Speaker 1: Kids. That's okay because no one here.
Speaker 2: Is Hello, and welcome to another episode of Team Beat,
Speaker 2: the weekly podcast that revives our awkward teenage years the
Speaker 2: same way doctor John Hammond resurrected dinosaurs for a theme
Speaker 2: park and with similar results. And this week I'm recording
Speaker 2: a special episode live from Las Vegas for WrestleMania forty
Speaker 2: two weekend, an epicenter for headlocks and r KOs, but
Speaker 2: more than anything else, a place where we can all
Speaker 2: feel like kids again. So where better to sit with
Speaker 2: an interesting person who does interesting things to talk about
Speaker 2: their upbringing, tapping into the glorious and awkward journey of
Speaker 2: being a teenager years that were chronicled for me in
Speaker 2: front of a live studio audience, then on DVD, now
Speaker 2: on a worldwide streaming service. I look at it this way.
Speaker 2: I gave you my childhood. It's time we hear yours.
Speaker 2: And this week I'm excited to chat with someone whose
Speaker 2: childhood may have existed outside the spotlight, but the glow
Speaker 2: around him was bright enough to light a thousand caves.
Speaker 2: He burst onto the scene in twenty fifteen, starring in
Speaker 2: the NWA biopicks Straight out of Compton, portraying ice Cube,
Speaker 2: a role he intensely studied for twenty four years, not
Speaker 2: only working to mimic the subject's likeness and mannerisms, but
Speaker 2: he even went as far as living with him for
Speaker 2: at least eighteen years to perfect everything about him. He
Speaker 2: then showed his range in the underrated twenty seventeen dark
Speaker 2: comedy Ingrid Grows West opposite Aubrey Plaza and if you
Speaker 2: ask me, he was a scene stealing highlight, and it
Speaker 2: appears many industry heavyweights agreed because he would go on
Speaker 2: to share the screen with Charlie's Theron and Seth Rogan
Speaker 2: in Long Shot, then Michael B. Jordan and Brie Larsen
Speaker 2: and Just Mercy, all while starring in the Den of
Speaker 2: Thieves franchise as an action star alongside Gerard Butler. But
Speaker 2: you'll see him next in the comedy Idiots with Dave
Speaker 2: Franco and Killer Mike. And where you'll see him most
Speaker 2: is at WWE Live events, turning his fandom into a
Speaker 2: job with the podcast No Contest Wrestling, becoming one of
Speaker 2: sports entertainment's go to and most opinionated experts.
Speaker 1: Don't believe me check his Twitter.
Speaker 2: Also, his dad is ice Cube Welcome to teen Beat
Speaker 2: my favorite mark Osha Jackson Junior.
Speaker 1: Amazing.
Speaker 2: I'm glad you enjoyed it. It's nice to put together
Speaker 2: all of your accomplishments in one place and then hear
Speaker 2: someone read them out loud. Right, you're dope. I think
Speaker 2: that's what happens.
Speaker 1: That's true. Yeah, I like that.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much for joining me today on this
Speaker 2: glorious holiday of WrestleMania weekend. I know it is a
Speaker 2: very busy time for you. How has it been so far?
Speaker 1: Uh?
Speaker 2: Awesome and busy?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I've had I've had a really good time. But
Speaker 3: like whenever I get really busy, I just think like
Speaker 3: I could be doing nothing and that drives me crazy.
Speaker 1: Same, it's like the worst.
Speaker 3: Even when I film, all I can think about is
Speaker 3: getting home. And then after those first two weeks, I'm like, yeah,
Speaker 3: what am I doing with my life? Everything's going to
Speaker 3: go to hell. The bank account's getting low, my daughter's
Speaker 3: going to starve.
Speaker 1: Like.
Speaker 2: You go from zero to one hundred real fast, like something.
Speaker 1: I know.
Speaker 2: I don't know how to relax anymore. It's like if
Speaker 2: I do have a day off, I try I find
Speaker 2: that I just make myself busy. Work, Like, oh, you
Speaker 2: know what I should do because I have a free afternoon,
Speaker 2: clean out the closet. It's like, well, now I didn't
Speaker 2: even have any downtime, but so I do get that.
Speaker 2: I want to talk to you about how and when
Speaker 2: a young Osha Jackson Junior discovered pro wrestling.
Speaker 3: Oh man, I had my big brother Daryl. My big
Speaker 3: brother Daryl, me and him would play video games together
Speaker 3: and we played a game called WWF Raw Sega Genesis
Speaker 3: and this game taught me like Raizor Ramon, Shawn Michael's Bamman, Bigelow,
Speaker 3: Doink the Clown, and that really was my first introduction.
Speaker 1: Taker.
Speaker 3: That was my first introduction. And then he was like,
Speaker 3: you know we can watch these people. I was like,
Speaker 3: what are you talk Yeah, like what the video game
Speaker 3: is real?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 3: And then yeah, we watched Raw and I was like
Speaker 3: this is crazy, Like you know, this is nuts.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 3: Later on I was probably like five. I'm not controlling
Speaker 3: the TV at that time, so maybe about third grade,
Speaker 3: so like ninety nine two thousand is when I started
Speaker 3: watching you know, weekly and I got lot Dan and
Speaker 3: you know, I fell in love with the rock and
Speaker 3: just like that whole era, like when when Shane and
Speaker 3: Stephanie bought w CW and ECW, this was the.
Speaker 1: Biggest news of my life.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, I was like and then stone cold like
Speaker 3: crosses over to them.
Speaker 1: I was like, wwf is gonna lose? Like everything I
Speaker 1: know is just terrible.
Speaker 3: Yeah, but yeah, those were the stressful times, greatest soap
Speaker 3: op Rocket asked for as a kid.
Speaker 2: Absolutely. It's so funny that you also got into it
Speaker 2: from video games. That's actually how my kids got into it.
Speaker 2: I was I was delaying putting it on the TV,
Speaker 2: and then we got WWE two K twenty five and
Speaker 2: they started playing the video games and it was very similar.
Speaker 2: It was like, you know, these are real people, It's
Speaker 2: like what and then they just got very into it.
Speaker 1: Do you remember your first live event?
