WEBVTT - ITS Home Edition: Anthony Ramos 0:00:01.480 --> 0:00:05.000 Welcome to Inside the Studio presented by I Heart Radio. 0:00:05.240 --> 0:00:18.560 I'm your host, Joe League. Okay, So, like a lot 0:00:18.600 --> 0:00:21.320 of us, the guest on this episode of the home 0:00:21.440 --> 0:00:24.720 edition of the show, Anthony Ramos, has been figuring out 0:00:24.880 --> 0:00:28.000 how to keep busy, how to keep working, and he 0:00:28.160 --> 0:00:32.560 has kept working. He's almost done with his second album. 0:00:32.560 --> 0:00:34.839 But also, like a lot of us, he's been keeping 0:00:34.920 --> 0:00:40.240 busy in a different place, namely at home. So even 0:00:40.240 --> 0:00:43.800 though he started working on the song before Lockdown, his 0:00:43.880 --> 0:00:49.559 new single Stop is partly about this. It's about learning 0:00:49.600 --> 0:00:52.360 how to be still, how to enjoy some silence, And 0:00:52.680 --> 0:00:54.600 this was all on our mind when we started the 0:00:54.640 --> 0:00:56.560 home edition of the show. The idea was to let 0:00:56.600 --> 0:00:59.400 you know how artists are coping with Lockdown, how it's 0:00:59.440 --> 0:01:02.280 affecting their lives, how it's affecting the way they make music, 0:01:02.880 --> 0:01:07.280 how it's stopping or starting their creativity. And when Anthony 0:01:07.319 --> 0:01:10.520 talked about giving himself permission to sit on the couch 0:01:10.560 --> 0:01:14.080 and watch old Harry Potter movies in this episode, I 0:01:14.120 --> 0:01:17.039 really felt that, although in my case it was old 0:01:17.040 --> 0:01:20.880 episodes of thirty Rock. Anyway, if you enjoy this episode, 0:01:21.120 --> 0:01:23.840 be sure to listen to the I heart radio podcast 0:01:24.000 --> 0:01:28.560 hosted by our Quarantine correspondent Jordan runt Talk. It's called Rivals, 0:01:29.080 --> 0:01:33.560 Music's Greatest Feuds, and it is available wherever you get 0:01:33.560 --> 0:01:45.119 your podcast. Hello everybody, my name is Jordan runt Talk. 0:01:45.200 --> 0:01:47.480 But enough about me. My guest today is a star 0:01:47.520 --> 0:01:50.320 of stage, screen and song. It sounds like a cliche, 0:01:50.440 --> 0:01:51.920 but in this case, there's no other way to put it. 0:01:52.040 --> 0:01:54.440 He truly has done it all. You probably know him 0:01:54.440 --> 0:01:57.080 from the original cast of Hamilton's or the hit Netflix 0:01:57.120 --> 0:01:59.600 series She's Got to Have It, or for appearing alongside 0:01:59.680 --> 0:02:02.400 Lady Uga and a star was born. Last fall, he 0:02:02.440 --> 0:02:04.480 dropped his debut solo album, The Good and the Bad, 0:02:04.640 --> 0:02:06.880 a series of soulful tracks to tell the story of 0:02:07.000 --> 0:02:10.040 his remarkable life so far. You think a global pandemic 0:02:10.120 --> 0:02:12.240 might slow him down, but you'd be wrong. He has 0:02:12.280 --> 0:02:15.000 a new single, Stop, which explores the beauty of staying 0:02:15.040 --> 0:02:16.840 still just a little bit, maybe one of the only 0:02:16.880 --> 0:02:19.080 good things to come from the COVID pandemic. I'm so 0:02:19.120 --> 0:02:21.400 happy to welcome Anthony Ramos. Thank you so much for 0:02:21.440 --> 0:02:23.400 being here. It's such an honest I'm doing it. Thanks 0:02:23.400 --> 0:02:26.160 for having me so You've been so busy these last 0:02:26.160 --> 0:02:28.040 few years. You've gone from filming in the Heights to 0:02:28.120 --> 0:02:30.679 recording your debut solo album filming She's Gotta Have It, 0:02:30.760 --> 0:02:33.400 And now you're sitting still, Like how you adjusting to 0:02:33.440 --> 0:02:36.600 all this downtime? Oh? Man, dude, I think, uh, I 0:02:36.639 --> 0:02:40.480 think it's been nice. It's been nice. Actually I've had 0:02:40.560 --> 0:02:44.200 that much downtime, but uh, but but I've had more 0:02:44.280 --> 0:02:46.760 than than than usual, and it's been really nice