April 10, 2025 • 55 mins
Join us as we dive into the world of versatility in the entertainment industry with reality star and media mogul Misster Ray.
From navigating multiple careers to overcoming industry setbacks, Misster Ray (Ray Cunningham) shares invaluable life lessons and experiences that have shaped his multifaceted career.
Discover how Misster Ray transitioned from reality TV to pursuing higher education and engaging in meaningful community service. Plus, don't miss his special recipe segment where he whips up his unique turkey tacos, spiced with a secret ingredient: soy sauce!
Tune in to hear about Misster Ray's advocacy for Black education, his passion for giving back, and the incredible impact he's making in the community.
This episode is packed with wisdom, delicious food, and heartfelt stories!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Hey guys, welcome to another episode of Eating While Broke.
I'm your host Coy and today we have very special
guest reality star mister Rays in the Building.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Star og Media Moguls is in the building.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
Man of many titles and many jobs. Yes.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Yes, And that's kind of how the industry is, right.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
That's how LA is. You can't just be a one
trick The rent is always do. You got to be
able to make it move when when jobs ain't moving.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
And if you're a millennial, you've been through so many
shockwaves from like you know, COVID, the writers strike. I mean,
there's just there's always something. You know, before that there
was the Alway crash of real estate. So now you
just you know, you have to have multiple jobs.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
We have to be able to adapt and improvise and overcome.
Like when I was doing reality television, then COVID came
and nobody was swimming anything. So I went to grad school,
got my master's and I wrote a book that ended
up being a bestseller on Amazon. Uh. Then when the
writer strike happened, there was no more TV happening again.
So I went and learned how to be a producer,
so cause there were still projects being produced, but there
(01:23):
was no actors acting. So I was able to learn
how to be a talent producer and learn the you know,
the inner workings of how to warn a production thanks
to Hellionaire Productions. Shout out to Jamie. And then even
when things got back to normal, I decided I wanted
to work in the community and do stuff, you know,
help give back and help some Los Angeles students go
to school so they can have the same kind of
(01:45):
HBCU experience that I had. So I've been working with
United Negro College Fund and the Black College Expo and
just I just God has blessed me to be multi
talented and be able to exist in a lot of spaces.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
Since we talking about a lot of spaces. Yes, don't
you tell me what you're gonna feed me. I am starving, guys.
It is lunchtime over here, so I will be eating
the full dish and the little crumbs.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
So what are you gonna have me eating today?
Speaker 3 (02:10):
So we're gonna make mister Ray's tacos. Since we're in
LA and everybody eats healthy out here, We're gonna use
checking oh excuse, We're gonna use turkey meat. We're trying
to eat healthy, eat right for our blood type out here.
So we used turkey. I got some secret ingredients. We
got our tomatoes, our onions, our cheese, our lettuce, our sauca.
This is a special hot sausa. If you have sinuses,
(02:34):
this will clear you out. Okay, in both ways, I am.
I'm scared that what are your secret ingredients?
Speaker 2 (02:41):
Come on?
Speaker 3 (02:42):
So anywhile broke in college, I ate on a budget,
but I came from very humble beginnings. But I still
ate well. And then of course when you get to college,
my dad was like, okay, you on your own. You
need to get you a job or you know, work
on campus, get some extra money because we're paying for
you to be in school. So I wanted to eat
how I ate it home, So I had to improvise
(03:04):
with a couple of things. So there was a top
China carry out right near us. There was the grocery
store right near of food. It was called food Line
in Virginia shout out to Virginia State University. So I
would go get the meat, the tacos. We would watch
one O six in park. When I used to come
on in six o'clock, we watched one on six in
Park and I would make tacos for us to eat
(03:24):
and then we would go back to schools. Back then,
in college, I was the mascot, so we had band practice,
so I had to go learn the dances and stuff
like that. So we would eat tacos, watch one O
six in park, and then go back to campus. So
this was my version of a gourmet taco. Well, go ahead,
so I use soy sauce. I know it sounds crazy,
but I had so many soy sauce packets from eating
(03:48):
Chinese food to go in college. I used to use
it as a seasoning because I was like, it's amazing.
It's amazing, So my hands are clean.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
Go for it.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
Okay, you're not gonna end up touch the meat a
lot though, right, No, I'm not touching that I've seen.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
It's actually put their hands on the meat and then
they touch their hair by accident.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
Those are the same people who probably don't know the
difference between a wash face cloth and a body cloth.
So you know, chicken cooks, turkey and chicken, all those
cook pretty fast.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
So you don't need the oil, right because it's I
guess it has its own fat.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
I'm gonna use a little bit of oil, not a lot,
just a drop, because it's yeah, it's a little bit
on that side, that's a lot, right, Well, you gotta
get it cooking. Now, we don't see I'm judging.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
I'm a I'm a I'm a side side host.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
I want to see when the soy sauce.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
When when the soy sauce enters the pan? So he
got the Okay, I'll narrate. So, Okay, he's he's brown
in the meat taco seasoning.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
See, when you're not using beef and you're using like
turkey stuff like that, you really have to season your meat.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
And we like good meat, right, a whole packet. We
learned on one episode that we're not supposed to use
the whole packete us.
Speaker 3 (05:07):
Some chef I'm from I'm from Virginia. We cook, Okay,
we seasoned, we cooked, We brown our meat. Make sure
it tastes great. It's supposed to be a party in
your mouth. Yeah, exactly like that. Good all right.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
So take me back to what was going on in
the tackle making days.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
So in Virginia State University, I was in school. I
was a mass calm major. I'm just using a little
bit of a little onion powdered.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
Little onion powder after he added the entire taco seasoning.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
Packet Italian power. Are you gonna add garlic powder?
Speaker 3 (05:40):
No, we ain't doing all that now.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Okay, okay, I feel like those two are married for life.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
But yeah, college was a great time. It was the
best four years of my life. Figured out who I was,
came and started living in my truth. I think that's
where mister Ray was developed. Know. I grew up in
a pretty conservative family. You know, I'm the young this
boy of the four siblings. My dad and I are
best friends. My grandmother and I are best friends. I
(06:07):
grew up in Virginia with my father and my mother
was actually here in California. So every summer, every summer,
fall break, Christmas break, spring break, I was out here.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
So wait a minute, So your dad raised you by himself.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
I have a stepmother as well. Yeah, yeah, I have
a step mother and a stepfather. So I got an
East Coast family and a West Coast friend. So I
ain't new to La. I been here. I'm a co native,
uh since nineteen You're the youngest, I'm the baby, I'm
my mom's only Oh, my dad has other children. I
have half.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
Siblings, but you're the youngest.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
I'm the baby of all.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
And then I'm.
Speaker 3 (06:38):
Guessing they separated.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
And then they.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
Separated, and then my father remarried, and my mother moved
back here and she remarried. Okay, so I was. I
grew up. I was. I was living a good life.
I got to, you know, live in Virginia, come to
La every break. So like Hollywood, it wasn't new to
me when I got into it. I knew where everything
was pretty much. And I had friends out here.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
Oh he's at in the soil, a little bit of
so and soft.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
Now, this is the college hookup we had used to
I used to use packets of this. I'm telling you,
you're it's gonna be so good. I am definitely curious, cause,
you know, a black colleges, we have to make do
with what we have. A lot of soy sauce. It's
gonna cook down. You're not gonna taste it.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
They gonna see this.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
Man. I hope it's delicious. It's amazing. It is amazing.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
That much.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
No, it's not. I hate dry meat.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
I yeah, yeah, I.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
I just caught that. But No, in college, we were
just cooking on the budget. We were trying to make
things taste good with what we have. We used condiments everything. So,
you know, I just I came to California in the
summers and I would watch my grandmother and my mother cook.
And because my grandmother retired from Compton High School, she
had a lot of Hispanic homegirls had a lot of
friends out here. My grandmother got the hookup everywhere she went,
(07:53):
still does, and they made the best tacos. And I
would sit and watch those women make tacos, and then
I would go back to Virginia. You know, we eating
pig feet, port neck, all kinds of stuff, and they're
not gonna taco but like Chipotle was the boom of
Mexican food in Virginia, I promise you. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
So you said that in college you discover your true self.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
What does that mean?
Speaker 3 (08:16):
Well, you know, I grew up in the era of
being very conservative, don't ask, and you don't tell your
business to nobody. So when I was casting for college
here on my first show that I did, we trited
filming in the fall of my senior year and it
aired that spring. I admitted what I admitted, my sensuality
on national television. At the time, I thought the world
(08:37):
was over. I was trying my best. I was blowing
on beans, like you cannot air that my I have
not said. I have not told my parents. I have
not told my family. Like saying you're gay and being
gay are two different conversations, And at that time, I
just actually knowing it. Knowing your gay is okay, you
know you're gay, you know what you like. But saying
it verbally to someone else other than yourself in the mirror,
(09:00):
it's a crazy experience, okay. And I wasn't really ready
for it, and it made me the first black gay
reality personality ever on BET. So. I know I made history,
but I thought I was about to be history because
I didn't know how my dad was gonna react. But
it actually allowed us to get so much closer and
talk with each other and to share everything. There's nothing
(09:21):
you can tell my dad right now today that he
doesn't already know about good, bad, embarrassing, whatever. We talk
like that. That's that situation taught us. But I know
that's not like that for everybody. I did have some relatives.
It was a little feisty about it, and I'm like,
what do you matter. What do you care? This is
my body, this is my life.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
Were they mad because you said it on national television?
Speaker 3 (09:41):
Yeah, because they had to deal with You know again,
I came from I was from Virginia, so everybody knew everybody.
Everybody knew everybody's family, everybody worked together, went the church together,
was at the grocery store together. Like everybody knew everybody.
So it was It's not that it was a secret either,
Like if you knew me, you knew you. I'm saying Dad,
was he shocked or was he like, boy, it wasn't
(10:02):
shocked at all. I don't ever, You're not gonna make
me believe that my dad was shocked. I think he
was just more so disappointed that I did not have
that conversation with him first, because he thought that we
were closer than that. We're close, But how do you
tell your black dad hed dad as the only as
the youngest boy, I like men, how many other boys
does he have? Oh I have a step brother, Oh
(10:23):
step I'm the namesake. I'm the third. There's two other
rays in front of me, him and my grandfather. And
it's just, you know, I just think it was that
you have a step brother.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
So you're technically the youngest boy, the youngest boy of
his Yes, yes, okay.
Speaker 3 (10:38):
My brother was having kids when I came to live
with my dad and my stepmother, and then my oldest
sister was having kids when I came. So I grew
up with four of my nieces like we were brothers
and sister. Yeah, so they're like, they're like, they're like
between the ages of twenty eight and thirty five. Three
of my nieces actually have sons. So I'm great uncle Ray.
We aren't gonna say great uncle Ray, but I'm a
(10:59):
great on go to three boys, uncle to five girls,
and I have one nephew through my sister. Wow, I
know it's a lot. Okay, So I don't need kids.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
Oh you don't want kids.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
Don't I'm forty. I don't want kids. I don't want
to look like I don't gole pick it up my child.
I'm forty.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
I have a three year old.
Speaker 3 (11:19):
So see you already have one at forty though, yeah, thirty,
it started late. I started thirty seven. Well, see, this
is my traveling era. This is my hilarious random.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
Era, forty years of Okay, I'm not gonna say.
Speaker 3 (11:31):
My nieces and nephews are my kids. Yeah, I'll trust me.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
I'm not gonna sell you on that responsibility. So what
are we gonna do next?
Speaker 3 (11:38):
Are we? So we're gonna get a taco?
Speaker 2 (11:41):
Yes, I gonna I'm gonna get two.
Speaker 3 (11:44):
We'll get yeah, I am too. Yeah, come on, let's
let's not act like I was trying to be classy
while we while we do our you don't have to
be classy. So you gotta let me know if you taste,
I'm gonna fall it. Go for it. Okay. Ooh, you
(12:06):
can't get.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
To it's not at all.
Speaker 3 (12:09):
I told you it's good right, It's the meat. It
is what makes the taco my goodness.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
Okay, may hook me up a little more.
Speaker 3 (12:18):
You want some more? Okay? And we also have cheese
and onion. I told you were gonna like this. Which
one you wanted? There? There you go? Thanks, put some
more of your.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
Other one, thank you? Okay, So we just freak stout
lettuce and tomato.
Speaker 3 (12:34):
So yeah, you put lettuce tomato right with the cheese.