Speaker 3: Oh, first live of it had to be m probably
Speaker 3: a random raw smack down. You know, couldn't tell you
Speaker 3: like what happened, but like, I just remember I remember
Speaker 3: going to Staple Center one year and not knowing because
Speaker 3: I'm a kid, I'm not knowing the difference between a
Speaker 3: live show and ron SmackDown, and I remember going and
Speaker 3: being like there's no Titan tronk, Like there's no Pyro,
Speaker 3: there's no like, what is this? And like I remember
Speaker 3: Kane having a match, but I remember like taking friends
Speaker 3: and being like, I'm sorry.
Speaker 1: I don't know what this is embarrassing, I'm not the
Speaker 1: same thing that I went to.
Speaker 3: And of course later on I got that, but I
Speaker 3: think the one of the biggest moments because as a kid, no, no,
Speaker 3: I'm probably not the type of kids who should think
Speaker 3: this way, but I'm a kid, so I think this way.
Speaker 3: But I never thought I'd go to WrestleMania. It was
Speaker 3: just like it was always on TV. It was just like,
Speaker 3: you know, like, man, I wish I could go one
Speaker 3: day and WrestleMania twenty one sad Staple Center, So I
Speaker 3: know I'm going And it was the best. It was
Speaker 3: the best ever, and like it to this day. I
Speaker 3: can't believe I went. And then I was like, I
Speaker 3: have to try to go to as many as I can,
Speaker 3: and the next one I would go to would be
Speaker 3: thirty two. But had some time and yeah, I've gone
Speaker 3: to I think five in a row.
Speaker 2: Now, Oh my gosh, the.
Speaker 1: Streak is in danger.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we're just talking about them.
Speaker 3: Maybe I was back in Vegas no reason when I
Speaker 3: found I was coming to Vegas again. I was like,
Speaker 3: oh no, like not like I survived the first one.
Speaker 1: You know, like, so the it's been good. It's because
Speaker 1: now I got work exactly, is.
Speaker 2: Getting replenished and instead of going one direction, it's at
Speaker 2: least going both ways now exactly.
Speaker 3: And my little brother and my little sister, who I
Speaker 3: love to death, they were too WrestleMania out after last.
Speaker 1: Okay, yeah, I was like, go ahead, yeah, take it off.
Speaker 1: Who cares? Yeah, it's been pretty good.
Speaker 2: Who were your favorite wrestlers when you were a kid?
Speaker 3: Loved Rock, Always loved Taker. Taker was really my first
Speaker 3: favorite because my brother always made me play as him
Speaker 3: in the game, like we're going to beat people, Love
Speaker 3: you have to be Taker because like Taker's the he's
Speaker 3: the big bass, Like it's hard to take him down.
Speaker 1: So give the little brother that one.
Speaker 3: So I always loved Taker, And then, you know, just
Speaker 3: the older I got watching the Rock.
Speaker 1: On the mic, I was like, oh, this is my guy.
Speaker 3: And I was a very shy kid growing up, and
Speaker 3: The Rock kind of helped me find my voice because
Speaker 3: no one could back him into a corner.
Speaker 1: He's quick as a whip and he's always going to get.
Speaker 3: The upper hand in a conversation, and I love that
Speaker 3: he was funny but still tough, and I never thought
Speaker 3: he'd lose, Like, you know, it took a lot of
Speaker 3: l's and you know, I know the business now, but
Speaker 3: I never thought he'd lose because of the confidence that
Speaker 3: was just like oozing out of him. And that has
Speaker 3: always been my guy.
Speaker 1: I really like Roman. Oh you know, I'm a big
Speaker 1: hunk Phil. Phil. Phil was my first guest. That's my bullet.
Speaker 2: Okay, Phil is my god.
Speaker 1: And so I'm so angry at both of them.
Speaker 2: Okay, yeah, they were putting you in this situation. It's
Speaker 2: like personal.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was different last year because it was like.
Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly, who care? But now it's like, you know,
Speaker 2: it is tough for our family because Phil is very
Speaker 2: important to our family, and my youngest son is a
Speaker 2: huge Roman Reigns fan. Has has the buddy. Yeah we
Speaker 2: we we took him to Survivor series and my four
Speaker 2: year old stood up on it chair and held his
Speaker 2: little wrestling buddy over his head while singing the song.
Speaker 2: So yeah, you know, house divided.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's rough.
Speaker 2: When you start watching wrestling, your brothers are watching wrestling.
Speaker 1: What did your dad think of it all.
Speaker 2: I feel like there's always a moment when parents have
Speaker 2: to ask why you're watching this fake stuff?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean yeah, somebody in my dad's childhood ruined
Speaker 3: it for him. Yeah, And so like he never came
Speaker 3: back and like stuck with it. And when it comes
Speaker 3: to that conversation, I'm like, I also know that, like
Speaker 3: Jeff Goldblum didn't run from a t rex exactly, you know,
Speaker 3: like Robert Downey Jr.
Speaker 1: Didn't send a nuke into space. Yeah.
Speaker 3: I still enjoy The Avengers. It's Broadway with violence. I
Speaker 3: sit and I watched storylines play out with characters that
Speaker 3: I like and now with so much behind the scenes.
Speaker 1: Actually like the people. I'm actually rooting for them.
Speaker 3: And so then I'm watching hoping that the company will
Speaker 3: see what I see and give them their shot. And
Speaker 3: it's just like it's a great way to exercise your
Speaker 3: empathy because you start caring for people that you ain't
Speaker 3: got nothing to do with you, and when they lose,
Speaker 3: it really hurts, and when they win, it really feels good.
Speaker 3: And so you know, when we started to figure out like, oh,
Speaker 3: what we're seeing is a bit of an illusion. It's
Speaker 3: a bit of Harlem Globe Trotters. That's when you know,
Speaker 3: you start to question.
Speaker 1: What you're look at.
Speaker 3: But then I'm like, I'm entertained totally, and I started
Speaker 3: to like the punches and kicks which might connect every
Speaker 3: now and then. That's what you really got to try
Speaker 3: to movie magic and some holes.
Speaker 1: Other than that, they're really falling from that.
Speaker 3: They really got to jump off that, they really got
Speaker 3: to get hit with this. And I've seen their bodies afterwards,
Speaker 3: and it's just like, dude, I know what I'm looking at,
Speaker 3: and it's it's broad Away with vines, the best play
Speaker 3: I've ever seen.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I have never met a wrestler who's been like, no,
Speaker 2: I've never had any injuries.
