:11:00.240 and that was just something that you know, seeing black 0:11:00.320 --> 0:11:03.120 artists on a platform like be he talking so openly 0:11:03.360 --> 0:11:05.439 about the struggles that y'all were having on a movie 0:11:05.480 --> 0:11:07.880 that was in theaters, you know what I mean, Like 0:11:07.920 --> 0:11:09.560 that shit was big, you know what I mean, And 0:11:09.600 --> 0:11:11.120 so I just want you to talk about that man, 0:11:11.760 --> 0:11:12.160 you know, you. 0:11:12.160 --> 0:11:14.400 Know it is you know, let me just say this, 0:11:17.280 --> 0:11:22.360 the five heartbeats. That's the madness of Townshend on the 0:11:22.440 --> 0:11:26.400 highest level. Because I saw close to ten thousand people 0:11:26.400 --> 0:11:29.040 to be in that film. You know, I had auditions 0:11:29.080 --> 0:11:32.880 in three different cities and just just trying to make it. 0:11:36.360 --> 0:11:41.640 I'm co writing, I'm directing, I'm producing, I'm acting, and 0:11:41.679 --> 0:11:43.880 so I'm wearing all these hats and then I'm playing 0:11:44.160 --> 0:11:46.480 music guy as well, because I had to pick the 0:11:46.559 --> 0:11:50.479 music and the lyrics, have to make sense and learn choreography. 0:11:50.520 --> 0:11:53.760 So it was like one of the hardest things for me. 0:11:54.360 --> 0:11:59.320 But I loved every second of it. But again it's 0:11:59.320 --> 0:12:02.520 that thing again of like the marketing wasn't what I 0:12:02.559 --> 0:12:05.120 thought it was going to be and I wasn't happy, 0:12:05.640 --> 0:12:08.520 and you know, this is my that was my second movie, 0:12:08.880 --> 0:12:11.080 you know what I mean. But I've always been like ah, 0:12:11.520 --> 0:12:14.080 you know, and so I lost the battle on the marketing. 0:12:14.520 --> 0:12:17.360 So when the film started to die, I was like, 0:12:17.440 --> 0:12:22.000 this can't be this can't be and the film died, 0:12:22.040 --> 0:12:24.760 but it didn't die. It was just yeah. 0:12:24.760 --> 0:12:28.640 I was like, do you consider it called classic because 0:12:28.960 --> 0:12:30.360 to me, it's not. 0:12:30.600 --> 0:12:33.200 Anytime that movie's on I'm watching it. Yeah. Period. No. 0:12:33.240 --> 0:12:37.760 I mean when I say it didn't the box office numbers, 0:12:38.559 --> 0:12:40.960 but I think because the marketing people didn't know what 0:12:41.000 --> 0:12:43.280 they were getting, so we didn't make any money. But 0:12:43.400 --> 0:12:48.400 then now it's like over a billion, almost two billion 0:12:48.400 --> 0:12:51.040 clips shared worldwide because they send me the numbers on 0:12:51.120 --> 0:12:53.880 like people will send the Sisters scene and they'll send 0:12:54.000 --> 0:12:56.280 Eddie King and then all the memes of Gang and 0:12:56.640 --> 0:12:57.760 I don't have to finish yet. 0:12:57.840 --> 0:12:59.960 What does that mean for you monetarily though? That doesn't 0:13:00.400 --> 0:13:01.280 that doesn't. 0:13:01.640 --> 0:13:04.719 Well, the thing is that, uh I means but see here, 0:13:04.920 --> 0:13:07.880 so I'll put it like this, No, I do not 0:13:08.080 --> 0:13:13.000 make any money on the clips, but the brand is 0:13:13.760 --> 0:13:15.560 I was not wrong, you know. I mean I have 0:13:15.640 --> 0:13:18.600 ideas sometimes and I think my mind goes, you know, 0:13:18.640 --> 0:13:20.520 like I will create something like right now in my 0:13:20.559 --> 0:13:22.439 brain there's so many different shows and stuff that I'm 0:13:22.480 --> 0:13:25.400 working on that they're all different, and I just it's 0:13:25.440 --> 0:13:27.000 like there's a certain touch that I have, Like you 0:13:27.040 --> 0:13:31.080 can watch movies. And I designed my movies in such 0:13:31.080 --> 0:13:33.720 a way that I want you to watch them again 0:13:34.000 --> 0:13:36.400 and again and again and again. If I if I've 0:13:36.400 --> 0:13:38.360 done it right, I've done it right, you know, if 0:13:38.360 --> 0:13:41.720 I've added like even like movies that I just directed, 0:13:41.800 --> 0:13:44.120 like Baps. You know, there's so many people that want 0:13:44.160 --> 0:13:45.360 to remake Baps. 0:13:45.040 --> 0:13:47.640 And they were a whole that's. 0:13:47.559 --> 0:13:50.320 A whole other story that they want to do it. 0:13:50.320 --> 0:13:52.480 But it's not. It's not It's got to be right. 