Let it melk. Let me taste the meat.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
Meat girl, boy, listen, listen, let me tell you something.
That meat, that meat I don't know. I don't know
if I want to give you that credit or that
seasoning credits.
Speaker 3 (12:51):
No, that was the that was my secret ingredient. But
I think it's the soy sauce cause it wasn't even
boom it's And that's the thing when you even though
you wanna eat healthy, you still want to have some season,
get some you know, some juiciness.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
Let me just tell you something, guys, the soy sauce
in the taco meat probably made like a world of
a difference. And I promise you I will never make
tacos without it.
Speaker 3 (13:12):
I told you the.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
Secret ingredient isn't a secret ingredient anymore.
Speaker 3 (13:16):
Right, the world now knows that mister Ray's the hot.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
Sauce with me taco the soy sauce.
Speaker 3 (13:22):
I say, a hot sauce. Oh no, we haven't got
to the hot sauce yet. Hot sauce is amazing. Oop.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
Sorry, we're getting excited.
Speaker 3 (13:33):
I know.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
Do you feel like, yeah, someone's house right now.
Speaker 3 (13:36):
I feel like we're sitting like you comfortable here. I'm
very comfortable to add sour cream to this. You know what,
As I've turned forty, uh, dairy products sometimes are not
my friend in the middle of the day, so I
pick and choose my sour cream battles.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
Now you don't consider sauce so like instead of hot sauce, like, baby,
we just salsa it.
Speaker 3 (13:59):
I don't mind salt so like. I do have friends
that prefer saucer. And then I prefer the green.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
I know he wants me to try this green.
Speaker 3 (14:07):
It comes it's so hot tall so oh my god.
You put a lot in Chicago and this place called
Burrito Beach and they had it and it was so good.
And then, oh my god, it's amazing. Dad. It don't
put too much. Friend, it's coming out so slow.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
That's so Jesus.
Speaker 3 (14:30):
All right, here we go.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
Okay, I'm hungry, guys. I know you want to hear.
Speaker 3 (14:34):
The story, but hung I want to see how you
like to taco.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
I know I'm gonna like it. I'm gonna I'm enjoy
my first couple of bites before I get to hell.
Speaker 3 (14:43):
M mm hmmm the meat alone, me have the golk cup.
It's the green. Oh no, it wasn't the green like
the show. Oh hmm.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
Let me tell you something. You killed it on the meat.
Speaker 3 (15:05):
Okay, that the best taco meat I've ever had. Oh
my goodness, thank you. See I'm in my cooking era.
I'm in my traveling era. I'm trying to get engaged. Era.
Got the best way of somebody's harder to this stomach.
Chased the green. It's a kick to it.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
Who you know what? I like it.
Speaker 3 (15:34):
That's flavor. It's hot, but it has a flavor to it.
But just put a little dabs on it.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
We're gonna take a quick pause because I'm really right.
Speaker 3 (15:43):
We don't want any Ecco cameratersbody to eat.
Speaker 2 (15:46):
We're gonna eat for a second, and I'm gonna get
into the shopping.
Speaker 3 (15:51):
But this is why everybody came over to my apartment.
I made these tacos, and I used to tell all
my friends save your save your soy sauce packets. That
was so cord. We're gonna come back. We throw the commercials. Okay, ol,
guys were back.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
All right, guys were back. Sorry. The food was so
good that I had to call time out.
Speaker 3 (16:17):
Guy.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
We was really hungry, and I ate.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
I do want to do a special shout out to
the soy sauce. I will say I've never thought to
put soy sauce in taco meat. But if you've cooked
with ground turkey, you know that it's typically dry. And
I was clowning mister Ray because he was putting so much.
Speaker 3 (16:39):
I was scared.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
But it actually makes it a lot more softer and
me that or you didn't overcook it. I don't know,
but the meat came out really good. The flavoring was
really good. So if you're at home, try the soy sauce,
add the onion powder. As far as the hot sauce,
I did try it. I got a little bit excited
at the end. I thought I could handle it. My
mouth is on absolute fire.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
Your notes will be so clear. If not afternoon delicious tacos.
Speaker 1 (17:14):
So now that we have the tacos out the way,
you can come closer. Try not to eat into everyone's ears.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
Sorry guys.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
All right, so you do your first reality show, BT
comes out. Begged all these guys not to air it.
They're like, you signed these releases, golm down.
Speaker 3 (17:34):
Yeah, They're like, we have the footage. It's airing next week.
Like it's not changing.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
What was the check looking.
Speaker 3 (17:41):
Like back then? Because we were the first black reality
TV series, we are the the beginning the beginning of
all reality TV in terms of black reality television. I
think I don't remember the exact amount, but b ET
paid us a weekly. We got paid weekly. They're gonna
laugh at this because again we were the first black
(18:03):
reality show and we were in college. We got paid
one hundred dollars a week in cash. I remember that,
and I believe when we signed on we got paid.
I don't remember exactly how much, but I know while
we were in production and while we traveled to promote
the show, like when we were in New York from
montal Suston Park, Miami for Spring Bring New York for
(18:25):
the Runway in LA for the awards, we got a
per diem while we were there. So it wasn't like
they just had us out there too, and we were
feeding for ourselves. So way different from they didn't get paid.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
Now, they didn't have you starve.
Speaker 3 (18:36):
Well, no, no, no, no, no, we didn't have any
of that. I will say that we came up at
the very humble beginnings when BT first went over to Viacom,
so we got a lot of exposure. We got to
go to so many things, but because our cast, we
were so hungry to be out there and wanted to
just see the world and everybody to see us and
represent Virginia State. We did a lot on our own.
(18:58):
We would go to the local radio stations and ask
for donations and fundraise so we can get to certain
places because B and T will be like, well, if
y'all get here, we'll take care of you. Oh that's it.
And we would just do whatever we needed to do
to get there.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
And then when they say it will take care of you,
they'll put you up a hotel.
Speaker 3 (19:14):
The hotel, car transportation will take care of everything. The
issue was just sometimes it was traveling. Like I know,
we had to make our own way to Miami for
spring Bling, but we got to spring Bling. I got
to We stayed at the best hotel right on the
beach in Fort Lauderdale, and we met like Ello Cool
J and Keisha Cole when she first started like we
were the college kids backstage, like you know, we were
(19:35):
still in class. Yeah, so that was awesome.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
And during all of this going on.
Speaker 3 (19:41):
I should listened to my dad. He was like that
TV stuff gonna still be there, but your classes, you
got to graduate. You gotta come up out of there. Uh.
I did over indulge. I had a great time. We
were always on the road because the show aired in
the spring, and I graduated because I ended up feeling
in class and had to graduate in the fall, so
(20:03):
I finished the class. I took a three week summer
school class. I got an a in that I'm not
gonna say that teacher's name, but but you still you
still graduated. Yeah, it's still coming out in May. But
the shady part of it was they didn't let me
know till like the day before graduation that I wasn't
clear to graduate. So my family had played this huge
(20:23):
cookout and everything, so we still had to cookout. We
still ate and had a good time. But I had
moved out here to La started working at BT. I
had to fly back in December to walk across the
stage and at first I wasn't going to it. I
was like, they tried it, But then I was like,
you know what rules are the rules? I needed to
be responsible, learn how to manage my time. So that
was a lesson learned for sure.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
But yeah, so after that whole experience, what was your
next big play?
Speaker 3 (20:49):
I went to work at Beet in the corporate communications department.
I was there as an intern and then I ain't
up staying for about two three years and then.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
From b as a paid internship.
Speaker 3 (21:01):
I was fresh out of college and I was on
b ET and working at b ET, so there was
money involved. Back then, I was getting paid as talent
after work, getting paid as an employee during the day.
Then who I've done so many things from b ET.
I went and actually worked with my father. My father
(21:21):
retired from Amtrak in DC. A lot of people don't
know this, and I was living in DC. Nobody knew
what I was doing because you know, I had, you know,
working on the train and working at Amtrak. You can't
It's in our union guideline that you can't post yourself
and post you know, train business. Yes, so I mean
some people who occasional would post themselves in a uniform.
I personally was not trying to post myself in a uniform.
(21:43):
I didn't want to draw a lot of attention that
I was, you know, in DC and working. But people
knew that I had a government related job. So I
did that. And while I did that, I worked out
of New York at WeTV as well, So I was
just digital hosts and correspondence so the Braxton Family Values,
swv LA Hair, all those shows. I was like the
wee TV Andy Coo when I interviewed everybody. I did
(22:05):
the digital reunions, I hosted the award shows. I was
execut produce all of those things. I edited most of
those things. We TV paid very well because did you
have to pitch yourself for that or did they just
reach out to me. I was in a bar and
I met this lady that she was over listening. She
was listening to my conversation. I was talking about the
Braxton Show, the Braxton Family Values, and she kept laughing
(22:28):
and like button in my conversation. She was like, you
are so funny. Here's my car. Can you call me
on Monday? So I looked at the car and I
said we TV. I was just like we TV. So
I called my sister. She was like call them people,
see what they talking about. And it was like she's like,
I'm the head of original programming and in digital marketing,
and she said, and I would love to have you
(22:50):
like commentate. All of our shows will pay you, you know,
per episode, will bring you up to New York. I said,
I'm work the trade for free girl. So I was hustling.
I was working. When I was free, I was doing
we TV and it was great money. It was a
good time. I got to meet some of everybody, and
that's how befriended my gird girlfriend, Tracy Braxon, who unfortunate
(23:10):
is no longer here with us. But I got to
work with my childhood icons s WV. They had a show,
so it was just it was a good time. So
I was being professional, had a corporate nine to five
with benefits, and then I was still pursuing my passion,
and that's all my dad wanted me to do. Pursue
my passion. But make sure you got some savings, make
(23:30):
sure you got benefits, because you know, as we get older,
we get sick. You know, I never would have thought
COVID would have happened back then, but like, I'm glad
I have health insurance. At what point did you quit Amtrak?
When I got the call to come and do love
and hip hop Hollywood, so I was already I came
out here to visit my mother. My mother was having
some personal things going on, and I wanted to be
(23:50):
out here just to be of support for her, and
she was having she had something was going wrong with
her heart and she had to have a surgery, and
I wanted to come out here just be near her.
And I started thinking about it. I was like, you know,
I've been doing this sweet TV stuff. It's going really well.
I make just as much money there as I do
it Amtrak. Maybe it's time for me to yeah, oh
(24:16):
shoot it. I love that you kept a hustle.
Speaker 1 (24:19):
Yeah going, So then you.
Speaker 2 (24:23):
You entertained quitting, right, So walk me through that.
Speaker 3 (24:28):
My boss found out that I was in l A,
not that I was found out. I took a leave
of absence. My boss called me and said, you need
to report to work tomorrow morning. At eleven am. I
was sitting in Studio City at Cafe Rue smoking a hookah.
It was like six o'clock. I will never forget this day.
I said, I'm in Los Angeles. I would have to
(24:50):
fly back, get a flight, fly back to where I lived,
and then get to DC. They said, if you can't
be here, we're riding you up. And you were on
a leaf I was leaving. I was, I was. I
took like a thirty day leave absence to be here
with my mother. This was like the twenty ninth day,
Like thirtieth. Going into the thirtieth, I said, you know what,
(25:14):
it was like, I will ever forget y'all. It was
like Halloween. I was like day before Halloween. I was like,
fuck this job. I called my UNI rap I said,
I quit. I ain't coming. I quit.
Speaker 2 (25:28):
Now. Did you think you were reacting on emotion or
you were just I.
Speaker 3 (25:32):
Was already fed up with that situation working at Amtrak.
I think Amtrak is an awesome company. Unfortunately, the people
that they had in management I thought were idiots. They
were there was a that's nice, they don't watch this interview. Okay,
most of them fired for their idiotisms. You said they
have been fired. Yes, you keeping up with the current events. Yeah,
(25:56):
I still because I still friends with the people that
I came in with and I worked the railroad. I
just was at a point in my life where I
was like fuck that, Like, no, you're not gonna talk
to me like that, and then you're not FNNA. It
was just a hostile work environment across the board for
everybody from upper management to us, and I was just like,
you know what, fuck this. I'm about to be on
(26:18):
love and hip hop yeah and the table. Yes, I
was like I was already thinking about because I was
trying to transfer to LA and they were making it
difficult for me to transfer. I was trying to keep
my job and come to LA and do the same thing,
because what I do outside of work shouldn't it doesn't
affect No.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
But I am definitely curious. What were you doing for Amtrak?