Speaker 1: I'm fine.
Speaker 2: I'm totally fine. My body works great.
Speaker 1: Thanks for asking exactly. We actually grew.
Speaker 2: Up very close to each other, I think a couple
Speaker 2: decades apart. But I am a Calabasas high school graduate
Speaker 2: and you went to taff Tea house.
Speaker 1: Yeah, a f T.
Speaker 2: First, I'd like to get regional for a second. Are
Speaker 2: you a fan of Dan super Subs?
Speaker 1: Oh? No, I don't know these people have they spoke
Speaker 1: about me? Okay?
Speaker 2: Goodness, Dan Subs the best sandwiches made.
Speaker 3: They'll listen. In my fatherhood, a sandwich will save your life.
Speaker 2: I know. So I need to know what good Okay,
Speaker 2: I will tell you. You have to go to dance
Speaker 2: super sucks. What are some of your favorite local eateies?
Speaker 1: Obviously in and out? Okay, yeah, come on out, like ridiculous.
Speaker 1: My dad puts us on round table pizza.
Speaker 2: For like ever love round table pizza. There's something about
Speaker 2: that burnt edge.
Speaker 1: It is so good. So let's chill out. Yeah okay,
Speaker 1: so are you hungry? I'm starving so.
Speaker 3: Because I just went on on camera and you never
Speaker 3: eat before.
Speaker 1: Camera, No, I know you, So we'll eat after absolutely,
Speaker 1: but yeah, round table pizza fire. Yeah.
Speaker 3: Just because I grew up in the valley, I hop
Speaker 3: with such a mainstaple. But like I've been to the South,
Speaker 3: a waffle house is killing.
Speaker 2: I hop kills I hop. I just went to an
Speaker 2: waffle house, one of my favorite places in the world.
Speaker 2: And so I was just in Texas for a show
Speaker 2: and I was there like twenty four hours, and I
Speaker 2: made sure I stopped at a waffle house and got
Speaker 2: some cheesey eggs and grits.
Speaker 3: Yes, the cheesy eggs is some of the raisins plastic cheese.
Speaker 2: Exactly, that plastic cheese. And there's something about that sweet
Speaker 2: raisin bread mixed with the savory cheesy, and I.
Speaker 1: Need the guy cooking it to have a cigarette falling
Speaker 1: out of his mouth. These are the rules that I
Speaker 1: was taught by the Southerners and my family.
Speaker 2: Okay, well, with that out of the way, what was
Speaker 2: high school like for you?
Speaker 3: High school was, oh, okay, so let me break this down.
Speaker 3: So my parents, at a random time in my life,
Speaker 3: decided they wanted to declare war on LAUSD. Yeah, Los
Speaker 3: Angeles Unified School District. And I was like okay, and
Speaker 3: they I was a great, great student, great student, always
Speaker 3: got good grades, always made sure I did my work,
Speaker 3: even was the student that was helping other students in class.
Speaker 1: This was always me.
Speaker 3: And then sixth grade happened and I had a problem
Speaker 3: adjusting from you know, an elementary you got one teacher,
Speaker 3: one teacher, teacher all everything. Sixth grade, sixth grade you
Speaker 3: have now you get six different teachers that have six
Speaker 3: different attitudes, that have six differ diferent ways of doing things,
Speaker 3: and so it's like it's an adjustment period. And that
Speaker 3: on top of one new problem kind of messed me
Speaker 3: up academic, and the one major problem, when I know
Speaker 3: a lot of people deal with, is girls. And that
Speaker 3: was way more interesting than sedimentary rocks.
Speaker 1: Who who cares.
Speaker 3: I'm never gonna remember this, uh huh and uh yeah.
Speaker 3: And then so for the first time I got summer school. Yeah,
Speaker 3: summer school. And then but in summer school, both of
Speaker 3: classes that I was there for, I ate some both.
Speaker 3: I even had a teacher pulled me to the front
Speaker 3: of the class and go, what are you doing here?
Speaker 2: Yeah, you're so smart, you don't need this.
Speaker 1: Listen.
Speaker 3: I just don't like having six teachers. I'm sorry, I
Speaker 3: just don't like I don't like learning like that.
Speaker 1: And uh yeah.
Speaker 3: That scared my parents enough where all my older brother Darrol,
Speaker 3: me and my little sister Kareema we all had to
Speaker 3: go to homeschool. And so from seventh through eleventh grade,
Speaker 3: I was homeschooled. And at first I was like, this
Speaker 3: sucks running away, I'm joining the circus.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and it was the best thing ever happened to me, really, yeah,
Speaker 4: because I had I had at most two teachers, but
Speaker 4: in the beginning it was just one teacher taught me everything.
Speaker 3: No classroom is just like me and him. So I'm
Speaker 3: really learning things because I like, that's just the best
Speaker 3: way for me to learn.
Speaker 1: Shout out to her nod.
Speaker 3: He changed my life because you know, while we're doing homeschool,
Speaker 3: which is by the way, in the poolhouse, it's not
Speaker 3: like a class. And he would make these deals with
Speaker 3: me and my older brother that like, if we finished
Speaker 3: our work early, we could watch a movie. And it
Speaker 3: wasn't just like, you know, pick any movie. He was
Speaker 3: showing us stuff like Doctor Strangelove, Patton Rus.
Speaker 2: He was giving you an education without you knowing it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, He's showing us these films, and I'm like, there's
Speaker 3: a side of me tapping in that I didn't know
Speaker 3: that I.
Speaker 1: Cared about, right, And then so from there.
Speaker 3: They had to add in a second teacher. You know,
Speaker 3: it's that way my brother and I can be taught
Speaker 3: at one time, and my sister can be taught. And
Speaker 3: so that was a lady by the name of Rachelle Nondorf.
Speaker 3: I love you to death. And you know, while all
Speaker 3: this is happening, I'm developing a love.
Speaker 1: For film through what her non is teaching me.
Speaker 3: And then so I started to like daydream like, I'm
Speaker 3: a real big day dreamer. And then one day he
Speaker 3: sat a notebook in front of me and he was like, listen,
Speaker 3: you're not here right now. Whatever's in your head, just
Speaker 3: write it down for me. When you get it down,
Speaker 3: can you come back. I was like, all right, for sure.