0:13:52.640 --> 0:13:53.400 It's got to be right. 0:13:55.240 --> 0:13:56.800 Metior Man, thank you, thank you. 0:13:58.760 --> 0:14:00.520 Wait real quick because I want to give props to 0:14:00.559 --> 0:14:03.760 the young young and just doing our make up upstairs, Aaron, 0:14:03.840 --> 0:14:07.040 she said, wait, did Robert Townsend put the first black 0:14:07.120 --> 0:14:08.640 action hero on film? 0:14:09.800 --> 0:14:18.160 And I was like, yeah, yeah, that was the thing? 0:14:18.240 --> 0:14:20.880 Is that again? That's a trojan horse. It's like, uh. 0:14:21.640 --> 0:14:25.920 When my nephew was really little, Greg Junior, and I 0:14:26.200 --> 0:14:29.680 was and I was coming back to Chicago and it 0:14:29.800 --> 0:14:31.920 was like around Halloween, and I was like, who you're 0:14:31.920 --> 0:14:35.560 going to be for Halloween? Superman, Batman? And he was like, 0:14:35.920 --> 0:14:38.960 I can't be them because they're white. And I was, 0:14:39.080 --> 0:14:40.560 you know, and because like you grew up in the hood, 0:14:40.680 --> 0:14:42.400 there's a certain you know. And I was like, no, 0:14:42.560 --> 0:14:44.920 that's wrong, man. Everybody can be a hero, you know, 0:14:45.040 --> 0:14:47.160 I like Superman, like Batman. You could be whatever you 0:14:47.200 --> 0:14:49.000 want to be. And so then I said, oh, I'll 0:14:49.040 --> 0:14:52.160 create a hero that that looks like you know, looks 0:14:52.160 --> 0:14:52.520 like him. 0:14:53.120 --> 0:14:53.320 Man. 0:14:53.360 --> 0:14:55.480 What was it like having Luther Vandros like. 0:14:58.760 --> 0:15:00.400 You know, you know, like. 0:15:01.680 --> 0:15:02.000 Luther. 0:15:02.720 --> 0:15:06.400 I well, that's a whole another because when I got married, 0:15:06.600 --> 0:15:09.040 you know, it was like we would only play Luther, 0:15:09.200 --> 0:15:11.240 go to Luther concerts and all of that. 0:15:11.400 --> 0:15:14.560 So when I re, huh we. 0:15:14.520 --> 0:15:16.560 Heard Johnny will say he's a hell of a busser 0:15:17.320 --> 0:15:18.320 like the Dozens. 0:15:18.400 --> 0:15:21.120 Yes, so no, But the thing that I would say 0:15:21.200 --> 0:15:24.440 is that, you know when I said, hey, would you want. 0:15:24.240 --> 0:15:24.800 To be in the movie? 0:15:24.840 --> 0:15:26.920 Because I called him and he was working with Gregory 0:15:26.960 --> 0:15:30.720 Hines on an album or something better, and so then 0:15:30.720 --> 0:15:32.200 I said would you be in a movie? And so 0:15:32.320 --> 0:15:34.000 then he goes, you want me to be in a movie? 0:15:34.040 --> 0:15:35.200 And I says, yeah, but I want you to play 0:15:35.200 --> 0:15:36.600 the bad guy and I want you to have a gun, 0:15:36.640 --> 0:15:38.560 and he says, I have a gun, and so he 0:15:38.640 --> 0:15:40.400 was going through this whole thing and he goes he says, 0:15:40.520 --> 0:15:42.400 are you serious, And I said, yeah, we're just in 0:15:42.400 --> 0:15:45.680 pre production. He says, can I will you give me 0:15:45.720 --> 0:15:48.200 six months? And I was like, give you six months 0:15:48.240 --> 0:15:50.400 and he was and I was like, if you need 0:15:50.520 --> 0:15:52.080 you know, I was like, yeah, we'll be ready, but 0:15:52.120 --> 0:15:53.800 you know, you know our schedule around your schedule. 0:15:53.800 --> 0:15:56.480 He said, give me six months. And he was heavier then, 0:15:56.680 --> 0:15:59.960 and then he lost all that weight for the little role. 0:16:00.360 --> 0:16:06.320 So when he showed up, I was like, right, right. 