Speaker 3 (26:37):
I was in customer service, so I was basically like
the one board customer service manager. You would say, so no, no, no,
So I would actually be on the trains. I was
in charge of the dining car cruise.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
Okay, yes, ride Amtrak. I don't know if I had.
Speaker 3 (26:50):
I worked at the long distance Trains. My regular train
went from DC to Chicago. So I would leave on
a Friday, be there Saturday morning, leave Chicago that after noon,
be back to DC Saturday Sunday morning. So yeah, n trains,
so you wouldn't even know I was gone. I would
leave Friday and be back Sunday for brunch like nothing happened,
you know. So that's my friends. I always joking me,
(27:11):
like you don't want to have a job, like you're
always at an event still, And I was like, because
the way I work, Wow, we work three on three
days on you still track?
Speaker 2 (27:21):
No, I want to try am track.
Speaker 3 (27:24):
I think after that last phone call I had with
them over the track, they don't want to hear from
Meuse that.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
The last time you were was that the last time
you were actually on the Amtrak train?
Speaker 3 (27:32):
Oh No, I got back on the train road the
train plenty of times after. What they gonna do to me?
Speaker 2 (27:37):
How much is an Amtrak ticket?
Speaker 3 (27:38):
It depends where you're going. So like if you take
the exceler that's more of the high speed and that's
the more expensive ticket, so you can get from DC
to New York in like three hours. But if you
take a regional train that's like more of the old
school cars that you see in movies and stuff, that
could be like a five six hour train.
Speaker 2 (27:53):
Which one is the nice one? Don't they have like rooms?
Speaker 3 (27:55):
Excel? Oh that's the sleeper cars. The sleeper see the
sleeper cars and they have deluxe rooms. Get me saying
this stuff like I.
Speaker 2 (28:03):
Okay, okay, so yeah, google your Amtrak.
Speaker 3 (28:06):
I am a railroad baby, though I'm a proud third
generation railroad baby. My grandfather worked on the railroad. My
father was a conductor on the railway. He was there
forty two years, like conductor as he drove it. Well,
no conductor, he was in charge of the train. So
the engineer drives the trade. But my dad he also
started the human rights and diversity department for Amtrak, and
I think that and that was after I came out
(28:27):
on television, So I think by our situation helped him
see things differently and able to share with other employees
across the country how you can deal with diversity in
the workplace because he was dealing with it in his home.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
Nice.
Speaker 3 (28:41):
Okay, so you get the love and hip hop offer.
Speaker 1 (28:43):
Yeah, we ain't trying to promote amtrack just so you
guys knows the show. But anyway, so you get the
love and hip hop offer, You're like, f the day job.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
Peace.
Speaker 3 (28:55):
You tell your dad right away. Oh, I was excited
to call me. I was. He already knew I was.
My dad knows me, and I'm gonna tell you where
to go and how you can get there. When I
get to that point and I was like, Daddy, i
quit amstrak And I was like, damn, damn them, I'm
done with it. I'm about to be on this show
and whatever I need to do to do to make
it work. I'm gonna make it work.
Speaker 2 (29:13):
And what did he say?
Speaker 3 (29:14):
He was like, you grown, okay, cool, He wasn't mad.
He already saw things that I was experiencing because I
wasn't rare. We call them railroad babies. They felt I
was getting special treatment, I implied for those jobs I
interviewed for those jobs. I was qualified for those jobs.
And because my father was such a big name at
the company, I often got heat for that or they
(29:37):
felt I wasn't deserving of it, but they would still
want me to train the people there was less qualified
to do the job. Okay, So what did your mom
think about you staying? She was happy? I don't think
she was happy. What I think my mother was more so,
Oh you're doing TV again? Like this again? Like you know,
(30:00):
my mom is a is a very studious person, so
she want to you know, she's in the medical field.
So TV and people being in your business and being
out and around a bunch of people, that's not my mother.
She's a total opposite. My dad is me. We're socialites,
like to be everywhere, busybodies. That is not my mother.
So she was like, none of that sounds interesting to me.
But if you want to do it. Okay, Love and
(30:22):
Hip Hop wasn't my best chapter, but it definitely reintroduced
me to people ten years later.
Speaker 2 (30:28):
Well, I gotta ask, is Love and Hip Hop scripted?
Speaker 3 (30:32):
I think certain cities and I think certain scenes are
I think. Let me not say, I think. I can
only say I think about other franchises. I can only
speak for Hollywood, and I feel like with Hollywood and
now I feel like I know with Hollywood there was
truth in every scene, but everything was exaggerated. Yeah, a
(30:54):
lot of surprises though, but stuff you would expect, you know.
Speaker 1 (30:58):
So okay, so what's the day in the life when
you're shooting like a Love and Hip Hop?
Speaker 3 (31:02):
So the best part for me because I was only
get guy on the cast. Well, no, it was others,
but I was the one that got glambed. So they
would come to the house, they would do your makeup,
cut your hair.
Speaker 1 (31:12):
Only, Oh, you're the only guy that got glam Yeah,
I don't think.
Speaker 3 (31:16):
I don't think the other gentleman got glam like that,
not that I know of the haircut, get your face
done up because I'm like, want be on TV TV.
Then they pick you up an SUV take you to
the scene. I this is in a contrary to what
people say, Oh they get you drunk, they don't get
you drunk. I asked for drinks, like if I got
(31:38):
to be in here with these people talking about I
don't know what we've about to talk about. I don't
know who about to pop up. I don't know what's
about to pop off. Let me at least be relaxed.
Let me let me hit my little pan right quick.
Let me get it. Let me get like folk shots
and Hennessy so I can be relaxed. You know, they
never bent your arm to make you do so when
people say they make you drink, they give you the
option enjoy it. Yeah, we enjoy it. Yeah, you got
(32:01):
a light liquor option at the dark liquor option, whichever won,
because at end of the day, were all over twenty
one where adults were grown. If you don't want to drink,
you don't drink.
Speaker 2 (32:09):
Now do you ever put parameters on like who you
will and won't pay.
Speaker 3 (32:12):
With once you get to be in the senior position
on the show? So I did it for three seasons.
So by the time my third season rolled around, I
could say that I'm gonna feel comfortable with X, Y
and Z and then they'll try to rework it and
rearrange it. But honestly, but don't they love those scenes
the most. They love them. But I can tell you
(32:32):
that it was difficult for Love and hip Hop because
my first two seasons we were produced by one production company.
My third season, which was the last season of Loving
hip Hop, we had a whole brand new production company.
We shot for ten months. So these are brand new
people who don't know us, They don't know who got
beef for who, they don't know anybody's backstory, who they
might have been beefing with last year, but they're cool
(32:54):
with this year, or they were cool last year, they
not cool this year.
Speaker 2 (32:58):
A long time.
Speaker 3 (32:59):
It was because it was a brand new cat. It
was a brand new production company. Oh my god. They
were trying to figure out different ways to shoot because
even the style and which way the way that we
shot was different. Like we went through three different green
screen looks that season. The lighting was off so we
had to redo it again, or this had they were
adding cast members in and things were just coming up
(33:21):
on the blogs and we had to like go back
and redo things. And when I said redo things like
we back then would shoot a scene and something would
go down, and we would go online texting and tweeting them,
Oh my god, this just happened. They tried it, and
blah blah blah, blah blah blah, and that was that night.
Would go on and on back and forth online and
then they'll be like, hey, we need to capture that.
(33:41):
We need to do another scene, and you recap what
happened that night after you finished it filming, talk to
them about what happened and what y'all were talking about.
So you gotta go back in that moment again. I
don't miss it.
Speaker 2 (33:54):
You don't know.
Speaker 3 (33:55):
That wasn't the best chapter of my life. I didn't
like necessarily my edit, and it's nothing that I can
say that I did wrong, And they didn't make me
look a certain way. I just didn't like the lack
of what they showed. They only showed me. They wanted
to make me the confrontational gay character that argue with
all the other gay characters and only got in women's business. Well,
(34:17):
our show is eighty percent women. I'm the gay guy.
I'm friends with the women. So if they're talking to
me about it on an off camera. I'm gonna talk
about it. It just was. It was stressful. I got anxiety.
I have alopecia. My hair fell out while we were filming,
so one part of the season I looked like mister Egghead.
I had no eyebrows, no bear, no hair. I'm like,
(34:38):
of all the shows, I'm on, Lord, why would my
hair fall out while were filming this? And you know
a lot of people don't love to hip hop have
different demons within them. And dealing with people's energies and
their demons, and dealing with your own demons, it gets
to be a lot because you know, we can't at
the time, we can't say what's real, what's not. It's exaggerated,
(35:01):
what we talked about, what we really don't care about.
You know, we have to stay in character and promote
the show cause we need the ratings so we can
get paid, so we can come back and do another season.
And you just get in that cycle of just being
in character, and it bleeds over to your real life.
I've lost relationships, I've lost some friends. I got into
it with some relatives over things, just from the frustration
(35:21):
anxiety of coming from out of that space ten months
is a long time.
Speaker 2 (35:26):
Yeah, now that was ten months for one s one
particular sea.
Speaker 3 (35:29):
That was one particular season. But most of the time
we filmed six to seven months.
Speaker 2 (35:33):
Geez. And then we're during when you're off season, what
are you doing?
Speaker 3 (35:36):
You really only off from Thanksgiving to the top of
the year because at that point you're waiting for your
renewal notice. So you wrapped, You've done the reunion, all
that's airing. It's like when we wrap, we're st we
pretty much when the show premieres, we're still filming, and
then the reunion raps about. It was always in the fall,
so from Thanksgiving, I remember always going home to Virginia
(35:56):
f cause I needed to just air my spirit out.
I will be home from Thanksgiving to Christmas or maybe
New Year's. Around Christmas time, they'll start calling you like, hey,
what's going on? Who are you talking to? Have you
seen this online? January we would get our pick up notices.
That's when you gotta go through your contract and negotiate
your pay and we be filming by March, so you
(36:17):
were it was a quick turnaround.
Speaker 1 (36:26):
Now are they paying enough to like where you don't
need any other side hustles or anything.
Speaker 3 (36:30):
Everybody's salary varies on Love and Hip Hop. Some people
come in and making bare minimum. Some people come in
making because of who they are and their name, They're
making super high. Someone like a Ray J and a
Kay Michelle, They're doing great. I was a new cast member.
I came on with Keisha Cole and Brooke Valentine. I
always say season four was the best season outside of
the first season. But I came on I was already
(36:53):
doing WE TV, and I already had a name, and
I was already had a following from Love and Hip Hop.
So Rape, my episodic Rape, was way different from what
I heard some other people who came on with me,
they were new as well, And then it depends on
who your lawyer is. You got to negotiate.
Speaker 1 (37:08):
Yeah, you know so, but you didn't have any of
the side gigs outside of.
Speaker 3 (37:11):
Love and Hip Hop. I overlapped. I did WE TV
for the first two seasons as well with Love and
Hip Hops. It benefited them, and it benefited the shows
getting I mean, who else was getting promoted on two
networks like that.
Speaker 2 (37:24):
And it's a smart move for week Yeah, it was great.
Speaker 3 (37:27):
It was awesome. My last season, I just did strictly
Love and Hip Hop because I mean it was very
time consumer.
Speaker 1 (37:34):
Because you are between two different cities right for WEE TV,
and I was.
Speaker 3 (37:38):
Still doing my stuff out of New York and then
filming out here, and then I actually did a digital
talk show for we TV while we were filming Love
and Hip Hop. So I was filming in Santa Monica
then going wherever they had us filming for the show.
It was a lot. And then COVID came and I
finally got to sit my ass down.
Speaker 2 (37:55):
And that's when you started writing.
Speaker 3 (37:56):
Right started writing, I had, I think it was doing
the show and dealing with the different adversities that I
had to deal with on the show. Because as you
can see, I'm a very friendly person. I'm my energy
is amazing, but on the show, I had to be
confrontational to secure my spot. I had to speak on
things that I really didn't care about. I had to,
you know, be in competition with people that I normally
(38:17):
would never even deal with or be around. You know.
So once I only got to sit down and just
relax and just get my life together and figure out
what I was gonna do next. COVID was in full swing.
So I was like, I'm gonna get my master's. I
have one, always wanted to go back get. I'm the
minimum degree in my family right now. Most people in
my family have two or three degrees. I was sitting
(38:38):
on that one and I was like, Okay, I can
go to school. Let me. It's all remote. Everything's remote
during COVID. I'm gonna get my master's in media management.