Speaker 3: I just started writing, started writing, started writing. And then
Speaker 3: he saw that I was starting to write a story.
Speaker 3: So he was like, every day, I'm gonna give you
Speaker 3: thirty minutes to write in your story.
Speaker 1: Just get it out of your head.
Speaker 3: And so next thing I know, I have like one
Speaker 3: hundred and twenty pages of a handwritten story. He then
Speaker 3: asked me, have you ever thought about writing scripts?
Speaker 1: I was like no.
Speaker 3: He's like, you have your dad, and you never thought it.
Speaker 3: Never crossed No, I'm gonna play for the Lakers. So
Speaker 3: from there he got me my scriptwriting teacher, Bill Rubinstein,
Speaker 3: who taught me how to break my story down into
Speaker 3: a script. And then you know, by then, I'm in
Speaker 3: eleventh grade and it's time to start thinking about like
Speaker 3: colleges and stuff, and.
Speaker 1: So it was like, I guess USC and did you go? Yeah?
Speaker 3: I went over to I ended up going to SC
Speaker 3: and but before then I got a notebook from Rachelle
Speaker 3: and on that notebook it said, go confidently in the
Speaker 3: direction of your dreams and live the life you've imagined.
Speaker 3: It's by Henry David Thorreaux, and I've held that quote
Speaker 3: on forever.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 3: The reason why he was seventh to eleventh grade is
Speaker 3: because I begged my parents, like, come on my senior year,
Speaker 3: can I please go to Taft? Can I please go
Speaker 3: to Tap? And the reason why because my brother Daryl
Speaker 3: and I love But this is how Daryl graduated. You're
Speaker 3: in the kitchen, Mom's going through the mail, and she goes.
Speaker 1: Oh, Daryl, you graduated, Like we like go to dinner.
Speaker 3: You know, all the movies I've ever seen, it never's
Speaker 3: like that.
Speaker 4: No tasso, no slow motion.
Speaker 3: So I was like, I do not want that, Like
Speaker 3: can we please? Can I please go to TAP?
Speaker 2: I need something?
Speaker 3: And then so my sister who's like, while I'm a senior,
Speaker 3: she'd be a freshman, so she was like, can I
Speaker 3: go to Taft too? So then we they convinced him
Speaker 3: we go to the like as soon as we see
Speaker 3: you guys slip up, we're taking you back out her
Speaker 3: genius whatever, And so we go to Taft and now
Speaker 3: that first day they didn't enroll us into any classes,
Speaker 3: so like we just had to sit in the library.
Speaker 2: What.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was crazy.
Speaker 3: And then like we're looking at the clock in the
Speaker 3: library right after lunch and it's about one thirty.
Speaker 1: And now I remember looking at my sister and going
Speaker 1: what did we do?
Speaker 2: Why do we do this?
Speaker 1: We we had school from nine to one. Now we
Speaker 1: got eight to three? Right do we think? We throw
Speaker 1: at the air? Like who cares?
Speaker 3: And so like now I'm at Taft and like it
Speaker 3: was it was crazy because like there was always I'd
Speaker 3: always been going to like valley parties and stuff like that,
Speaker 3: because I still have my friends.
Speaker 1: From middle school.
Speaker 3: So there was only like really like whispers of my
Speaker 3: existence until like people finally.
Speaker 1: Started to go to school with me. It was like
Speaker 1: a religion exist. Yeah, like what they said, they saw you.
Speaker 3: And then so from there, like, yeah, I the biggest
Speaker 3: thing for me is at lunch, I remember finding a
Speaker 3: group of my friends that I knew and they were like,
Speaker 3: who are you hanging out with? I was like, what
Speaker 3: do you mean? Whoever the hell I want? I'm an
Speaker 3: American citizen, how dare you?
Speaker 1: But it was just like they all clicked up.
Speaker 3: I wasn't there for the click up stage that happens
Speaker 3: during middle school high school.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you weren't even aware. You're like, oh, were we friends?
Speaker 1: We're all in clicks.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and so like there was a divide and I
Speaker 3: never had that well hear mean. Other than that, I
Speaker 3: ended up going to three proms.
Speaker 1: That was awesome.
Speaker 3: Yeah, went to TAFs prom of course, went to Birmingham's
Speaker 3: prom in taft colors.
Speaker 2: Okay, straight, you were trying to start something, yeah, and.
Speaker 1: Then Lab because that was random the girl was dating
Speaker 1: went to La B.
Speaker 2: Wow were you dating the other two girls? Because that
Speaker 2: seems like quick breakups? To have three proms? All save
Speaker 2: it for the book, Okay, no problem. Being ice cube
Speaker 2: son is probably a big shadow to live in. How
Speaker 2: did you navigate that or did it not feel like
Speaker 2: that to you?
Speaker 3: I mean at first it doesn't because it's like your dad, like,
Speaker 3: you know, they always ask me like, what's it like
Speaker 3: being an ice cube son?
Speaker 1: I'm like, it's boring. It's like it's the same thing
Speaker 1: your dad be doing.
Speaker 3: He probably does, except every now and then he'll disappear
Speaker 3: for some months and then have to go on tour
Speaker 3: or he'll be on TV. And yeah, I didn't really
Speaker 3: get who my dad was fully until I was eighteen,
Speaker 3: Like I didn't. It didn't really hit me what he
Speaker 3: means for other people or anything like that.
Speaker 1: So I was eighteen, I really didn't. I didn't hear
Speaker 1: I didn't.
Speaker 3: Listen to uh Straight out of Compton like the NWA
Speaker 3: until I was like thirteen fourteen. It was like my
Speaker 3: older brother Dyel showed me because like, you know, you expect,
Speaker 3: but I'm biased. I only like one guy, so I
Speaker 3: really like, I just didn't see it, and then once
Speaker 3: it hit me, it was like, oh, man.
Speaker 1: Kind of hit the baby lottery. Pretty cool guy.
Speaker 3: But it's just he's just always been my dude, Like
Speaker 3: you know, he he just likes regular guy stuff is
Speaker 3: just on TV.
Speaker 1: Sometimes.