to 0:02:47.160 --> 0:02:49.919 be able to just like one, be in the apartment 0:02:49.919 --> 0:02:52.200 that I like pay rant for what I'm saying, like 0:02:52.720 --> 0:02:54.800 not on a plane somewhere like you know. And I 0:02:54.840 --> 0:02:57.919 love traveling, and I love working, and I love doing 0:02:58.080 --> 0:03:01.880 things and seeing things and experiencing new new things. But 0:03:02.480 --> 0:03:06.160 I really am hyped and uh and just like grateful 0:03:06.800 --> 0:03:09.200 for this time I've had at home. Man, Like it 0:03:09.360 --> 0:03:12.280 just it just really made me appreciate it more and more. 0:03:12.320 --> 0:03:15.480 And like after this, um, I think being home will 0:03:15.560 --> 0:03:17.360 will as much as I can, will be at the 0:03:17.400 --> 0:03:19.680 top of my mind way more than it was before. 0:03:20.040 --> 0:03:21.680 You know, I was like where we go? Before I 0:03:21.680 --> 0:03:23.480 was like, Yo, where we're gonna we out, let's go, 0:03:23.840 --> 0:03:26.600 We're go. And now I'm working on my second album. Man, 0:03:26.600 --> 0:03:31.000 I'm almost done, you know, so so we're uh, you know, 0:03:31.000 --> 0:03:32.920 we're in the thick of it. It was I had 0:03:32.919 --> 0:03:35.840 to get on this equipment because you know, A and R. 0:03:35.880 --> 0:03:38.600 I was like, Yo, come on, so we start at 0:03:38.640 --> 0:03:41.880 work sun. Yeah, let's great. You're feeling productive because I 0:03:41.880 --> 0:03:43.440 feel like I hear both sides. I hear people that 0:03:43.480 --> 0:03:46.119 are like, all right, I'm here, I'm gonna work so hard, 0:03:46.240 --> 0:03:47.760 or those people that are just like I just am 0:03:47.800 --> 0:03:50.480 not feeling it right now, but you're feeling inspired right now. No, 0:03:50.600 --> 0:03:53.760 I'm feel really inspired for sure. Yeah. Man, it's uh 0:03:54.080 --> 0:03:56.360 because you know, I think there was this pressure that 0:03:56.400 --> 0:03:59.520 I put on myself at the start of this, and well, 0:03:59.520 --> 0:04:01.200 first of all, I was like, how am I gonna 0:04:01.200 --> 0:04:03.000 deal with this? This is a whole new way of 0:04:03.080 --> 0:04:06.920 life that I've not experienced I don't know ever. And 0:04:07.040 --> 0:04:10.440 uh as far as like learning how to be still 0:04:10.480 --> 0:04:14.480 and actually like finding comfort and and and being still. 0:04:14.520 --> 0:04:16.400 So there was two weeks where I was just trying 0:04:16.400 --> 0:04:18.880 to get over that. And then after that it was 0:04:18.880 --> 0:04:22.280 like ship do I make Like how do I I 0:04:22.320 --> 0:04:24.960 wanna do I make? Like A like, do I write 0:04:25.000 --> 0:04:27.479 songs right now? Do I I don't know what do 0:04:27.520 --> 0:04:28.920 I what I do? Do I write script do? I 0:04:29.160 --> 0:04:30.480 don't know what. I don't know what to do right 0:04:30.480 --> 0:04:32.440 now with myself. And and then there were you know, 0:04:32.480 --> 0:04:35.159 there's all the people posting about if you're an artist, 0:04:35.640 --> 0:04:37.719 this is the time to make art, right like, and 0:04:37.760 --> 0:04:40.000 I'm like, you know, but I don't feel inspired. I 0:04:40.000 --> 0:04:43.960 don't feel inspired to make art. And and then so 0:04:44.000 --> 0:04:46.479 I think it wasn't even It wasn't until maybe a 0:04:46.560 --> 0:04:50.440 month maybe till April, which oddly enough was like the 0:04:50.560 --> 0:04:54.240 armor getting period. I would call in New York City anyway, 0:04:54.279 --> 0:04:56.560 who's who lives in New York or was in New 0:04:56.640 --> 0:05:02.560 York and April knows that that it was like crazy here, uh, 0:05:02.600 --> 0:05:06.040 I mean the hospitals were full, Like I mean, I've 0:05:06.040 --> 0:05:09.240 never heard sirens like the way I heard them, uh, 0:05:09.440 --> 0:05:11.760 you know, and so so so that was wild. But 0:05:11.839 --> 