That's what I have been doing. And then I wrote
a book about my life. I mean, just me being
from Virginia moving to Hollywood, being the first black gay
reality start on beet for the first ever black reality series,
(38:59):
like that will always be my calling card. I love it.
I'm proud of it. Now I understand it. Just back then,
I did not understand what it meant to be a
voice for a community that I didn't identify with yet.
Speaker 1 (39:10):
Yeah, and I was that was gonna be my next question.
So back when it first happened, how did it hit?
It was so fast, Like did you go through any
type of depression or.
Speaker 3 (39:22):
No? Back then we had MySpace and black players, So
my inbox was full because back then it was just
Corambo and I were the first two. It was just
us he was on MTV. I was on BET. We
was having fun. I had fun. So I lived. That's
(39:42):
another book, but no, I've lived and I had a
great time. I went to all the Black Prides. I
was able to go to high schools. I did the
BT wrap It Up campaign, from all the HIV STD awareness.
I got to meet so many people at such a
young age. I did so many different things, from on camera,
behind the camera, working at BT, working with e TV,
(40:03):
like I've mastered my meeting.
Speaker 1 (40:05):
And then, what was your original major? I'm sorry, so
your original major was public relations? No matter what you
were going to end up in entertainment.
Speaker 3 (40:13):
I felt it because I was on the radio when
I was in my senior year of college. I was
on Power ninety two. It was the afternoon drive co host. Okay,
so I felt it. I always knew something was gonna happen.
Speaker 2 (40:22):
I'm pretty sure everyone in your family also didn't weren't
surprised at all.
Speaker 3 (40:26):
I don't think they were, some of them, LA, I know,
how did you not know? I mean, come on, I
could look at all pictures of me with my hand
on my hip, like, come.
Speaker 2 (40:35):
On, no, I'm talking about you being in entertainment though.
Speaker 3 (40:38):
I was a character. My family would definitely tell you
I was a colorful character, always did my own thing
and was always getting into something. You know, I've definitely
matured since then, but Little Ray was something okay, okay.
Speaker 2 (40:54):
And so now after the pandemic, you you write the book,
You write the book during the pandemic. How hard was
it to put it out? What was those steps? Looking?
Speaker 3 (41:01):
Like? I did it through Amazon. I had a publisher
help me, but we did it through Amazon, and it
ended up being number one for six consecutive weeks on
four different like Amazon book charts, E book and physical
book Like I had a number one best seller out
the gate and mind you, this is no love and
hip hop. We're in COVID. Nothing's going on. My book
(41:21):
stayed on the Amazon bestseller list for almost a year
and a half.
Speaker 1 (41:26):
And then what was the ch Like, how did you
I wanted monthly? Yeah, you get paid monthly, but I
want to know the whole experience of like you put
you take a chance on yourself, you get this book.
Speaker 3 (41:36):
I didn't think anybody was gonna read it because I'm like,
I'm not one of those overly large reality stars like
I don't even consider myself a reality star. I was
on two very popular reality shows, one in which I
was a main character and the other I was a
co character. But I was a part of two different
eras of two different types of shows that were monumental.
And I always say, if I go back on television,
(41:57):
it has to be bigger than what the last thing
I did was. And I was like, you know, I'm
not out here wild on the blogs doing all that craziness.
They're not gonna want to read my story. And they did.
They read my story. I talked about everything. I talked
about my party boy days. I talked about the days
where you are in LA and you don't know what
the next gig is and you don't know how your
(42:18):
rent's going to get paid until you get something stable,
and then you know. You see your friends around you.
Some of them are elevating and some of them are declining.
Speaker 2 (42:25):
That's that's I think one of the trickiest.
Speaker 3 (42:29):
Waters to battle.
Speaker 1 (42:30):
I think it's seeming like some people go and maybe
they're not even friends, because I think friends are more
happy for Yeah, when you see someone and you don't
really know their story or the intricacies of it, and
you're like, Wow, this person's past me and I'm still
trucking along. What like they just woke up, you know.
And I think that's a hard battle, especially if you've
been it for a long time.
Speaker 3 (42:49):
Yeah, and my family is really a huge part of
my life. You follow me on any of my socials,
I'm always talking about my family, Dad, my mother, nieces, nephew, sisters, cousins, grandparents.
And I never allowed myself to wild out to get popular.
I never wanted to do anything where my family would
be embarrassed. I never did anything where I would hate
(43:10):
for my nieces or nephews a google on their path
and be like, oh, this is my uncle looking at
you know. I'm always self conscious of the projects I
do and the things I participate with because I know
I got other people looking at me. That's important to me.
I don't worry about what the stranger says. My family
is watching me. I want them to be able to
promote me and them to be proud of me, you know.
So that I feel like that kept me from doing
(43:33):
a lot of things a lot of other people were
doing to go viral and be popular and be out there.
But I don't see them now.
Speaker 2 (43:42):
So it's going back to the book.
Speaker 3 (43:44):
You produce the book.
Speaker 2 (43:46):
Look at us, we're trying to pick at it.
Speaker 3 (43:49):
Where's the tackle shells? Keep the back.
Speaker 1 (43:52):
So you produce the book, it becomes a bestseller. Are
you shocked at like how much money you're making taking
a chance on yourself.
Speaker 3 (44:01):
That book really surprised me. No, it was just crazy
because the hot sauce too. But the most amazing thing
was that I was I learned a lesson. I was
always I was doubting myself at that time. I'm not
doing the same things these other people are doing to
(44:23):
be out there. Though I'm on that platform, I'm on
these platforms, I'm verified on everything, but you know, I'm
still at this. I felt like a stagnant level. And
my Instagram had gotten hacked, so I had no Instagram.
Uh there was. I was at zero. I had to
start all over while the book, the book had just
came out, the book still so I got made a
(44:45):
new page, built it back up to what it is now.
That book sold, People supported it, They bought it, took
pictures of it, sent it to me. People will call
me and not minister to me, but talk to me
about things that they were going through, they related to
my book and like I said, for it to be
for me to be who I am. And there were
some other reality stars, but books out way bigger shows,
(45:05):
way bigger names than me. Mine outlive them all and
outsold them as well. And that just goes to show
the type of people that follow me and support me
and who I am and where I stand in this business.
Speaker 1 (45:17):
And then now receiving the checks, let's talk the money part.
Speaker 3 (45:21):
Now. Books are interesting because when you do a book
through a publishing company, you got to give them their
money back that they put into marketing as well.
Speaker 1 (45:28):
Oh okay, so they marketed a book, so you you
you got to.
Speaker 3 (45:32):
Pay them their back, their part back, and then after
you once you give them, once they get their cut back,
everything else is yours.
Speaker 2 (45:37):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (45:38):
Now, do you ever go back and thinks in your.
Speaker 2 (45:41):
Head like, damn, I wish I would have just done
it self published or do you feel.
Speaker 3 (45:46):
Like, I mean, you really could do self published book
on Amazon? But you really can. I see so many
and they do well. But it was just it was
a learned it was something. It was my therapy. I
needed it.
Speaker 1 (45:57):
No, I get that, and I'm not trying to hold
them under the bus. But I am genuinely curious, like,
do you think that having it published for them made
a difference?
Speaker 3 (46:10):
You know, because I did all the promotions.
Speaker 2 (46:12):
That's why I want to know.
Speaker 3 (46:14):
So looking back at it, I could have done it myself.
But I will say, even though the Amazon website takes
you through it, how to upload it, how you can
change your titles, I mean your cover title, how you
can go in and edit, you know, do the edits.
It's still a learning process. I say. If you are
going to do a self edit, take time to learn
that site about self publishing, so you know how to
(46:35):
get the barcode correct, how you know how you because
you can really set your book up from your iPhone
if you wanted to just upload the manuscript. That's the
main thing, is the manuscript. Make sure a spell right.
But they have a proof checker who go through it
and you, yeah, just pay for the service.
Speaker 1 (46:50):
You heard it here first, guys, there's award winning publisher
top number one.
Speaker 2 (46:56):
You said six.
Speaker 3 (46:57):
It was a best seller for six weeks on four
different in charge. It was for college or university student life,
a l LGBTQ and for black biographies. Like I could
not believe it.
Speaker 2 (47:08):
That's amazing.
Speaker 3 (47:09):
But we were in COVID. We were all at home,
like we had nothing to dow anyway. Well it's still
it's still a huge fee. It's yeah, those good money.
Speaker 1 (47:15):
And trust me, during COVID, people everyone made their own decisions.
Speaker 2 (47:19):
I always go like, damn, did I make the right
decisions during COVID. We did produce eating while broke during COVID.
Speaker 3 (47:24):
I was in Atlanta during COVID. We was outside. You know,
Atlanta did our clothes, they just put them all they
told us they put the thermometer to your head and
just made sure you wasn't hot. And that was it.
Speaker 2 (47:32):
Eighty five South we did. We taped down there LA
five South Lake, Chico and DC and all those guys
down there were like we were on break for about
a week.
Speaker 3 (47:40):
Right.
Speaker 2 (47:41):
LA was shut down for two years.
Speaker 3 (47:43):
Man. I came back to LA and Hollywood looked like downtown. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (47:47):
Yeah, LA was shut down for so long that I
got married and had a baby.
Speaker 3 (47:52):
Oh I didn't think.
Speaker 2 (47:53):
I didn't think, you know, I knew we were gonna
eventually go outside, but it started to become a real norm.
But to hear Atlanta had a whole differ experience.
Speaker 3 (48:00):
We were outside, we would get you could get drinks
to go from the restaurants. We was at. Shout out
to sea. What was I don't think they're opening to
Atlanta anymore. We were at sea. What's smoking? Hookah? Dad
said the clubs was open.
Speaker 2 (48:11):
LA was none of that.
Speaker 3 (48:12):
We were open. So when I flew back here, you
back here, I was like, oh, hell no, I got
to go back to Atlanta.
Speaker 1 (48:19):
When New York had all the horror stores, people in
New York was it was scared straight.
Speaker 2 (48:25):
You couldn't get them to open the door for nothing. Man, listen,
step back from the bag, drop it off, step back.
Speaker 3 (48:31):
When I went home to visit my parents in Virginia
for KRIB we drove up from Atlanta to go because
we were to go spend New Year's in DC. My
dad and my stepmom had masks. When they was like,
can't come in the house, but we when to come outside.
I talked to you the driveway, y'all stay in the
car like we really had Christmas through the window. Like
then they put their gins in the trunk and I
gave them theirs. COVID was a crazy time.
Speaker 1 (48:52):
Yeah, I remember getting a Thanksgiving we was in Detroit.
We got Thanksgiving dinners and the cars. We ate it
for ourselves and where we were staying and thank you.
Speaker 3 (49:02):
COVID looked like a different world being in Atlanta because
I was also that was also the election with Trump
and Biden and Kamala, so I was outside helping promote
Kamala and Biden. Back then we were trying to it
was black Lives Matter. It was so many things going
on during COVID and being in Atlanta and it being
(49:22):
open and everyone outside that way, but looking at the
news and seeing how LA was shut down and boarded
up up north everyone had like fifty masks on and
not outside and the people that were actually passing away
from COVID, and then the whole uproar of the vaccine
and then the election results and then the insurrection on
the It was so COVID was so dramatic. It was
(49:44):
it was that's a book right there.
Speaker 2 (49:45):
That's a book right there.
Speaker 1 (49:47):
And so now after COVID, you have this successful book,
what's your next play?
Speaker 3 (49:52):
So after COVID, and.
Speaker 1 (49:54):
I'm doing your audio audio biography, realizing this is this.
Speaker 3 (49:58):
Is picking u where the book left off so I
got into TV film production. I worked with Heillionaire Productions
and we did a movie called Mama's Boy, which starred
Lawrence Robinson. He's everybody's favorite IG crush person. He was
in it with the young lady name right now and
that's coming out later this year. And then we also
did a film called The Influencer, which aired on All
(50:21):
Black earlier this year, and that was my first film
I did. When I met her the day of came
right on set. I was an extra. She and I
hit it off. She went to family, I went to
Virginia State where both D nine and we just started
working together. And then I went to Houston with her
and filmed the Christmas movie that I actually ended up
having a roll in with the Braxton sisters. So that
was like a whole little three sixty moment and it's
(50:42):
called Christmas Cover Up and that will be out later
this year at Christmas.