Speaker 2: I love that. I feel like that's my goal for
Speaker 2: me with my kids. My kids just recently started asking me,
Speaker 2: why do people want to take pictures with you? And
Speaker 2: I'm like, whoa, you know, remember he told you I
Speaker 2: was on TV.
Speaker 1: What is the mall named after you?
Speaker 2: Exactly exactly right by the way we get stopped at
Speaker 2: that mall, that's still our mall. So every time we're stopped.
Speaker 2: They're like, wait, why do people think it's weird that
Speaker 2: you're here. I'm like, it's hard.
Speaker 1: To explain exactly awesome. I wish I had that moment.
Speaker 2: It literally just happened last week. I was walking through
Speaker 2: the mall and the guy said, excuse me, I have
Speaker 2: to just say hi and tell you I've been such
Speaker 2: a fan. I said, oh, thank you so much. As
Speaker 2: he's walking away, goes stop. The fact that you're here,
Speaker 2: like it all hit him as he was walking away.
Speaker 2: It was so funny.
Speaker 1: In the Coca Cola fashion Low No way, that's insane.
Speaker 3: You saw Pango insane lottery.
Speaker 2: I want, to, of course, jump into your acting career,
Speaker 2: but before I jump into that, you there was a
Speaker 2: time where you were rapping and you went by the
Speaker 2: name OMG.
Speaker 1: Yes, which was my father's fault.
Speaker 3: Really, I would have never named myself that, never so
Speaker 3: my father Bless him, love him to death. Was on
Speaker 3: the Ellen Show, Yes, and you know when Ellen starts
Speaker 3: looking at you in your eyes, you just spewed whatever
Speaker 3: nonsense you can think of about your life. And he
Speaker 3: tells Ellen that my rap name is OMG. Now the
Speaker 3: reason why he says, oh, imagy is because he can't
Speaker 3: remember that the full thing that I told him my
Speaker 3: name was. He just remembers that it was, Oh, it's
Speaker 3: kind of like, oh my god, but it's not like that.
Speaker 3: So at the time, this is a really gonna date
Speaker 3: myself at the time. And one mixtape, which was like
Speaker 3: a streetball league, and anybody who was playing basketball had
Speaker 3: a basketball nickname. You know, you make up your own nickname,
Speaker 3: that's what your people call you when you play. My
Speaker 3: nickname was oh my goodness, because every time whatever I did,
Speaker 3: my best friend Kyle was on the side.
Speaker 2: Oh my good It was like a whole.
Speaker 3: Thing, right, And so he hears this and the mouse
Speaker 3: goes the different a different way in the maze and
Speaker 3: he heard, Yeah, that's his rap name. It's oen J
Speaker 3: And he says this on television. So I got a
Speaker 3: ride with it. I can't a liar, so I have
Speaker 3: to roll with this and make this cool. And then
Speaker 3: the litl Wayne and t I's daughters came out with
Speaker 3: the OMG girls and I was like, thanks guys. So yeah,
Speaker 3: it was just a debacle. It was a mess. I'm
Speaker 3: a survivor.
Speaker 2: Forgive me if this is out of line, but did
Speaker 2: you ever think about going by crushed ice?
Speaker 1: But you're just little ice cubes, crushed ice, snow water. Okay,
Speaker 1: all of these things they called my whole lot.
Speaker 2: You were raised around w C and Snoop and doctor Dre.
Speaker 2: The list goes on and on. I'm nervous. Have you
Speaker 2: Have you ever had an embarrassing moment in your life?
Speaker 1: Oh my god, yes, oh god, I remember.
Speaker 3: Oh man, I was on a date one time at
Speaker 3: the at the City Walk Universal and I tripped up
Speaker 3: the steps had pepsi all over my white sea, and
Speaker 3: like when you have a new white sea, it.
Speaker 1: Is like a mad exactly.
Speaker 3: But the girl, like I'm thinking she's in the theater,
Speaker 3: so I'm thinking, like she didn't see, but she helped
Speaker 3: me up, and so I'm like, this is really awesome.
Speaker 1: But I hate that you're here. And we ended up
Speaker 1: breaking up.
Speaker 3: She sucks, but it was like she was helpful, she
Speaker 3: had my back, But like, yeah, that's terrible. I'm definitely like,
Speaker 3: oh yeah, embarrassing yourself is just it's just natural.
Speaker 2: I mean, you can't help it when you're young, especially,
Speaker 2: it just happens.
Speaker 3: And like when you're young, it is the biggest scar
Speaker 3: on your life. But then you realize when you're older
Speaker 3: that no one cares.
Speaker 2: No one, no one, no one's thinking about they're thinking
Speaker 2: about themselves. We're all just thinking about ourselves.
Speaker 3: Exactly like It's like they do not you might remember
Speaker 3: it the rest of your life.
Speaker 1: I promise you. They don't.
Speaker 2: They do not.
Speaker 1: They don't. I know it.
Speaker 2: Maybe your best friend does. My best friend remembers things
Speaker 2: about my life that I'm like, I'm so glad I
Speaker 2: have you because I don't remember these moments of my life.
Speaker 2: How do you remember these moments?
Speaker 1: Your little stenographer? Keep anything online?
Speaker 2: So acting wise, I mean, you have more than proven
Speaker 2: your chops at this point.
Speaker 1: Was that something?
Speaker 2: I mean you said it kind of clicked for you
Speaker 2: when your teacher started playing you films. Yeah, what did
Speaker 2: you start thinking right away when watching movies and realizing
Speaker 2: you loved film that acting was something you wanted to do?
Speaker 3: Uh No, And even with you know, when it came
Speaker 3: to you know, rapping, I realized that like if you
Speaker 3: put a beat on and tell me to just like
Speaker 3: write some bars to it, I could do that easy.
Speaker 3: When it comes to like a song, like writing a
Speaker 3: song a catchy hook, I like and all that. That's
Speaker 3: when I was pulling my hair out because then now
Speaker 3: I'm like, do.
Speaker 1: I like this? Like is this cool? Is everybody else
Speaker 1: gonna like this? Do I sound stupid? And it just
Speaker 1: wasn't fun.
Speaker 3: What I was realizing is I love writing something that
Speaker 3: people think, Oh man, why didn't I think of that?
Speaker 3: And you can get that off in a rap verse easy.