0:05:15.520 I think in that time I had started to accept 0:05:15.600 --> 0:05:18.080 like what like life is gonna be and what it 0:05:18.160 --> 0:05:20.760 is at the moment. And then I think, then the 0:05:20.839 --> 0:05:24.360 creativity and then the then then the spark to write 0:05:24.400 --> 0:05:27.799 songs and too to do stuff kind of naturally happened 0:05:27.800 --> 0:05:29.800 and I stopped kind of it kind of happened when 0:05:29.800 --> 0:05:33.919 I stopped forcing myself to to work, or I was, 0:05:34.120 --> 0:05:36.839 you know, forcing myself to work for the sake of 0:05:36.880 --> 0:05:38.720 doing it, right, Like, I was just kind of just 0:05:38.760 --> 0:05:41.479 doing it just because I was like, well, what else 0:05:41.480 --> 0:05:43.200 am I gonna do? But then then I was kind 0:05:43.200 --> 0:05:44.840 of like, no, you know, I actually like it's okay 0:05:44.880 --> 0:05:46.120 if I just want to set on the couch and 0:05:46.160 --> 0:05:50.080 watch Harry Potter, Like that's fine, Like I can do 0:05:50.120 --> 0:05:52.000 that as much as I want to do that. I 0:05:52.000 --> 0:05:53.920 should actually do that as much as I want to 0:05:53.960 --> 0:05:57.400 do that, right, like um and uh. And then when 0:05:57.440 --> 0:05:59.800 I feel compelled to write a song or I feel 0:06:00.240 --> 0:06:03.240 to move and put the pens in the paper, you know, 0:06:03.480 --> 0:06:05.440 on the fingers of the phone, you know, and and 0:06:05.680 --> 0:06:07.800 you know, and then we'll do that. So I think 0:06:07.800 --> 0:06:10.560 that that's that was kind of the natural progression. Tell 0:06:10.560 --> 0:06:12.440 me about your new single Stop. I mean to me, 0:06:12.520 --> 0:06:15.000 it sounds like sort of like zen lessons learned from 0:06:15.040 --> 0:06:18.240 from lockdown, being present, being in the moment, just slowing down. 0:06:18.480 --> 0:06:20.240 What is the genesis of that song is? That's sort 0:06:20.279 --> 0:06:22.120 of everything you just mentioned, like learning how to just 0:06:22.120 --> 0:06:24.640 sort of be still. The genesis of that song was, 0:06:24.800 --> 0:06:27.599 what's what's interesting about that song is that song what 0:06:27.640 --> 0:06:30.920 was written I would say days before I came back 0:06:30.960 --> 0:06:33.680 to New York and probably a week and a half 0:06:33.720 --> 0:06:35.320 before I found out that we were going to go 0:06:35.320 --> 0:06:38.480 on the lockdown. Well, so it wasn't even about what 0:06:38.640 --> 0:06:42.600 I'm going through now, but it sounds so perfect. It's crazy, 0:06:42.640 --> 0:06:45.080 like that song was about what I was going through 0:06:45.120 --> 0:06:48.839 before this. So that's probably I mean to go back 0:06:48.839 --> 0:06:50.679 to what I was saying about those first two weeks 0:06:50.680 --> 0:06:53.880 when when when you know, and dealing with the reality 0:06:53.920 --> 0:06:56.600 of of now being in lockdown and how how was 0:06:56.640 --> 0:07:00.719 I gonna how was I gonna like that to that 0:07:00.800 --> 0:07:03.400 because I had I hadn't lived that way. Like some 0:07:03.440 --> 0:07:05.960 people are good in silence. Some people know how to 0:07:06.080 --> 0:07:09.600 just like read a book and chill for a whole day, 0:07:09.640 --> 0:07:12.320 you know, and they find peace in that. Like I'm 0:07:12.360 --> 0:07:14.000 just like on the goal and if I'm not going, 0:07:14.200 --> 0:07:16.160 like what am I doing with my life right now? 0:07:16.240 --> 0:07:19.760 I should be seeing friends or I should be you know, 0:07:19.960 --> 0:07:25.560 working on something, and that mentality like I've had for years, 0:07:25.600 --> 0:07:28.080 you know, And I think, I mean to be honest, like, uh, 0:07:28.320 --> 0:07:30.920 some of it comes from growing up in a way 0:07:30.960 --> 0:07:34.160 where you feel like I have nothing and I have 0:07:34.240 --> 0:07:37.720 to