Speaker 1 (50:46):
So, wow, you been busy, busy, I don't see you.
You're not going back to reality TV.
Speaker 3 (50:52):
You know what I have. There's been a couple of
things that I have been approached about through my management.
One of them was actually I was really considering it.
It would have been the third season of that show. Unfortunately,
that show got put on pause and it ain't been
play ain't been pressed yet, so I'm assuming it's canceled.
And then a show that I actually helped create had
(51:17):
went through the whole pitch process and unfortunately, when the
strike happened, all the network shut down and that project
pretty much got shelved. But it was about to be greenld.
I was super excited, Well it might come back. I
don't know the timing for me now it fits for me,
but I would love to work with those gentlemen again
and put some money else in my spot because there
(51:38):
was definitely something there. It was gonna be amazing. And
as of recent something has come up that I'm interested in,
but my focus is in TV right now. I have
the name, they know who I am. I really am
just advocating for HBCUs, especially now with this current administration
and all these DEI things. They're wiping you away and
(52:00):
trying to do away with I say, black education. It's
very important for me to share my platform and inform
people of types of financial aid so the children can
go to HBC's Because hbcs were creative, creative for a
specific reason things that are going on now is why
we have HBCUs and they are important, they are relevant.
I had the best transformative four years of my life
(52:21):
in Virginia State, and I would love for kids, especially
from southern California, to get to go down south and
find out other things. You can put us out of taco.
Speaker 2 (52:28):
You know, exactly, exactly exactly, Okay, all right, so right now,
your passions is definitely community service.
Speaker 3 (52:36):
Being a brother of Alpha Phi Alpha for.
Speaker 1 (52:37):
T and that's how that's how I ended up meeting
you at the Do you remember we met Christmas Prey
prey but it was a park.
Speaker 3 (52:46):
It was a bunch of us. It was Ray J
torriy Omar Gooding.
Speaker 2 (52:52):
Yeah, yeah, Omar was on the show did Man.
Speaker 3 (52:55):
When I first met Omar, I was like, that's the
guy from Baby Boy. It's so cool with meeting people
in person that you grew up watching and now we're
in the same business, same industry, got the same management,
and it's like, oh, what's up. You were trying my
soy sauce tacos.
Speaker 1 (53:12):
Them things are slamming. So no, it's nice to hear
that you are in your community service era. And that's
actually where I met you.
Speaker 2 (53:18):
Yeah, I was doing you were doing community.
Speaker 3 (53:20):
I love it. It's fulfilling. I've had an awesome forty years.
I've twenty eighteen specifically working in entertainment, and I just
feel like part of my legacy and what I want
to start building is that, you know, I met these people,
I've had these opportunities, but somebody gave it to me.
So if I can be a blessing to someone else,
I know I'll get something later in life.
Speaker 2 (53:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (53:39):
So that's where I am with that.
Speaker 1 (53:41):
I like that you heard it here first everybody, And
please don't judge us for our taco eating break because.
Speaker 3 (53:46):
We fin go get some more them. Tacos was delicious.
Speaker 2 (53:50):
Okay, I'm gonna be eating tacos for dinner tonight.
Speaker 1 (53:53):
Okay, don't forget when you make your tacos at home
to add soy sauce to it.
Speaker 2 (53:57):
I definitely think it does make the difference.
Speaker 3 (53:59):
Shout outs to.
Speaker 2 (54:00):
Miss the Red for the secret ingredient and not being
stingy and sharing.
Speaker 3 (54:03):
It with us. Right, Guccie, I gave her some good
tea good tie.
Speaker 1 (54:06):
And where can everybody keep up with you besides on
the mainstream Because you have a lot of stuff coming out.
Speaker 3 (54:11):
Yeah, so Instagram is the best place to catch me.
It's m I S S T E r r A
Y eight oh four. I'm forever eight oh four boy,
but I'm a Dina boy at HART. I definitely want
to give a special shout out to everybody in Altadena
Pasadena and everyone who has contributed to their relief efforts
out there. Our community is still building day by day.
Some people are just coming home seeing their place for
(54:33):
the first time and just trying to figure out how
to get it together. As it rains.
Speaker 1 (54:37):
Now, as it rains, I know, finally, yeah, exactly. All right, Well,
thank you so much for taking time out of your day.
Speaker 2 (54:46):
To feed me.
Speaker 3 (54:47):
Right, Okay, that was good.
Speaker 1 (54:48):
You know you're more than welcome to feed me anytime.
And then if I have a holiday, you're more than
welcome because she.
Speaker 3 (54:53):
Do crab legs for her holidays, you know, black folks
from the DMV, we love a crab leg.
Speaker 2 (54:57):
You know, I gotta do it that way, all right,
Peace out, y'all. For more eating while broke from iHeartRadio
and The Black Effect, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows,
Hey guys, welcome to another episode of Eating While Broke.
I'm your host Coy and today we have very special
guest reality star mister Rays in the Building.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Star og Media Moguls is in the building.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
Man of many titles and many jobs. Yes.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Yes, And that's kind of how the industry is, right.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
That's how LA is. You can't just be a one
trick The rent is always do. You got to be
able to make it move when when jobs ain't moving.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
And if you're a millennial, you've been through so many
shockwaves from like you know, COVID, the writers strike. I mean,
there's just there's always something. You know, before that there
was the Alway crash of real estate. So now you
just you know, you have to have multiple jobs.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
We have to be able to adapt and improvise and overcome.
Like when I was doing reality television, then COVID came
and nobody was swimming anything. So I went to grad school,
got my master's and I wrote a book that ended
up being a bestseller on Amazon. Uh. Then when the
writer strike happened, there was no more TV happening again.
So I went and learned how to be a producer,
so cause there were still projects being produced, but there
(01:23):
was no actors acting. So I was able to learn
how to be a talent producer and learn the you know,
the inner workings of how to warn a production thanks
to Hellionaire Productions. Shout out to Jamie. And then even
when things got back to normal, I decided I wanted
to work in the community and do stuff, you know,
help give back and help some Los Angeles students go
to school so they can have the same kind of
(01:45):
HBCU experience that I had. So I've been working with
United Negro College Fund and the Black College Expo and
just I just God has blessed me to be multi
talented and be able to exist in a lot of spaces.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
Since we talking about a lot of spaces. Yes, don't
you tell me what you're gonna feed me. I am starving, guys.
It is lunchtime over here, so I will be eating
the full dish and the little crumbs.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
So what are you gonna have me eating today?
Speaker 3 (02:10):
So we're gonna make mister Ray's tacos. Since we're in
LA and everybody eats healthy out here, We're gonna use
checking oh excuse, We're gonna use turkey meat. We're trying
to eat healthy, eat right for our blood type out here.
So we used turkey. I got some secret ingredients. We
got our tomatoes, our onions, our cheese, our lettuce, our sauca.
This is a special hot sausa. If you have sinuses,
(02:34):
this will clear you out. Okay, in both ways, I am.
I'm scared that what are your secret ingredients?
Speaker 2 (02:41):
Come on?
Speaker 3 (02:42):
So anywhile broke in college, I ate on a budget,
but I came from very humble beginnings. But I still
ate well. And then of course when you get to college,
my dad was like, okay, you on your own. You
need to get you a job or you know, work
on campus, get some extra money because we're paying for
you to be in school. So I wanted to eat
how I ate it home, So I had to improvise
(03:04):
with a couple of things. So there was a top
China carry out right near us. There was the grocery
store right near of food. It was called food Line
in Virginia shout out to Virginia State University. So I
would go get the meat, the tacos. We would watch
one O six in park. When I used to come
on in six o'clock, we watched one on six in
Park and I would make tacos for us to eat
(03:24):
and then we would go back to schools. Back then,
in college, I was the mascot, so we had band practice,
so I had to go learn the dances and stuff
like that. So we would eat tacos, watch one O
six in park, and then go back to campus. So
this was my version of a gourmet taco. Well, go ahead,
so I use soy sauce. I know it sounds crazy,
but I had so many soy sauce packets from eating
(03:48):
Chinese food to go in college. I used to use
it as a seasoning because I was like, it's amazing.
It's amazing, So my hands are clean.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
Go for it.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
Okay, you're not gonna end up touch the meat a
lot though, right, No, I'm not touching that I've seen.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
It's actually put their hands on the meat and then
they touch their hair by accident.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
Those are the same people who probably don't know the
difference between a wash face cloth and a body cloth.
So you know, chicken cooks, turkey and chicken, all those
cook pretty fast.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
So you don't need the oil, right because it's I
guess it has its own fat.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
I'm gonna use a little bit of oil, not a lot,
just a drop, because it's yeah, it's a little bit
on that side, that's a lot, right, Well, you gotta
get it cooking. Now, we don't see I'm judging.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
I'm a I'm a I'm a side side host.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
I want to see when the soy sauce.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
When when the soy sauce enters the pan? So he
got the Okay, I'll narrate. So, Okay, he's he's brown
in the meat taco seasoning.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
See, when you're not using beef and you're using like
turkey stuff like that, you really have to season your meat.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
And we like good meat, right, a whole packet. We
learned on one episode that we're not supposed to use
the whole packete us.
Speaker 3 (05:07):
Some chef I'm from I'm from Virginia. We cook, Okay,
we seasoned, we cooked, We brown our meat. Make sure
it tastes great. It's supposed to be a party in
your mouth. Yeah, exactly like that. Good all right.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
So take me back to what was going on in
the tackle making days.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
So in Virginia State University, I was in school. I
was a mass calm major. I'm just using a little
bit of a little onion powdered.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
Little onion powder after he added the entire taco seasoning.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
Packet Italian power. Are you gonna add garlic powder?
Speaker 3 (05:40):
No, we ain't doing all that now.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Okay, okay, I feel like those two are married for life.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
But yeah, college was a great time. It was the
best four years of my life. Figured out who I was,
came and started living in my truth. I think that's
where mister Ray was developed. Know. I grew up in
a pretty conservative family. You know, I'm the young this
boy of the four siblings. My dad and I are
best friends. My grandmother and I are best friends. I
(06:07):
grew up in Virginia with my father and my mother
was actually here in California. So every summer, every summer,
fall break, Christmas break, spring break, I was out here.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
So wait a minute, So your dad raised you by himself.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
I have a stepmother as well. Yeah, yeah, I have
a step mother and a stepfather. So I got an
East Coast family and a West Coast friend. So I
ain't new to La. I been here. I'm a co native,
uh since nineteen You're the youngest, I'm the baby, I'm
my mom's only Oh, my dad has other children. I
have half.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
Siblings, but you're the youngest.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
I'm the baby of all.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
And then I'm.
Speaker 3 (06:38):
Guessing they separated.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
And then they.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
Separated, and then my father remarried, and my mother moved
back here and she remarried. Okay, so I was. I
grew up. I was. I was living a good life.
I got to, you know, live in Virginia, come to
La every break. So like Hollywood, it wasn't new to
me when I got into it. I knew where everything
was pretty much. And I had friends out here.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
Oh he's at in the soil, a little bit of
so and soft.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
Now, this is the college hookup we had used to
I used to use packets of this. I'm telling you,
you're it's gonna be so good. I am definitely curious, cause,
you know, a black colleges, we have to make do
with what we have. A lot of soy sauce. It's
gonna cook down. You're not gonna taste it.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
They gonna see this.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
Man. I hope it's delicious. It's amazing. It is amazing.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
That much.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
No, it's not. I hate dry meat.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
I yeah, yeah, I.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
I just caught that. But No, in college, we were
just cooking on the budget. We were trying to make
things taste good with what we have. We used condiments everything. So,
you know, I just I came to California in the
summers and I would watch my grandmother and my mother cook.
And because my grandmother retired from Compton High School, she
had a lot of Hispanic homegirls had a lot of
friends out here. My grandmother got the hookup everywhere she went,
(07:53):
still does, and they made the best tacos. And I
would sit and watch those women make tacos, and then
I would go back to Virginia. You know, we eating
pig feet, port neck, all kinds of stuff, and they're
not gonna taco but like Chipotle was the boom of
Mexican food in Virginia, I promise you. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
So you said that in college you discover your true self.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
What does that mean?