Speaker 3: So what I didn't realize at the time was that
Speaker 3: you just love writing. You love being able to create
Speaker 3: a world real quick and take people on a journey.
Speaker 3: And so I just transported that to film. Yeah, it
Speaker 3: was just like, all right, let's let's you know, film,
Speaker 3: that's where we can really make our mark. My dad
Speaker 3: and music he's got. That's a mountain that I'll never
Speaker 3: be able to climb. It's just and he's still building it.
Speaker 3: But in movies there's there's lanes that I can take
Speaker 3: our family name that, you know, just I just feel
Speaker 3: like I feel like Hollywood type cast rappers. There's just
Speaker 3: certain people, once they have ice Cube in their head,
Speaker 3: they're not going to see him as a doctor for
Speaker 3: some reason because they're just.
Speaker 1: Scared of it. So it just it is what it is.
Speaker 3: And so I just felt like I could take our
Speaker 3: family name to New Heights in that direction with film,
Speaker 3: and so it was. It was never in my cards
Speaker 3: to act when I went to USC. In my mind
Speaker 3: at that time my freshman year was O nine, I
Speaker 3: was going to write.
Speaker 1: Scripts for video games. Oh, that's what I was gonna
Speaker 1: go do.
Speaker 3: Grand Theft thought on Call of Duty had just made
Speaker 3: a billion dollars in a weekend. I was like, I
Speaker 3: can make you pay sixteen dollars a movie ticket, or
Speaker 3: I can make you pay.
Speaker 1: Sixty dollars a game.
Speaker 3: So I was like, I'm going to go here to
Speaker 3: learn the structure of storytelling, but I want to write
Speaker 3: scripts for games. And then in the middle of my
Speaker 3: second year, I was in the kitchen eating cereal as
Speaker 3: one does.
Speaker 1: My dad comes to the kitchen. It's like, hey, they're
Speaker 1: taking this NWA movie serious. I'm like, dope, Yeah, that's sick.
Speaker 3: Congratulations Like no, no, no, in a perfect world, I
Speaker 3: want you to play me.
Speaker 2: I was like, OK, wow, so cool.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'll do it. He was like you sure, yeah,
Speaker 1: no problem, I'm not concerned. Yeah, But in my mind
Speaker 1: I'm thinking this is terrible. Why why? Like at the time,
Speaker 1: no disrespect, there's not a lot of good rap movies.
Speaker 1: You know. It was eight mile yep, and there it is,
Speaker 1: you know. So it was like.
Speaker 3: This is either going to be bad, but if I
Speaker 3: don't try, I'm gonna end up like kicking my ass
Speaker 3: later because it's like, my dad's never asked me for anything,
Speaker 3: for anything.
Speaker 2: Imagine the alternative that you go, you know, I don't
Speaker 2: want to do it, and then you.
Speaker 1: Have someone else, your dad, and I'm like I want
Speaker 1: to do that. Yeah.
Speaker 3: So I was really in a position where it was
Speaker 3: just like in a and two seconds, I answered just
Speaker 3: like involuntarily and it was like this is what we're doing.
Speaker 1: And convinced him to let me leave school like that.
Speaker 3: If I'm going to take this actually thing serious, I
Speaker 3: can't be worried about these books, sedimentary rocks and stuff,
Speaker 3: because you can tell like hate sedimentary.
Speaker 2: Hate sedimentary rocks, and especially at that time, I was
Speaker 2: in my rebellious like twenties some of the second year
Speaker 2: of college.
Speaker 1: You guys only care about our numbers being better than
Speaker 1: U c LA. You just I'm here for my major.
Speaker 3: Why do I have to take these ge So now
Speaker 3: I had an excuse, and it was scary. It was
Speaker 3: scary because it took me two years to get the part.
Speaker 3: And I'm left in the second year of college that
Speaker 3: it takes me two years to get the part.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 3: So I'm on Instagram and I'm watching my friends graduate
Speaker 3: without me.
Speaker 2: Hold on your dad, who is aware from the beginning
Speaker 2: about this movie. They're taking it seriously and he wants
Speaker 2: you to play him. Yeah, and you still had to
Speaker 2: work for two years.
Speaker 3: I told him. I was like, He was like, You're
Speaker 3: gonna have to audition. I was like, please let me
Speaker 3: audition because I heard all the nightmares about Francis Coplea's
Speaker 3: daughter and I was like, please, like, make me go
Speaker 3: through it, because if I go through it and I'm
Speaker 3: not good, I'm just not good.
Speaker 1: But I tried. And Yeah, when he.
Speaker 3: First told the studio and Gary Gray, the director, that
Speaker 3: he wanted me to play him, they said, cube, is
Speaker 3: this a joke?
Speaker 1: Really? Oh my god, I'm a survivor. So you know,
Speaker 1: that was great, you know, for the for the confidence.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and you know, after the first audition, Gary saw
Speaker 3: something and that something made him get me. A coach
Speaker 3: by the name of Aaron Spizer, who I loves his.
Speaker 1: Day and I work with Aaron like every week, and.
Speaker 3: Then I flew to New York to work with Susan
Speaker 3: Batson and like for two.
Speaker 1: Years, I was just giving it all my time of day.
Speaker 3: Yeah, until finally it was like, yeah, they we have
Speaker 3: we're gonna do.
Speaker 1: It, not a chemistry, a screen test.
Speaker 3: You know they're gonna have you know, a cube, an
Speaker 3: Easy and a Dre and everybody mix maatch you guys
Speaker 3: see who fits. So I'm thinking like, all right, I'm
Speaker 3: gonna pull up and it's gonna be one Dre and
Speaker 3: one Easy there and then you know, I'm gonna switch
Speaker 3: it out. I get there, I see a Jerry Crow
Speaker 3: as you do, and I walk over to him. I
Speaker 3: was like, hey, what's going on? Are you going for Easy?
Speaker 3: He looked at me and he goes, no, I'm going
Speaker 3: for Cube. Put the eyebrow on. I was like, okay,
Speaker 3: how you doing. I'm Oshae Jackson Junior.
Speaker 1: Good to meet you, man.
Speaker 3: So now I'm punking everybody. Everybody has to feel me.
Speaker 3: And yeah, I was frowning the whole day. There was
Speaker 3: only one Easy.