do everything to just get something. It was funny 0:07:37.760 --> 0:07:40.640 like I had a baseball coach who used to my 0:07:40.880 --> 0:07:42.760 brother actually used to say this too, used to say, Yo, 0:07:42.840 --> 0:07:45.000 you know, when you sleep with somebody else, someone else's 0:07:45.520 --> 0:07:47.960 is trying to take a spot or something like, when 0:07:48.040 --> 0:07:50.960 you sleep with someone else is working hard and uh, 0:07:51.040 --> 0:07:54.200 and it's almost like, so you grow up now and 0:07:54.240 --> 0:07:56.160 now I at twenty years old, it is almost like 0:07:56.200 --> 0:07:59.960 I feel guilty when out like to sleep, for sleeping, 0:08:00.280 --> 0:08:03.880 for resting, first being still because it's like if I'm still, 0:08:04.000 --> 0:08:07.680 someone is out there working harder than me. And then uh, 0:08:07.920 --> 0:08:09.960 and this is what this time is talking like. And 0:08:10.000 --> 0:08:12.640 so I wrote a song about that. This song is 0:08:12.720 --> 0:08:14.400 me saying I want to learn how to do that. 0:08:14.440 --> 0:08:15.880 I want to learn how to stop. And then the 0:08:15.920 --> 0:08:20.480 world stopped and we were like, you you know, a 0:08:20.520 --> 0:08:22.840 song that was about one moment becomes about more than 0:08:22.880 --> 0:08:25.840 one moment, you know, And I think that's that's the 0:08:25.880 --> 0:08:28.920 beauty and and and uh and the music and and 0:08:29.160 --> 0:08:31.200 and this song stopped for me. You know, it's like 0:08:31.560 --> 0:08:33.680 the first verses. Sometimes I wish my life was like 0:08:33.720 --> 0:08:36.480 a photograph double tap, the good ones and just photoshop 0:08:36.520 --> 0:08:38.720 the bad I put them in my wilet, in my pocket. 0:08:38.720 --> 0:08:40.120 If I need them, then I got him. A life 0:08:40.160 --> 0:08:42.199 don't work like that. Sometimes I feel like I'm in 0:08:42.280 --> 0:08:44.240 Nike's on the track, even if my feet are up. 0:08:44.360 --> 0:08:46.559 Even when my feet are up, my mind is running fast. 0:08:46.800 --> 0:08:48.839 When I'm home, I getting patient when I'm going. I 0:08:48.920 --> 0:08:50.680 kind of hate it. But my life works like that. 0:08:51.280 --> 0:08:53.280 And then right and then we go into like but 0:08:53.400 --> 0:08:55.599 like it's like sunsets and open water. The sky is 0:08:55.640 --> 0:08:57.800 full of technic color. There's beauty right in front of you. 0:08:57.880 --> 0:08:59.840 There's so much to discover if you stop and breathe 0:09:00.000 --> 0:09:02.320 it for the moment, stop and give it a minute 0:09:02.360 --> 0:09:04.720 in your own it. Stop it. It's only just begun, 0:09:04.920 --> 0:09:08.520 right like every moment right, like when we step into 0:09:08.520 --> 0:09:10.800 it's only just begun. As sooner they'll be almost over. 0:09:10.880 --> 0:09:13.560 So stop, see what comes in the focus. Stop. It's 0:09:13.640 --> 0:09:16.280 kind of crazy what you notice. Stop. It's like a 0:09:16.400 --> 0:09:19.200 setting sun. Sooner will be almost over. Stop right like 0:09:19.559 --> 0:09:21.720 I think you know, we always equate some of the 0:09:21.760 --> 0:09:25.640 most beautiful uh we say, Man, it's like, what a 0:09:25.679 --> 0:09:27.800 beautiful sunset? What if you ever heard like what an 0:09:27.880 --> 0:09:32.000 ugly sunset? Right, but right never, but you have to 0:09:32.040 --> 0:09:36.000 stop to see that taking how beautiful that sunset is, 0:09:36.040 --> 0:09:39.240 and the sunset only happens for this much time and 0:09:39.280 --> 0:09:42.480 then it's gone. A beautiful message that we all need 0:09:42.559 --> 0:09:44.640 right now. I can't believe that was written before all 0:09:44.640 --> 0:09:46.600 of this. That's so perfect. It's just really your right 0:09:46.679 --> 0:10:02.439 capt for the moment. Yeah, how has all this impacted 0:10:02.440 --> 0:10:05.280 your writing process? I know you work with your collaborator, 0:10:05.280 --> 0:10:07.480 Will Wells very often. I mean do you You've been 0:10:07.760 --> 0:10:10.280 zooming a lot? Like how's that been working? Yeah? I mean, 0:10:10.360 --> 0:10:13.040 you know, well Will and I you know, technology is amazing. 