Speaker 3 (08:16):
Well, you know, I grew up in the era of
being very conservative, don't ask, and you don't tell your
business to nobody. So when I was casting for college
here on my first show that I did, we trited
filming in the fall of my senior year and it
aired that spring. I admitted what I admitted, my sensuality
on national television. At the time, I thought the world
(08:37):
was over. I was trying my best. I was blowing
on beans, like you cannot air that my I have
not said. I have not told my parents. I have
not told my family. Like saying you're gay and being
gay are two different conversations, And at that time, I
just actually knowing it. Knowing your gay is okay, you
know you're gay, you know what you like. But saying
it verbally to someone else other than yourself in the mirror,
(09:00):
it's a crazy experience, okay. And I wasn't really ready
for it, and it made me the first black gay
reality personality ever on BET. So. I know I made history,
but I thought I was about to be history because
I didn't know how my dad was gonna react. But
it actually allowed us to get so much closer and
talk with each other and to share everything. There's nothing
(09:21):
you can tell my dad right now today that he
doesn't already know about good, bad, embarrassing, whatever. We talk
like that. That's that situation taught us. But I know
that's not like that for everybody. I did have some relatives.
It was a little feisty about it, and I'm like,
what do you matter. What do you care? This is
my body, this is my life.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
Were they mad because you said it on national television?
Speaker 3 (09:41):
Yeah, because they had to deal with You know again,
I came from I was from Virginia, so everybody knew everybody.
Everybody knew everybody's family, everybody worked together, went the church together,
was at the grocery store together. Like everybody knew everybody.
So it was It's not that it was a secret either,
Like if you knew me, you knew you. I'm saying Dad,
was he shocked or was he like, boy, it wasn't
(10:02):
shocked at all. I don't ever, You're not gonna make
me believe that my dad was shocked. I think he
was just more so disappointed that I did not have
that conversation with him first, because he thought that we
were closer than that. We're close, But how do you
tell your black dad hed dad as the only as
the youngest boy, I like men, how many other boys
does he have? Oh I have a step brother, Oh
(10:23):
step I'm the namesake. I'm the third. There's two other
rays in front of me, him and my grandfather. And
it's just, you know, I just think it was that
you have a step brother.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
So you're technically the youngest boy, the youngest boy of
his Yes, yes, okay.
Speaker 3 (10:38):
My brother was having kids when I came to live
with my dad and my stepmother, and then my oldest
sister was having kids when I came. So I grew
up with four of my nieces like we were brothers
and sister. Yeah, so they're like, they're like, they're like
between the ages of twenty eight and thirty five. Three
of my nieces actually have sons. So I'm great uncle Ray.
We aren't gonna say great uncle Ray, but I'm a
(10:59):
great on go to three boys, uncle to five girls,
and I have one nephew through my sister. Wow, I
know it's a lot. Okay, So I don't need kids.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
Oh you don't want kids.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
Don't I'm forty. I don't want kids. I don't want
to look like I don't gole pick it up my child.
I'm forty.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
I have a three year old.
Speaker 3 (11:19):
So see you already have one at forty though, yeah, thirty,
it started late. I started thirty seven. Well, see, this
is my traveling era. This is my hilarious random.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
Era, forty years of Okay, I'm not gonna say.
Speaker 3 (11:31):
My nieces and nephews are my kids. Yeah, I'll trust me.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
I'm not gonna sell you on that responsibility. So what
are we gonna do next?
Speaker 3 (11:38):
Are we? So we're gonna get a taco?
Speaker 2 (11:41):
Yes, I gonna I'm gonna get two.
Speaker 3 (11:44):
We'll get yeah, I am too. Yeah, come on, let's
let's not act like I was trying to be classy
while we while we do our you don't have to
be classy. So you gotta let me know if you taste,
I'm gonna fall it. Go for it. Okay. Ooh, you
(12:06):
can't get.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
To it's not at all.
Speaker 3 (12:09):
I told you it's good right, It's the meat. It
is what makes the taco my goodness.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
Okay, may hook me up a little more.
Speaker 3 (12:18):
You want some more? Okay? And we also have cheese
and onion. I told you were gonna like this. Which
one you wanted? There? There you go? Thanks, put some
more of your.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
Other one, thank you? Okay, So we just freak stout
lettuce and tomato.
Speaker 3 (12:34):
So yeah, you put lettuce tomato right with the cheese.
Let it melk. Let me taste the meat.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
Meat girl, boy, listen, listen, let me tell you something.
That meat, that meat I don't know. I don't know
if I want to give you that credit or that
seasoning credits.
Speaker 3 (12:51):
No, that was the that was my secret ingredient. But
I think it's the soy sauce cause it wasn't even
boom it's And that's the thing when you even though
you wanna eat healthy, you still want to have some season,
get some you know, some juiciness.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
Let me just tell you something, guys, the soy sauce
in the taco meat probably made like a world of
a difference. And I promise you I will never make
tacos without it.
Speaker 3 (13:12):
I told you the.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
Secret ingredient isn't a secret ingredient anymore.
Speaker 3 (13:16):
Right, the world now knows that mister Ray's the hot.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
Sauce with me taco the soy sauce.
Speaker 3 (13:22):
I say, a hot sauce. Oh no, we haven't got
to the hot sauce yet. Hot sauce is amazing. Oop.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
Sorry, we're getting excited.
Speaker 3 (13:33):
I know.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
Do you feel like, yeah, someone's house right now.
Speaker 3 (13:36):
I feel like we're sitting like you comfortable here. I'm
very comfortable to add sour cream to this. You know what,
As I've turned forty, uh, dairy products sometimes are not
my friend in the middle of the day, so I
pick and choose my sour cream battles.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
Now you don't consider sauce so like instead of hot sauce, like, baby,
we just salsa it.
Speaker 3 (13:59):
I don't mind salt so like. I do have friends
that prefer saucer. And then I prefer the green.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
I know he wants me to try this green.
Speaker 3 (14:07):
It comes it's so hot tall so oh my god.
You put a lot in Chicago and this place called
Burrito Beach and they had it and it was so good.
And then, oh my god, it's amazing. Dad. It don't
put too much. Friend, it's coming out so slow.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
That's so Jesus.
Speaker 3 (14:30):
All right, here we go.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
Okay, I'm hungry, guys. I know you want to hear.
Speaker 3 (14:34):
The story, but hung I want to see how you
like to taco.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
I know I'm gonna like it. I'm gonna I'm enjoy
my first couple of bites before I get to hell.
Speaker 3 (14:43):
M mm hmmm the meat alone, me have the golk cup.
It's the green. Oh no, it wasn't the green like
the show. Oh hmm.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
Let me tell you something. You killed it on the meat.
Speaker 3 (15:05):
Okay, that the best taco meat I've ever had. Oh
my goodness, thank you. See I'm in my cooking era.
I'm in my traveling era. I'm trying to get engaged. Era.
Got the best way of somebody's harder to this stomach.
Chased the green. It's a kick to it.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
Who you know what? I like it.
Speaker 3 (15:34):
That's flavor. It's hot, but it has a flavor to it.
But just put a little dabs on it.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
We're gonna take a quick pause because I'm really right.
Speaker 3 (15:43):
We don't want any Ecco cameratersbody to eat.
Speaker 2 (15:46):
We're gonna eat for a second, and I'm gonna get
into the shopping.
Speaker 3 (15:51):
But this is why everybody came over to my apartment.
I made these tacos, and I used to tell all
my friends save your save your soy sauce packets. That
was so cord. We're gonna come back. We throw the commercials. Okay, ol,
guys were back.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
All right, guys were back. Sorry. The food was so
good that I had to call time out.
Speaker 3 (16:17):
Guy.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
We was really hungry, and I ate.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
I do want to do a special shout out to
the soy sauce. I will say I've never thought to
put soy sauce in taco meat. But if you've cooked
with ground turkey, you know that it's typically dry. And
I was clowning mister Ray because he was putting so much.
Speaker 3 (16:39):
I was scared.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
But it actually makes it a lot more softer and
me that or you didn't overcook it. I don't know,
but the meat came out really good. The flavoring was
really good. So if you're at home, try the soy sauce,
add the onion powder. As far as the hot sauce,
I did try it. I got a little bit excited
at the end. I thought I could handle it. My
mouth is on absolute fire.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
Your notes will be so clear. If not afternoon delicious tacos.
Speaker 1 (17:14):
So now that we have the tacos out the way,
you can come closer. Try not to eat into everyone's ears.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
Sorry guys.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
All right, so you do your first reality show, BT
comes out. Begged all these guys not to air it.
They're like, you signed these releases, golm down.
Speaker 3 (17:34):
Yeah, They're like, we have the footage. It's airing next week.
Like it's not changing.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
What was the check looking.
Speaker 3 (17:41):
Like back then? Because we were the first black reality
TV series, we are the the beginning the beginning of
all reality TV in terms of black reality television. I
think I don't remember the exact amount, but b ET
paid us a weekly. We got paid weekly. They're gonna
laugh at this because again we were the first black
(18:03):
reality show and we were in college. We got paid
one hundred dollars a week in cash. I remember that,
and I believe when we signed on we got paid.
I don't remember exactly how much, but I know while
we were in production and while we traveled to promote
the show, like when we were in New York from
montal Suston Park, Miami for Spring Bring New York for
(18:25):
the Runway in LA for the awards, we got a
per diem while we were there. So it wasn't like
they just had us out there too, and we were
feeding for ourselves. So way different from they didn't get paid.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
Now, they didn't have you starve.
Speaker 3 (18:36):
Well, no, no, no, no, no, we didn't have any
of that. I will say that we came up at
the very humble beginnings when BT first went over to Viacom,
so we got a lot of exposure. We got to
go to so many things, but because our cast, we
were so hungry to be out there and wanted to
just see the world and everybody to see us and
represent Virginia State. We did a lot on our own.
(18:58):
We would go to the local radio stations and ask
for donations and fundraise so we can get to certain
places because B and T will be like, well, if
y'all get here, we'll take care of you. Oh that's it.
And we would just do whatever we needed to do
to get there.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
And then when they say it will take care of you,
they'll put you up a hotel.
Speaker 3 (19:14):
The hotel, car transportation will take care of everything. The
issue was just sometimes it was traveling. Like I know,
we had to make our own way to Miami for
spring Bling, but we got to spring Bling. I got
to We stayed at the best hotel right on the
beach in Fort Lauderdale, and we met like Ello Cool
J and Keisha Cole when she first started like we
were the college kids backstage, like you know, we were
(19:35):
still in class. Yeah, so that was awesome.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
And during all of this going on.
Speaker 3 (19:41):
I should listened to my dad. He was like that
TV stuff gonna still be there, but your classes, you
got to graduate. You gotta come up out of there. Uh.
I did over indulge. I had a great time. We
were always on the road because the show aired in
the spring, and I graduated because I ended up feeling
in class and had to graduate in the fall, so
(20:03):
I finished the class. I took a three week summer
school class. I got an a in that I'm not
gonna say that teacher's name, but but you still you
still graduated. Yeah, it's still coming out in May. But
the shady part of it was they didn't let me
know till like the day before graduation that I wasn't
clear to graduate. So my family had played this huge
(20:23):
cookout and everything, so we still had to cookout. We
still ate and had a good time. But I had
moved out here to La started working at BT. I
had to fly back in December to walk across the
stage and at first I wasn't going to it. I
was like, they tried it, But then I was like,
you know what rules are the rules? I needed to
be responsible, learn how to manage my time. So that
was a lesson learned for sure.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
But yeah, so after that whole experience, what was your
next big play?
Speaker 3 (20:49):
I went to work at Beet in the corporate communications department.
I was there as an intern and then I ain't
up staying for about two three years and then.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
From b as a paid internship.
Speaker 3 (21:01):
I was fresh out of college and I was on
b ET and working at b ET, so there was
money involved. Back then, I was getting paid as talent
after work, getting paid as an employee during the day.
Then who I've done so many things from b ET.
I went and actually worked with my father. My father
(21:21):
retired from Amtrak in DC. A lot of people don't
know this, and I was living in DC. Nobody knew
what I was doing because you know, I had, you know,
working on the train and working at Amtrak. You can't
It's in our union guideline that you can't post yourself
and post you know, train business. Yes, so I mean
some people who occasional would post themselves in a uniform.
I personally was not trying to post myself in a uniform.