Speaker 1: E was with Jason.
Speaker 3: Obviously he got the part, but yeah, from there the
Speaker 3: rest is history. But yeah, I was scared to death
Speaker 3: those two years because I got friends like, yeah, so
Speaker 3: what's going on.
Speaker 1: I'm like, I don't know.
Speaker 2: You're not even gonna get a Hey, guess what. You
Speaker 2: graduated in the kitchen.
Speaker 1: And they're all like inviting me to their parties and
Speaker 1: I don't want to go. Yeah, this is embarrassed.
Speaker 3: So I can answer nothing. And it was like I
Speaker 3: felt like I've ruined my life. I'm pretty chill man.
Speaker 2: Yeah it worked out.
Speaker 1: It worked out.
Speaker 2: Yeah, wow, okay, I had no idea that was uh,
Speaker 2: that was the journey.
Speaker 1: Good for you, Thank goodness.
Speaker 2: Ingrid Goes West with Aubrey Plaza was your follow up,
Speaker 2: and you play a quirky comic book nerd best friend,
Speaker 2: and that's where I think people realized like, oh, he's
Speaker 2: good and the best.
Speaker 1: Thing about that that role I'm not acting at all
Speaker 1: the best.
Speaker 3: And then everybody's like, oh man, this performance is phenomenal.
Speaker 2: I'm like, I love that you spent two years really
Speaker 2: getting into a character to play ice Cube. And then
Speaker 2: the one that everyone's.
Speaker 1: Like, oh, look at these acting chops like to.
Speaker 3: Be me right, Like they just see my first one
Speaker 3: is so different than the second one. He must be
Speaker 3: good yeah, but I got it on kind of accident.
Speaker 3: Yeah yeah, like I wasn't. I'm not gonna say I
Speaker 3: wasn't supposed to get it. But so I'm at an
Speaker 3: award show that I'm presenting and I see Aubrey Plaza
Speaker 3: in the green room.
Speaker 1: Big Aubrey Plaza.
Speaker 3: Guy going to go see Yes, So I'm going to
Speaker 3: go see Aubrey Plaza.
Speaker 1: These nice old ass ladies.
Speaker 2: I love it. Nice old ass ladies. That's what people
Speaker 2: have nickname in high school.
Speaker 3: They stop me and they tell me how their grandson
Speaker 3: little straight on the comfin and ya, y'all this that
Speaker 3: the third I'm like.
Speaker 1: Trying to get in the picture. So we take the picture.
Speaker 1: Get to see y'all. Get to beat y'all. Turn around.
Speaker 3: All Replas is gone in natural o Shae Jackson Junior fashion.
Speaker 1: I run to Twitter.
Speaker 2: And I expressed my it always goes well transgressions.
Speaker 3: And uh yeah, all Replasa saw my hate tweet and
Speaker 3: she was she DM me. She was like, listen, I
Speaker 3: got this movie. You play my love interest. Just say yes.
Speaker 3: I was like, this is my second movie ever, but
Speaker 3: I know this isn't exactly how things are supposed to go.
Speaker 3: I was like, uh, let's set up a meeting.
Speaker 1: I'm all right.
Speaker 3: She gives me a number text her. I said, hey,
Speaker 3: it's Batman. She goes, great exclamation exclamation. I was like,
Speaker 3: all right, dope. Set up a meeting and it's at
Speaker 3: some random speakeasy in La that we've both never been to.
Speaker 3: I was like, all right, So we go there and
Speaker 3: she was like, so, how do you like the script?
Speaker 1: What script?
Speaker 3: She's like, what do you mean? I was like, whoa,
Speaker 3: if you send me a script, what's my email? She goes,
Speaker 3: why did you say you were Batman?
Speaker 1: I don't know. It's trying to be cool. I don't know.
Speaker 1: I don't know.
Speaker 3: I'm Batman. I love Batman. She goes, your guy in
Speaker 3: the movie is obsessed with Batman. And I thought you
Speaker 3: were saying yes, and I've already told the directors and producers.
Speaker 1: You said yeah. Oh it's always like I mean, I
Speaker 1: gotta do it now.
Speaker 3: And then I became Dan Pinto and you know, once
Speaker 3: we told the director of the story, he was like,
Speaker 3: oh wow.
Speaker 2: Yeah, just feels right.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: He was like, well, whatever you feel, you know, let's
Speaker 3: just go over and we'll let you do your thing
Speaker 3: and then let me do a thing.
Speaker 1: That's great.
Speaker 2: So I just got to be shy that is great,
Speaker 2: and den of thieves. I know a third one is
Speaker 2: just around the corner. How fun is it to be
Speaker 2: an action star with Gerard Butler?
Speaker 3: Oh it's terrible, is it? It's because you get beat
Speaker 3: up so much. It's so much like physic non Shaye activities.
Speaker 3: You know, car chases, car our flips, going down rope,
Speaker 3: down an elevator.
Speaker 1: I don't do that. That's not me. I'm out of
Speaker 1: my element and we want to go to I hop
Speaker 1: super chill to kick me in the middle of the ocean.
Speaker 3: In real life, I thought, I was like, does Universe
Speaker 3: will not have a tank we could borrow?
Speaker 2: I mean seriously, they also not have stunt people.
Speaker 3: They had like six divers in the water and the
Speaker 3: dude was under there like yeah, but like, yeah, kick
Speaker 3: me in the water on my clothes on I don't
Speaker 3: do stuff.
Speaker 4: Like well, apparently you do and do it well, yeah,
Speaker 4: which is I guess it's good.
Speaker 1: It's my first franchise. Gerard is awesome. Yeah, yeah, that's
Speaker 1: my dude.
Speaker 3: And then, uh, you know, if you say the word
Speaker 3: madness around Gerard, he breaks into the three hundred speech.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so like just.
Speaker 3: If anybody sees him on the street, just say madness
Speaker 3: and just watch his eyes light up.
Speaker 1: Sick.