0:16:04.560 --> 0:16:04.800 Right. 0:16:06.240 --> 0:16:08.280 Guy, Yeah, yeah, no, but but he was perfect, but 0:16:08.720 --> 0:16:10.560 he was He took it serious. He took it really serious. 0:16:10.560 --> 0:16:11.920 And we were trying to do some other stuff. So 0:16:11.960 --> 0:16:12.960 it was it broke my heart. 0:16:12.840 --> 0:16:14.280 With another actor. 0:16:14.320 --> 0:16:16.360 One thing I always appreciated you, like kind of like 0:16:16.400 --> 0:16:18.920 with Spike, where you have your kind of crew of 0:16:19.000 --> 0:16:21.400 actors that can keep working with. Yes, and one guy 0:16:21.440 --> 0:16:25.640 that I always love, man Roy Fagan to He was like, 0:16:25.800 --> 0:16:26.520 I met Roy. 0:16:27.240 --> 0:16:38.400 I was like, so he was dangled Roy bro I 0:16:38.520 --> 0:16:39.960 met Roy. This was man. 0:16:40.000 --> 0:16:42.280 I was a kid, I'm like thirteen years old, and 0:16:42.320 --> 0:16:45.440 I went to he was doing a play in my 0:16:45.480 --> 0:16:46.600 city in Greensville, North Caroline. 0:16:46.680 --> 0:16:48.280 He was doing a play at It was an. 0:16:48.160 --> 0:16:50.800 Anti which is the hbc U in our tity and 0:16:50.920 --> 0:16:53.200 uh he was oning to play there and I afterwards, 0:16:53.200 --> 0:16:55.720 I just went down in the front row and you know, 0:16:55.840 --> 0:16:58.000 the cast came out and I just started chopping up 0:16:58.040 --> 0:16:59.720 with him and talking about acting and like kind of 0:16:59.720 --> 0:17:00.400 like what is it like? 0:17:00.560 --> 0:17:01.000 Was it being? 0:17:01.480 --> 0:17:03.120 He was just giving me game? He's like, oh man, 0:17:03.160 --> 0:17:04.919 you know you seem like a smart kid. You know 0:17:04.960 --> 0:17:06.720 you got a nice commercial look, you know what I mean? 0:17:06.800 --> 0:17:10.200 Like he was he was cool and I always respected 0:17:10.240 --> 0:17:11.760 it and remember that, and I just wanted to know 0:17:11.800 --> 0:17:13.600 what was it like working with him because I. 0:17:13.520 --> 0:17:14.600 Always working again. 0:17:14.760 --> 0:17:19.040 Roy has been so Roy was the was the bad 0:17:19.040 --> 0:17:21.480 guy in Hollywood Shuffle. That was like, don't sell out? 0:17:21.680 --> 0:17:23.960 You know he sold out? 0:17:24.320 --> 0:17:26.000 What's really happened in real life. That's the one something 0:17:26.040 --> 0:17:27.720 that Keen and I wrote clear the audition. This guy 0:17:27.760 --> 0:17:29.399 messed our heads up. He was like, brother, don't go 0:17:29.480 --> 0:17:29.760 in there. 0:17:29.800 --> 0:17:30.040 Man. 0:17:30.240 --> 0:17:31.840 They trying to get some brother to sell out again. 0:17:31.960 --> 0:17:34.040 Me and Keing like really really, and then he went 0:17:34.119 --> 0:17:35.720 in there with that same kind of energy. But no, 0:17:35.800 --> 0:17:37.439 Roy is just a great actor. I mean, you know, 0:17:37.520 --> 0:17:40.040 like even a meteor man playing the bad guy. You know, 0:17:40.200 --> 0:17:42.720 he's just a versatile. He's just a really versatile actor. 0:17:42.880 --> 0:17:44.080 Yeah, man, that's up. 0:17:44.240 --> 0:17:45.879 Can you talk about why you decided to do this 0:17:45.960 --> 0:17:46.359 in DC? 0:17:47.119 --> 0:17:50.000 There was a part of me that the whole thing 0:17:50.320 --> 0:17:53.280 of Washington Justice. 0:17:53.920 --> 0:17:56.160 Yeah, so that's why I wanted to it there. 0:17:56.840 --> 0:17:59.720 Yeah, okay, all right from Atlanta last episode. 0:18:00.680 --> 0:18:02.479 I was born to Howard University Hospital, sir. 0:18:03.000 --> 0:18:11.360 Okay, all right, so DC, I get it. I want 0:18:11.359 --> 0:18:11.960 to talk raw. 0:18:12.040 --> 0:18:12.840 But it just hit me. 0:18:13.920 --> 0:18:22.920 He's responsible for probably one of my best known songs 0:18:22.920 --> 0:18:30.520