(21:43):
I didn't want to draw a lot of attention that
I was, you know, in DC and working. But people
knew that I had a government related job. So I
did that. And while I did that, I worked out
of New York at WeTV as well, So I was
just digital hosts and correspondence so the Braxton Family Values,
swv LA Hair, all those shows. I was like the
wee TV Andy Coo when I interviewed everybody. I did
(22:05):
the digital reunions, I hosted the award shows. I was
execut produce all of those things. I edited most of
those things. We TV paid very well because did you
have to pitch yourself for that or did they just
reach out to me. I was in a bar and
I met this lady that she was over listening. She
was listening to my conversation. I was talking about the
Braxton Show, the Braxton Family Values, and she kept laughing
(22:28):
and like button in my conversation. She was like, you
are so funny. Here's my car. Can you call me
on Monday? So I looked at the car and I
said we TV. I was just like we TV. So
I called my sister. She was like call them people,
see what they talking about. And it was like she's like,
I'm the head of original programming and in digital marketing,
and she said, and I would love to have you
(22:50):
like commentate. All of our shows will pay you, you know,
per episode, will bring you up to New York. I said,
I'm work the trade for free girl. So I was hustling.
I was working. When I was free, I was doing
we TV and it was great money. It was a
good time. I got to meet some of everybody, and
that's how befriended my gird girlfriend, Tracy Braxon, who unfortunate
(23:10):
is no longer here with us. But I got to
work with my childhood icons s WV. They had a show,
so it was just it was a good time. So
I was being professional, had a corporate nine to five
with benefits, and then I was still pursuing my passion,
and that's all my dad wanted me to do. Pursue
my passion. But make sure you got some savings, make
(23:30):
sure you got benefits, because you know, as we get older,
we get sick. You know, I never would have thought
COVID would have happened back then, but like, I'm glad
I have health insurance. At what point did you quit Amtrak?
When I got the call to come and do love
and hip hop Hollywood, so I was already I came
out here to visit my mother. My mother was having
some personal things going on, and I wanted to be
(23:50):
out here just to be of support for her, and
she was having she had something was going wrong with
her heart and she had to have a surgery, and
I wanted to come out here just be near her.
And I started thinking about it. I was like, you know,
I've been doing this sweet TV stuff. It's going really well.
I make just as much money there as I do
it Amtrak. Maybe it's time for me to yeah, oh
(24:16):
shoot it. I love that you kept a hustle.
Speaker 1 (24:19):
Yeah going, So then you.
Speaker 2 (24:23):
You entertained quitting, right, So walk me through that.
Speaker 3 (24:28):
My boss found out that I was in l A,
not that I was found out. I took a leave
of absence. My boss called me and said, you need
to report to work tomorrow morning. At eleven am. I
was sitting in Studio City at Cafe Rue smoking a hookah.
It was like six o'clock. I will never forget this day.
I said, I'm in Los Angeles. I would have to
(24:50):
fly back, get a flight, fly back to where I lived,
and then get to DC. They said, if you can't
be here, we're riding you up. And you were on
a leaf I was leaving. I was, I was. I
took like a thirty day leave absence to be here
with my mother. This was like the twenty ninth day,
Like thirtieth. Going into the thirtieth, I said, you know what,
(25:14):
it was like, I will ever forget y'all. It was
like Halloween. I was like day before Halloween. I was like,
fuck this job. I called my UNI rap I said,
I quit. I ain't coming. I quit.
Speaker 2 (25:28):
Now. Did you think you were reacting on emotion or
you were just I.
Speaker 3 (25:32):
Was already fed up with that situation working at Amtrak.
I think Amtrak is an awesome company. Unfortunately, the people
that they had in management I thought were idiots. They
were there was a that's nice, they don't watch this interview. Okay,
most of them fired for their idiotisms. You said they
have been fired. Yes, you keeping up with the current events. Yeah,
(25:56):
I still because I still friends with the people that
I came in with and I worked the railroad. I
just was at a point in my life where I
was like fuck that, Like, no, you're not gonna talk
to me like that, and then you're not FNNA. It
was just a hostile work environment across the board for
everybody from upper management to us, and I was just like,
you know what, fuck this. I'm about to be on
(26:18):
love and hip hop yeah and the table. Yes, I
was like I was already thinking about because I was
trying to transfer to LA and they were making it
difficult for me to transfer. I was trying to keep
my job and come to LA and do the same thing,
because what I do outside of work shouldn't it doesn't
affect No.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
But I am definitely curious. What were you doing for Amtrak?
Speaker 3 (26:37):
I was in customer service, so I was basically like
the one board customer service manager. You would say, so no, no, no,
So I would actually be on the trains. I was
in charge of the dining car cruise.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
Okay, yes, ride Amtrak. I don't know if I had.
Speaker 3 (26:50):
I worked at the long distance Trains. My regular train
went from DC to Chicago. So I would leave on
a Friday, be there Saturday morning, leave Chicago that after noon,
be back to DC Saturday Sunday morning. So yeah, n trains,
so you wouldn't even know I was gone. I would
leave Friday and be back Sunday for brunch like nothing happened,
you know. So that's my friends. I always joking me,
(27:11):
like you don't want to have a job, like you're
always at an event still, And I was like, because
the way I work, Wow, we work three on three
days on you still track?
Speaker 2 (27:21):
No, I want to try am track.
Speaker 3 (27:24):
I think after that last phone call I had with
them over the track, they don't want to hear from
Meuse that.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
The last time you were was that the last time
you were actually on the Amtrak train?
Speaker 3 (27:32):
Oh No, I got back on the train road the
train plenty of times after. What they gonna do to me?
Speaker 2 (27:37):
How much is an Amtrak ticket?
Speaker 3 (27:38):
It depends where you're going. So like if you take
the exceler that's more of the high speed and that's
the more expensive ticket, so you can get from DC
to New York in like three hours. But if you
take a regional train that's like more of the old
school cars that you see in movies and stuff, that
could be like a five six hour train.
Speaker 2 (27:53):
Which one is the nice one? Don't they have like rooms?
Speaker 3 (27:55):
Excel? Oh that's the sleeper cars. The sleeper see the
sleeper cars and they have deluxe rooms. Get me saying
this stuff like I.
Speaker 2 (28:03):
Okay, okay, so yeah, google your Amtrak.
Speaker 3 (28:06):
I am a railroad baby, though I'm a proud third
generation railroad baby. My grandfather worked on the railroad. My
father was a conductor on the railway. He was there
forty two years, like conductor as he drove it. Well,
no conductor, he was in charge of the train. So
the engineer drives the trade. But my dad he also
started the human rights and diversity department for Amtrak, and
I think that and that was after I came out
(28:27):
on television, So I think by our situation helped him
see things differently and able to share with other employees
across the country how you can deal with diversity in
the workplace because he was dealing with it in his home.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
Nice.
Speaker 3 (28:41):
Okay, so you get the love and hip hop offer.
Speaker 1 (28:43):
Yeah, we ain't trying to promote amtrack just so you
guys knows the show. But anyway, so you get the
love and hip hop offer, You're like, f the day job.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
Peace.
Speaker 3 (28:55):
You tell your dad right away. Oh, I was excited
to call me. I was. He already knew I was.
My dad knows me, and I'm gonna tell you where
to go and how you can get there. When I
get to that point and I was like, Daddy, i
quit amstrak And I was like, damn, damn them, I'm
done with it. I'm about to be on this show
and whatever I need to do to do to make
it work. I'm gonna make it work.
Speaker 2 (29:13):
And what did he say?
Speaker 3 (29:14):
He was like, you grown, okay, cool, He wasn't mad.
He already saw things that I was experiencing because I
wasn't rare. We call them railroad babies. They felt I
was getting special treatment, I implied for those jobs I
interviewed for those jobs. I was qualified for those jobs.
And because my father was such a big name at
the company, I often got heat for that or they
(29:37):
felt I wasn't deserving of it, but they would still
want me to train the people there was less qualified
to do the job. Okay, So what did your mom
think about you staying? She was happy? I don't think
she was happy. What I think my mother was more so,
Oh you're doing TV again? Like this again? Like you know,
(30:00):
my mom is a is a very studious person, so
she want to you know, she's in the medical field.
So TV and people being in your business and being
out and around a bunch of people, that's not my mother.
She's a total opposite. My dad is me. We're socialites,
like to be everywhere, busybodies. That is not my mother.
So she was like, none of that sounds interesting to me.
But if you want to do it. Okay, Love and
(30:22):
Hip Hop wasn't my best chapter, but it definitely reintroduced
me to people ten years later.
Speaker 2 (30:28):
Well, I gotta ask, is Love and Hip Hop scripted?
Speaker 3 (30:32):
I think certain cities and I think certain scenes are
I think. Let me not say, I think. I can
only say I think about other franchises. I can only
speak for Hollywood, and I feel like with Hollywood and
now I feel like I know with Hollywood there was
truth in every scene, but everything was exaggerated. Yeah, a
(30:54):
lot of surprises though, but stuff you would expect, you know.
Speaker 1 (30:58):
So okay, so what's the day in the life when
you're shooting like a Love and Hip Hop?
Speaker 3 (31:02):
So the best part for me because I was only
get guy on the cast. Well, no, it was others,
but I was the one that got glambed. So they
would come to the house, they would do your makeup,
cut your hair.
Speaker 1 (31:12):
Only, Oh, you're the only guy that got glam Yeah,
I don't think.
Speaker 3 (31:16):
I don't think the other gentleman got glam like that,
not that I know of the haircut, get your face
done up because I'm like, want be on TV TV.
Then they pick you up an SUV take you to
the scene. I this is in a contrary to what
people say, Oh they get you drunk, they don't get
you drunk. I asked for drinks, like if I got
(31:38):
to be in here with these people talking about I
don't know what we've about to talk about. I don't
know who about to pop up. I don't know what's
about to pop off. Let me at least be relaxed.
Let me let me hit my little pan right quick.
Let me get it. Let me get like folk shots
and Hennessy so I can be relaxed. You know, they
never bent your arm to make you do so when
people say they make you drink, they give you the
option enjoy it. Yeah, we enjoy it. Yeah, you got
(32:01):
a light liquor option at the dark liquor option, whichever won,
because at end of the day, were all over twenty
one where adults were grown. If you don't want to drink,
you don't drink.
Speaker 2 (32:09):
Now do you ever put parameters on like who you
will and won't pay.
Speaker 3 (32:12):
With once you get to be in the senior position
on the show? So I did it for three seasons.
So by the time my third season rolled around, I
could say that I'm gonna feel comfortable with X, Y
and Z and then they'll try to rework it and
rearrange it. But honestly, but don't they love those scenes
the most. They love them. But I can tell you
(32:32):
that it was difficult for Love and hip Hop because
my first two seasons we were produced by one production company.
My third season, which was the last season of Loving
hip Hop, we had a whole brand new production company.
We shot for ten months. So these are brand new
people who don't know us, They don't know who got
beef for who, they don't know anybody's backstory, who they
might have been beefing with last year, but they're cool
(32:54):
with this year, or they were cool last year, they
not cool this year.
Speaker 2 (32:58):
A long time.
Speaker 3 (32:59):
It was because it was a brand new cat. It
was a brand new production company. Oh my god. They
were trying to figure out different ways to shoot because
even the style and which way the way that we
shot was different. Like we went through three different green
screen looks that season. The lighting was off so we
had to redo it again, or this had they were
adding cast members in and things were just coming up
(33:21):
on the blogs and we had to like go back
and redo things. And when I said redo things like
we back then would shoot a scene and something would
go down, and we would go online texting and tweeting them,
Oh my god, this just happened. They tried it, and
blah blah blah, blah blah blah, and that was that night.
Would go on and on back and forth online and
then they'll be like, hey, we need to capture that.
(33:41):
We need to do another scene, and you recap what
happened that night after you finished it filming, talk to
them about what happened and what y'all were talking about.
So you gotta go back in that moment again. I
don't miss it.
Speaker 2 (33:54):
You don't know.
Speaker 3 (33:55):
That wasn't the best chapter of my life. I didn't
like necessarily my edit, and it's nothing that I can
say that I did wrong, And they didn't make me
look a certain way. I just didn't like the lack
of what they showed. They only showed me. They wanted
to make me the confrontational gay character that argue with
all the other gay characters and only got in women's business. Well,
(34:17):
our show is eighty percent women. I'm the gay guy.
I'm friends with the women. So if they're talking to
me about it on an off camera. I'm gonna talk
about it. It just was. It was stressful. I got anxiety.
I have alopecia. My hair fell out while we were filming,
so one part of the season I looked like mister Egghead.