Speaker 3: And now he's in How to Train Your Dragon, just
Speaker 3: stunting on me, big jerk. But yeah, Dinner Thieves has
Speaker 3: It's been a pleasant surprise. Like a lot of people
Speaker 3: come up to me calling me Donnie Wilson, and I
Speaker 3: just didn't expect it. I really love that film because
Speaker 3: you get to be the mastermind. Yeah, you know, I
Speaker 3: get to be the twist. And for this third one,
Speaker 3: I'm really going crazy. From the premiere of the last
Speaker 3: one to today, I'm down sixty pounds, going for another
Speaker 3: fifty and then I'm an bulk up and I'm gonna
Speaker 3: make triple Age give me a match. Yeah, but then
Speaker 3: I'm gonna do the movie, okay, because I can't sign
Speaker 3: up for the movie and then do the match of
Speaker 3: like this contract stuff and they'll be like, don't let
Speaker 3: them get hurt.
Speaker 1: But I'm trying to go hard.
Speaker 2: You're trying to go hard.
Speaker 1: You know. I have a dream of going through.
Speaker 3: A table, right, I need to like go hard because
Speaker 3: like wrestling fans, they got to like feel like you know,
Speaker 3: they gotta feel like one of us, and I like
Speaker 3: that means I gotta go through it where they're like, yeah,
Speaker 3: they're yi, yeah exactly, they feel like nervous.
Speaker 2: Nervous for you, Yeah exact. Your mom's gonna hate it,
Speaker 2: for sure. I'm gonna hate it too, but I'm also
Speaker 2: gonna I love it as a fan.
Speaker 1: He's in his element.
Speaker 2: Yes, well, you are a fellow podcaster with co host TJ,
Speaker 2: who I met actually at last WrestleMania. Do you love
Speaker 2: being able to get out all your wrestling opinions whenever
Speaker 2: you want?
Speaker 1: Yes? And I still have to hold back.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, man, because listen when we were when we
Speaker 3: were just two young bucks, which is only a year ago,
Speaker 3: uh huh we and you know we were with Rich
Speaker 3: Eyes and and you know, other companies and things like that.
Speaker 3: It just seemed like I could be a little bit
Speaker 3: more guns blazing. But like now I'm a product of
Speaker 3: the Walt Disney Company and Mickey Mouse will have SUVs
Speaker 3: outside the house. So like I just I've been cool. Yeah,
Speaker 3: I mean TJ will tell you I have. I have
Speaker 3: calmed down quite the bit. Every now and then I
Speaker 3: have to ask for the bleak button to be ready yep,
Speaker 3: because like you need that.
Speaker 2: It's sometimes totally exactly.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I've slowed down quite the bit.
Speaker 2: Okay, Yeah, I'm a father.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm a mother.
Speaker 2: And it just changes us a little bit. Do you
Speaker 2: have a dream guest? You two haven't interviewed yet.
Speaker 3: Absolutely the White Whale. Got to get the Rock. I
Speaker 3: have to get him in studio. By the way, John
Speaker 3: Cena gave us two and a half hours.
Speaker 4: Dwayne, Wow, I'm just saying.
Speaker 3: Don't want him to be topped, just saying, got the
Speaker 3: same agent. But I got it to talk to Rock.
Speaker 3: He's my hero. I have to talk to him. We
Speaker 3: got to talk to Roman.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 1: Look, thank god for Phil Brooks.
Speaker 3: Thank god for him because he was our first episode
Speaker 3: and I knew, like, we have to hit it out
Speaker 3: park first episode, and you know, we're two guys like
Speaker 3: we love wrestling, never wrestled, and it's quick for an
Speaker 3: audience to be like, what do you know he don't
Speaker 3: want to listen to all for so Phil, you know,
Speaker 3: our first two episodes were Phil because we you know,
Speaker 3: we broke it down into two episodes. But he was
Speaker 3: such a major part in putting us on the map
Speaker 3: so early, getting us up to number four podcasts on Apple,
Speaker 3: like that's crazy in your first episode, and they kind
Speaker 3: of put everybody on notice about us.
Speaker 1: We've had some bumps in a row, but they've been
Speaker 1: pretty smooth. Yeah.
Speaker 3: Now, and now we work for the Entertainment Sports Network,
Speaker 3: which they say has its perks.
Speaker 1: We're still trying to figure them out. But yeah, TJ
Speaker 1: hates that. I said that.
Speaker 2: You have very strong opinions hot takes even could you
Speaker 2: tell me the one that you think got you the
Speaker 2: most in Trouble Online?
Speaker 1: Ooh, number one. I know everybody loves.
Speaker 3: The ending of WrestleMania forty doesn't make any sense whatsoever.
Speaker 1: You don't like it. How did the Undertaker come out here.
Speaker 3: For I don't know, like Davian Interact a week prior
Speaker 3: or anything.
Speaker 1: Why does the Undertaker just like Cody? What was that?
Speaker 3: And he just saves them and I'm supposed to be happy,
Speaker 3: my cold ass freezing Philadelphia.
Speaker 1: One far in the air.
Speaker 3: By the way, Philly, you should never get another WrestleMania.
Speaker 3: Oh my god, I'm so uncomfortable and I gotta watch
Speaker 3: my favorite lose for no reason because the Undertaker decided
Speaker 3: to come out like Spider Man, everybody gets.
Speaker 1: What everybody saves everyone.
Speaker 3: So yeah, Undertaker and Cody have no I haven't seen
Speaker 3: him talk since.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know. Thanks.
Speaker 3: That's the greatest ending of all time, my ass. So
Speaker 3: that's that's that one. Sorry, Cody, you know I get it.
Speaker 1: Babies up by a billion. Yeah, it doesn't make any sense.
Speaker 2: Listen, guys, there are two nights of WrestleMania, so there
Speaker 2: are two episodes with Osha. This Friday, I'll continue my
Speaker 2: chat with the rapper, actor and podcaster. Plus we will
Speaker 2: listen to one of your embarrassing involving makeup. But you
Speaker 2: have to subscribe now to the dedicated Team Beat feed,
Speaker 2: So search for it wherever you get your podcasts and subscribe.
Speaker 2: That way you never miss another episode. Teen Beat is
Speaker 2: an iHeart podcast produced and hosted by Danielle Fischel, Executive
Speaker 2: producers Jensen Carp and Amy Sugarman, Executive in charge of
Speaker 2: production Danielle Romo, producer and editor Tara Soudbach. The theme
Speaker 2: song is by mar Coppus. Yes that Mark Coppus. Follow
Speaker 2: us on Instagram at teen Beat pod