0:10:13.040 --> 0:10:14.880 I was just on. I was just on the phone 0:10:14.960 --> 0:10:17.760 right before uh you and I got on and and 0:10:17.920 --> 0:10:22.120 uh talking to someone about how how amazing technology is, 0:10:22.240 --> 0:10:27.000 Like how you could you know, well, Will, Will's technological wizards. 0:10:27.000 --> 0:10:30.400 So Will, uh you know, was on. He was giving 0:10:30.400 --> 0:10:32.959 me lessons on how to get started, how to use Logic, 0:10:33.080 --> 0:10:36.440 which is the program that many people used to to 0:10:36.760 --> 0:10:39.480 you know, cut records and too you know, cut their 0:10:39.520 --> 0:10:41.520 vocals or lay down the guitar or whatever right and 0:10:41.559 --> 0:10:43.960 make their beats and logic or able to out. In 0:10:43.960 --> 0:10:47.840 my case, I'm using logic and Will goes, um, you know, 0:10:47.880 --> 0:10:49.600 so Will, it's like teaching me how to kind of 0:10:49.679 --> 0:10:51.400 get started, how to use it, how to cut my 0:10:51.440 --> 0:10:54.600 home vocal if I need to. And but also then 0:10:54.640 --> 0:11:00.200 it's like their their applications on the computer, my team viewer, like, uh, 0:11:00.240 --> 0:11:02.840 even on Zoom right now, we're on Zoom, like where 0:11:02.840 --> 0:11:05.480 you can share your screen with someone and Will can 0:11:05.559 --> 0:11:09.360 just be engineering. But it's amazing that you can still 0:11:09.360 --> 0:11:11.679 work that. You know, we even still you know, I've 0:11:11.760 --> 0:11:15.880 I've done sessions with folks to uh, you know, Europe, 0:11:15.960 --> 0:11:17.360 and it's like, Yo, if you didn't want to read 0:11:17.400 --> 0:11:20.880 your house, I have a session, you don't, right, I 0:11:20.880 --> 0:11:22.679 mean it's not like being in the room with people. 0:11:22.720 --> 0:11:26.560 But um, but this is a nice alternative. I was 0:11:26.600 --> 0:11:28.200 so glad we get to hear your music now because 0:11:28.200 --> 0:11:30.080 I know some of your projects have been put on hold. 0:11:30.120 --> 0:11:32.240 I'm so sad about In the Heights being pushed back. 0:11:32.440 --> 0:11:35.040 But the movie set and done, right, you've you've watched it. 0:11:35.120 --> 0:11:37.240 How was that experience for you? Yeah? And the Heights 0:11:37.360 --> 0:11:40.240 was I mean that that that that experience was amazing. Man, 0:11:40.280 --> 0:11:42.120 We're done. We shot it. We shot it last summer, 0:11:43.040 --> 0:11:46.040 and uh, there there are very few things that can 0:11:46.120 --> 0:11:50.280 top um the moment I was in the middle of 0:11:50.280 --> 0:11:54.040 the street and Washington Heights with seventy four other you know, 0:11:54.400 --> 0:11:57.920 uh Latin X artists dancing in the middle of the street, 0:11:57.960 --> 0:12:00.280 singing about pride and singing about what with um and 0:12:00.320 --> 0:12:03.800 singing about like um and you know, going hard in 0:12:03.840 --> 0:12:08.920 the hot summer, uh, in this choreography that was so 0:12:10.320 --> 0:12:13.559 that is so authentic to New York and too to 0:12:13.960 --> 0:12:17.760 the vibe here into the Latin, the Latino New York 0:12:17.800 --> 0:12:22.160 Latino experience here like that sound, black ums, the cloud 0:12:22.240 --> 0:12:25.520 and the going guys and all of that blast blasting 0:12:25.559 --> 0:12:29.520 the years and then people spitting bars and with you know, 0:12:30.440 --> 0:12:33.200 I can't wait, bro, I can't wait. And I know 0:12:33.280 --> 0:12:35.679 that show was just so special to you, just when 0:12:35.679 --> 0:12:37.319 you saw it on Broadway the first time. Tell me 0:12:37.400 --> 0:12:40.079 about what that show means to you. Yeah, I mean 0:12:40.120 --> 0:12:42.640 that show means a lot to me because you know 0:12:43.520 --> 0:12:47.920 so uh, you know, I'm like barely five nine, freckle like, 0:12:48.120 --> 0:12:51.360 fair skin like dude. Like nobody's in the rush to 0:12:51.400 --> 0:12:54.359 write a lead role for me at any you know, 0:12:54.440 --> 0:12:58.160 ain't nobody trying to recasting My Fair Lady with Anthony 0:12:58.280 --> 0:13:02.080 Alamos the nickname for Broad is the Great White Way. 0:13:02.400 --> 0:13:04.319 So how do you it? So how do you think 0:13:04.960 --> 0:13:08.960 some care from the projects from you know, Puerto Rican 0:13:08.960 --> 0:13:12.360 and predominant Puerto Rican in black neighborhood, right in African 0:13:12.400 --> 0:13:17.120 American neighbor but like Fields, when they're trying to find 0:13:17.160 --> 0:13:21.360 their way in the realm of entertainment, where the nickname 0:13:21.480 --> 0:13:23.800 is the Great White Way, I was like already like 0:13:24.000 --> 0:13:26.600 and they just weren't role for me. Man Like, finally 0:13:26.640 --> 0:13:29.440 I saw in The Heisman and it was just like 0:13:29.480 --> 0:13:31.319 one of those things where it was like the characters 0:13:31.320 --> 0:13:33.360 didn't only look like me, but they sound like me. 0:13:34.480 --> 0:13:37.520 They were talking about food that I, you know, grew 0:13:37.640 --> 0:13:40.280 up eating, and it was able the mute the music 0:13:40.360 --> 0:13:42.679 sound like music I listened to growing up, and like, 0:13:43.360 --> 0:13:45.280 you know, and the characters not only did I feel 0:13:45.320 --> 0:13:46.800 like I related to them, but I was like, yo, 0:13:46.880 --> 0:13:49.360 I know these people, Like I know the beat guy. 0:13:49.440 --> 0:13:51.840 I know that guy that's you know, his forearm is 0:13:51.920 --> 0:13:54.680 solid because he was scrape and shape. He's shaping and 0:13:54.760 --> 0:13:56.600 ice all day, puts it in the cup and got 0:13:56.679 --> 0:13:59.320 his syrup. You know, the little old man that got 0:13:59.360 --> 0:14:01.920 the bank and the best tan you've ever seen, you know, 0:14:01.920 --> 0:14:05.920 knowing characters like Snob, you know, the main character, and 0:14:06.920 --> 0:14:10.040 in that story, uh, you know, he reminded me of 0:14:10.080 --> 0:14:12.760 this guy named Leo who used to you know, who 0:14:12.880 --> 0:14:15.079 used to have a ball. They got on the corner 0:14:15.120 --> 0:14:17.920 where I used to live, and Leo used to hook 0:14:17.960 --> 0:14:20.400 my family up like we were you know, we were broke, 0:14:21.160 --> 0:14:24.520 uh you know, but uh, you know, like Leo will 0:14:24.600 --> 0:14:26.600 hook us up sometimes. You know, we didn't have enough 0:14:26.640 --> 0:14:28.520 for the milk, but we didn't have enough for the bread. 0:14:28.680 --> 0:14:30.560 You know, we only had enough for the eggs. They 0:14:30.560 --> 0:14:32.760 would be like, you don't worry about it, like give 0:14:32.840 --> 0:14:35.680 us some candy, you know, to like you know, walk 0:14:35.680 --> 0:14:38.920 out with like and um. And it was like those 0:14:39.040 --> 0:14:41.920 dudes that that they just see everything. So it's only 0:14:42.040 --> 0:14:44.080 right that the story is told from from the eyes 0:14:44.120 --> 0:14:45.800 of this guy who owns this boy they got this 0:14:45.840 --> 0:14:48.040 corner store, because those guys see everything. They see all 0:14:48.080 --> 0:14:50.680 types of people walking in out of their store. Like. 0:14:51.240 --> 0:14:53.440 It was kind of the musical that made me rethink 0:14:53.480 --> 0:14:55.280 a little bit like, oh maybe there is a space 0:14:55.280 --> 0:14:57.920 for me here. You know, people spending bars on stage 0:14:57.960 --> 0:15:02.600 and some one minute, somebody sounding like, you know, the 0:15:02.640 --> 0:15:05.360 most beautiful army. So that if you got Jordan's Fox 0:15:05.360 --> 0:15:07.520 singing these beautiful notes and you've got lint man Well 0:15:07.600 --> 0:15:11.000 spitting these bars, you know, like it's crazy like you know, 0:15:11.080 --> 0:15:13.800 so it was. It was a nation up of all 0:15:13.880 --> 0:15:17.200 all the things that I kind of grew up with, music, food, 0:15:17.720 --> 0:15:21.560 the vernacular, all on one stage. It was almost overwhelming. 0:15:21.960 --> 0:15:24.120 I was like, wow, I never see anything like this. 0:15:24.720 --> 0:15:27.080 Was it intimidating at all? Stepping into that role that 0:15:27.160 --> 0:15:29.720 that lemon Well created that was so personal to him. 0:15:29.720 --> 0:15:31.800 I think he started writing when he was nineteen or something. 0:15:31.880 --> 0:15:34.320 Was that intimidating at all? Yeah? I mean I don't 0:15:34.480 --> 0:15:37.240 It wasn't intimidating because Lyn didn't really put that pressure 0:15:37.240 --> 0:15:40.479 on you know. I never really felt that pressure from him, 0:15:40.520 --> 0:15:43.240 you know, rather that like he was always really like, 0:15:43.360 --> 0:15:46.320 y'all just do your thing, bro, Like do you think 0:15:46.360 --> 0:15:48.480 you know? It's it's a funny story too, Like I 0:15:48.520 --> 0:15:51.160 got an interesting history with those guys, with Lynn and 0:15:51.360 --> 0:15:54.560 his team, right, Like I I auditioned when I was 0:15:54.680 --> 0:15:59.960 nineteen for In the Heights back um Man ten years 0:16:00.040 --> 0:16:02.360 yars ago. I guess that it's gonna be two years now. 0:16:02.840 --> 0:16:08.360 But I auditioned for a non Union National tour of 0:16:08.400 --> 0:16:10.080 in the Heights, and I don't think it was. I 0:16:10.120 --> 0:16:11.960 don't think I was going for like I think I 0:16:12.000 --> 0:16:14.080 was to be a part of the ensemble ca asked 0:16:14.520 --> 0:16:17.120 as a dancer. You know, I didn't get it, bro 0:16:17.200 --> 0:16:19.040 I was crushed. I did four auditions and I didn't 0:16:19.040 --> 0:16:22.480 get it. Three years later, I do an open call 0:16:22.760 --> 0:16:25.320 for another musical that I was like totally not right for, 0:16:25.560 --> 0:16:28.320 and then I like and then a few minutes later 0:16:28.320 --> 0:16:30.280 I getn't email hey, like, we'd let you to audition 0:16:30.360 --> 0:16:33.400 for the Sting Car Hamiltons mix tape. And I saw 0:16:33.440 --> 0:16:35.480 that landing and all the same team working on it. 0:16:35.560 --> 0:16:39.880 So at first I was really nervous and and at 0:16:40.040 --> 0:16:42.680 first I was like damgn, like, uh, the way this 0:16:43.000 --> 0:16:44.760 ended for me last time wasn't good. I didn't get 0:16:44.840 --> 0:16:47.240 the job. Like so I was pretty already kind of 0:16:47.240 --> 0:16:49.040 psyching myself out. One of my friends was like, you 0:16:49.120 --> 0:16:51.320 really did go to this and it wasn't even gonna 0:16:51.360 --> 0:16:52.920 work out with the schedule that I had with this 0:16:53.000 --> 0:16:55.880 other show, but I was doing it anyway. I was like, 0:16:56.040 --> 0:16:57.760 you know, the castinger was like, you're really right for this, 0:16:57.960 --> 0:16:59.600 and she's like, you just gotta just we're just gonna 0:16:59.640 --> 0:17:01.000 keep calling back. I don't know how we're gonna work 0:17:01.000 --> 0:17:02.920 it out, may not, but now we're just gonna keep 0:17:02.920 --> 0:17:05.000 calling you back. And I do my final audition, I 0:17:05.080 --> 0:17:08.720 get to work and uh and at Radio City and 0:17:08.840 --> 0:17:10.880 they call us all up to the large rehearsal hall 0:17:10.920 --> 0:17:13.639 where wherever heears up stairs and they're like, yo, we're 0:17:13.680 --> 0:17:16.639 gonna we're gonna cancel the show and I lose my jo, 0:17:16.720 --> 0:17:18.520 but I get laid off. All of our seventy seven 0:17:18.560 --> 0:17:20.960 castles laid off. Three hours later, they're like, hey, we 0:17:21.080 --> 0:17:24.480 don't we heard about heart Lights. We want to hire 0:17:24.520 --> 0:17:27.280 you for handles his mistake, And that's how I jumped on. 0:17:27.440 --> 0:17:29.520 That was my start of the journey, right, And that 0:17:29.680 --> 0:17:31.959 was and then I think for that moment on right, 0:17:32.040 --> 0:17:33.880 Lyn and I did that. It was like a four 0:17:33.960 --> 0:17:36.560 week workshop and asked me to do this other thing 0:17:36.640 --> 0:17:39.639 he had written. So we just started cultivating this relationship. 0:17:40.320 --> 0:17:41.760 And by the time we got to in the Heights 0:17:41.880 --> 0:17:44.920 of Movie, I was already like shocked and grateful, but 0:17:45.040 --> 0:17:49.600 I had stopped doing Hamilton's in Seen. Finally in this 0:17:49.800 --> 0:17:54.520 role comes up with Snobby. They're doing a seven performance. 0:17:55.119 --> 0:17:59.000 Um uh, seven performance. Uh, it's the show of in 0:17:59.119 --> 0:18:02.240 the Heights at Kennedy Center. Something beside me just said 0:18:02.359 --> 0:18:03.879 I think it was good, and it was like, just 0:18:03.960 --> 0:18:05.640 just go do this job. You don't know why. Yeah, 0:18:05.640 --> 0:18:08.239 it's gonna be mad hard, you're gonna want to quit 0:18:08.280 --> 0:18:11.560 theater after, but just go. And I didn't want I 0:18:11.600 --> 0:18:14.000 didn't want to quit theater after. But I was very tired, 0:18:14.520 --> 0:18:16.879 and it was it was like, just go, and I 0:18:17.000 --> 0:18:18.879 just jumped right in. Then I jumped right in and 0:18:19.160 --> 0:18:21.760 and and I went. I did that show at the 0:18:21.840 --> 0:18:24.720 Kennedy Center and Lynn Lynn came to a few rehearsals, 0:18:25.359 --> 0:18:28.200 and Lynn also came to the show a couple of times. 0:18:29.040 --> 0:18:31.920 And then all of a sudden, he writes this tweet, 0:18:32.960 --> 0:18:36.080 and it was basically something to the effect of like, Asine, 0:18:36.080 --> 0:18:39.200 you grew up tap this, and you buy these tap shoes, 0:18:39.240 --> 0:18:41.360 and you've been tapping all your life. You know that's 0:18:41.400 --> 0:18:43.719 what you've been doing. And then you hang it up, 0:18:43.800 --> 0:18:45.440 you put the tap shoes in the box, you put 0:18:45.480 --> 0:18:47.639 it up in the closet. You have a kid. All 0:18:47.680 --> 0:18:50.040 of a sudden, all of a sudden, you're you're you're 0:18:50.080 --> 0:18:52.760 hanging out downstairs. Years go by and there you're just 0:18:52.840 --> 0:18:54.840 hanging out downstairs. All of a sudden you here tapping 0:18:54.960 --> 0:18:57.800 from from the top floor and you're wondering what that was, 0:18:57.880 --> 0:19:00.200 and you're like, man, well there's a no is that 0:19:00.240 --> 0:19:01.879 you go up to the top floor. All of a 0:19:01.920 --> 0:19:04.200 sudden you see that your kids took the tap shoes 0:19:04.240 --> 0:19:06.280 that you used to have took him out, and it's 0:19:06.320 --> 0:19:08.960 your kids tapping in the room that you realize that 0:19:10.359 --> 0:19:12.920 those those shoes fit him better than they ever fit you, 0:19:13.600 --> 0:19:15.440 and those shoes were always made for him and not 0:19:15.600 --> 0:19:18.320 for you. That's how That's what it feels like watching 0:19:18.359 --> 0:19:20.920 Anthony Rolmo's played with Snobby. You know he wrote that 0:19:21.000 --> 0:19:24.000 sweet Bro, I was done. I was in my bag 0:19:24.880 --> 0:19:28.960 crying out, like, oh this is crazy, this bananas. I 0:19:29.040 --> 0:19:31.480 got the movie soon after that. All of that long 0:19:31.600 --> 0:19:33.840 story is to say is that no, I didn't feel 0:19:33.880 --> 0:19:37.879 pressure because everything I had been through to get to 0:19:38.000 --> 0:19:39.960 that moment and to get to that point to be 0:19:40.080 --> 0:19:42.720