I had no eyebrows, no bear, no hair. I'm like,
(34:38):
of all the shows, I'm on, Lord, why would my
hair fall out while were filming this? And you know
a lot of people don't love to hip hop have
different demons within them. And dealing with people's energies and
their demons, and dealing with your own demons, it gets
to be a lot because you know, we can't at
the time, we can't say what's real, what's not. It's exaggerated,
(35:01):
what we talked about, what we really don't care about.
You know, we have to stay in character and promote
the show cause we need the ratings so we can
get paid, so we can come back and do another season.
And you just get in that cycle of just being
in character, and it bleeds over to your real life.
I've lost relationships, I've lost some friends. I got into
it with some relatives over things, just from the frustration
(35:21):
anxiety of coming from out of that space ten months
is a long time.
Speaker 2 (35:26):
Yeah, now that was ten months for one s one
particular sea.
Speaker 3 (35:29):
That was one particular season. But most of the time
we filmed six to seven months.
Speaker 2 (35:33):
Geez. And then we're during when you're off season, what
are you doing?
Speaker 3 (35:36):
You really only off from Thanksgiving to the top of
the year because at that point you're waiting for your
renewal notice. So you wrapped, You've done the reunion, all
that's airing. It's like when we wrap, we're st we
pretty much when the show premieres, we're still filming, and
then the reunion raps about. It was always in the fall,
so from Thanksgiving, I remember always going home to Virginia
(35:56):
f cause I needed to just air my spirit out.
I will be home from Thanksgiving to Christmas or maybe
New Year's. Around Christmas time, they'll start calling you like, hey,
what's going on? Who are you talking to? Have you
seen this online? January we would get our pick up notices.
That's when you gotta go through your contract and negotiate
your pay and we be filming by March, so you
(36:17):
were it was a quick turnaround.
Speaker 1 (36:26):
Now are they paying enough to like where you don't
need any other side hustles or anything.
Speaker 3 (36:30):
Everybody's salary varies on Love and Hip Hop. Some people
come in and making bare minimum. Some people come in
making because of who they are and their name, They're
making super high. Someone like a Ray J and a
Kay Michelle, They're doing great. I was a new cast member.
I came on with Keisha Cole and Brooke Valentine. I
always say season four was the best season outside of
the first season. But I came on I was already
(36:53):
doing WE TV, and I already had a name, and
I was already had a following from Love and Hip Hop.
So Rape, my episodic Rape, was way different from what
I heard some other people who came on with me,
they were new as well, And then it depends on
who your lawyer is. You got to negotiate.
Speaker 1 (37:08):
Yeah, you know so, but you didn't have any of
the side gigs outside of.
Speaker 3 (37:11):
Love and Hip Hop. I overlapped. I did WE TV
for the first two seasons as well with Love and
Hip Hops. It benefited them, and it benefited the shows
getting I mean, who else was getting promoted on two
networks like that.
Speaker 2 (37:24):
And it's a smart move for week Yeah, it was great.
Speaker 3 (37:27):
It was awesome. My last season, I just did strictly
Love and Hip Hop because I mean it was very
time consumer.
Speaker 1 (37:34):
Because you are between two different cities right for WEE TV,
and I was.
Speaker 3 (37:38):
Still doing my stuff out of New York and then
filming out here, and then I actually did a digital
talk show for we TV while we were filming Love
and Hip Hop. So I was filming in Santa Monica
then going wherever they had us filming for the show.
It was a lot. And then COVID came and I
finally got to sit my ass down.
Speaker 2 (37:55):
And that's when you started writing.
Speaker 3 (37:56):
Right started writing, I had, I think it was doing
the show and dealing with the different adversities that I
had to deal with on the show. Because as you
can see, I'm a very friendly person. I'm my energy
is amazing, but on the show, I had to be
confrontational to secure my spot. I had to speak on
things that I really didn't care about. I had to,
you know, be in competition with people that I normally
(38:17):
would never even deal with or be around. You know.
So once I only got to sit down and just
relax and just get my life together and figure out
what I was gonna do next. COVID was in full swing.
So I was like, I'm gonna get my master's. I
have one, always wanted to go back get. I'm the
minimum degree in my family right now. Most people in
my family have two or three degrees. I was sitting
(38:38):
on that one and I was like, Okay, I can
go to school. Let me. It's all remote. Everything's remote
during COVID. I'm gonna get my master's in media management.
That's what I have been doing. And then I wrote
a book about my life. I mean, just me being
from Virginia moving to Hollywood, being the first black gay
reality start on beet for the first ever black reality series,
(38:59):
like that will always be my calling card. I love it.
I'm proud of it. Now I understand it. Just back then,
I did not understand what it meant to be a
voice for a community that I didn't identify with yet.
Speaker 1 (39:10):
Yeah, and I was that was gonna be my next question.
So back when it first happened, how did it hit?
It was so fast, Like did you go through any
type of depression or.
Speaker 3 (39:22):
No? Back then we had MySpace and black players, So
my inbox was full because back then it was just
Corambo and I were the first two. It was just
us he was on MTV. I was on BET. We
was having fun. I had fun. So I lived. That's
(39:42):
another book, but no, I've lived and I had a
great time. I went to all the Black Prides. I
was able to go to high schools. I did the
BT wrap It Up campaign, from all the HIV STD awareness.
I got to meet so many people at such a
young age. I did so many different things, from on camera,
behind the camera, working at BT, working with e TV,
(40:03):
like I've mastered my meeting.
Speaker 1 (40:05):
And then, what was your original major? I'm sorry, so
your original major was public relations? No matter what you
were going to end up in entertainment.
Speaker 3 (40:13):
I felt it because I was on the radio when
I was in my senior year of college. I was
on Power ninety two. It was the afternoon drive co host. Okay,
so I felt it. I always knew something was gonna happen.
Speaker 2 (40:22):
I'm pretty sure everyone in your family also didn't weren't
surprised at all.
Speaker 3 (40:26):
I don't think they were, some of them, LA, I know,
how did you not know? I mean, come on, I
could look at all pictures of me with my hand
on my hip, like, come.
Speaker 2 (40:35):
On, no, I'm talking about you being in entertainment though.
Speaker 3 (40:38):
I was a character. My family would definitely tell you
I was a colorful character, always did my own thing
and was always getting into something. You know, I've definitely
matured since then, but Little Ray was something okay, okay.
Speaker 2 (40:54):
And so now after the pandemic, you you write the book,
You write the book during the pandemic. How hard was
it to put it out? What was those steps? Looking?
Speaker 3 (41:01):
Like? I did it through Amazon. I had a publisher
help me, but we did it through Amazon, and it
ended up being number one for six consecutive weeks on
four different like Amazon book charts, E book and physical
book Like I had a number one best seller out
the gate and mind you, this is no love and
hip hop. We're in COVID. Nothing's going on. My book
(41:21):
stayed on the Amazon bestseller list for almost a year
and a half.
Speaker 1 (41:26):
And then what was the ch Like, how did you
I wanted monthly? Yeah, you get paid monthly, but I
want to know the whole experience of like you put
you take a chance on yourself, you get this book.
Speaker 3 (41:36):
I didn't think anybody was gonna read it because I'm like,
I'm not one of those overly large reality stars like
I don't even consider myself a reality star. I was
on two very popular reality shows, one in which I
was a main character and the other I was a
co character. But I was a part of two different
eras of two different types of shows that were monumental.
And I always say, if I go back on television,
(41:57):
it has to be bigger than what the last thing
I did was. And I was like, you know, I'm
not out here wild on the blogs doing all that craziness.
They're not gonna want to read my story. And they did.
They read my story. I talked about everything. I talked
about my party boy days. I talked about the days
where you are in LA and you don't know what
the next gig is and you don't know how your
(42:18):
rent's going to get paid until you get something stable,
and then you know. You see your friends around you.
Some of them are elevating and some of them are declining.
Speaker 2 (42:25):
That's that's I think one of the trickiest.
Speaker 3 (42:29):
Waters to battle.
Speaker 1 (42:30):
I think it's seeming like some people go and maybe
they're not even friends, because I think friends are more
happy for Yeah, when you see someone and you don't
really know their story or the intricacies of it, and
you're like, Wow, this person's past me and I'm still
trucking along. What like they just woke up, you know.
And I think that's a hard battle, especially if you've
been it for a long time.
Speaker 3 (42:49):
Yeah, and my family is really a huge part of
my life. You follow me on any of my socials,
I'm always talking about my family, Dad, my mother, nieces, nephew, sisters, cousins, grandparents.
And I never allowed myself to wild out to get popular.
I never wanted to do anything where my family would
be embarrassed. I never did anything where I would hate
(43:10):
for my nieces or nephews a google on their path
and be like, oh, this is my uncle looking at
you know. I'm always self conscious of the projects I
do and the things I participate with because I know
I got other people looking at me. That's important to me.
I don't worry about what the stranger says. My family
is watching me. I want them to be able to
promote me and them to be proud of me, you know.
So that I feel like that kept me from doing
(43:33):
a lot of things a lot of other people were
doing to go viral and be popular and be out there.
But I don't see them now.
Speaker 2 (43:42):
So it's going back to the book.
Speaker 3 (43:44):
You produce the book.
Speaker 2 (43:46):
Look at us, we're trying to pick at it.
Speaker 3 (43:49):
Where's the tackle shells? Keep the back.
Speaker 1 (43:52):
So you produce the book, it becomes a bestseller. Are
you shocked at like how much money you're making taking
a chance on yourself.
Speaker 3 (44:01):
That book really surprised me. No, it was just crazy
because the hot sauce too. But the most amazing thing
was that I was I learned a lesson. I was
always I was doubting myself at that time. I'm not
doing the same things these other people are doing to
(44:23):
be out there. Though I'm on that platform, I'm on
these platforms, I'm verified on everything, but you know, I'm
still at this. I felt like a stagnant level. And
my Instagram had gotten hacked, so I had no Instagram.
Uh there was. I was at zero. I had to
start all over while the book, the book had just
came out, the book still so I got made a
(44:45):
new page, built it back up to what it is now.
That book sold, People supported it, They bought it, took
pictures of it, sent it to me. People will call
me and not minister to me, but talk to me
about things that they were going through, they related to
my book and like I said, for it to be
for me to be who I am. And there were
some other reality stars, but books out way bigger shows,
(45:05):
way bigger names than me. Mine outlive them all and
outsold them as well. And that just goes to show
the type of people that follow me and support me
and who I am and where I stand in this business.
Speaker 1 (45:17):
And then now receiving the checks, let's talk the money part.
Speaker 3 (45:21):
Now. Books are interesting because when you do a book
through a publishing company, you got to give them their
money back that they put into marketing as well.
Speaker 1 (45:28):
Oh okay, so they marketed a book, so you you
you got to.
Speaker 3 (45:32):
Pay them their back, their part back, and then after
you once you give them, once they get their cut back,
everything else is yours.
Speaker 2 (45:37):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (45:38):
Now, do you ever go back and thinks in your.
Speaker 2 (45:41):
Head like, damn, I wish I would have just done
it self published or do you feel.
Speaker 3 (45:46):
Like, I mean, you really could do self published book
on Amazon? But you really can. I see so many
and they do well. But it was just it was
a learned it was something. It was my therapy. I
needed it.
Speaker 1 (45:57):
No, I get that, and I'm not trying to hold
them under the bus. But I am genuinely curious, like,
do you think that having it published for them made
a difference?
Speaker 3 (46:10):
You know, because I did all the promotions.
Speaker 2 (46:12):
That's why I want to know.
Speaker 3 (46:14):
So looking back at it, I could have done it myself.
But I will say, even though the Amazon website takes
you through it, how to upload it, how you can
change your titles, I mean your cover title, how you
can go in and edit, you know, do the edits.
It's still a learning process. I say. If you are
going to do a self edit, take time to learn
that site about self publishing, so you know how to
(46:35):
get the barcode correct, how you know how you because
you can really set your book up from your iPhone
if you wanted to just upload the manuscript. That's the
main thing, is the manuscript. Make sure a spell right.
But they have a proof checker who go through it
and you, yeah, just pay for the service.
Speaker 1 (46:50):
You heard it here first, guys, there's award winning publisher
top number one.
Speaker 2 (46:56):
You said six.
Speaker 3 (46:57):
It was a best seller for six weeks on four
different in charge. It was for college or university student life,
a l LGBTQ and for black biographies. Like I could
not believe it.
Speaker 2 (47:08):
That's amazing.
Speaker 3 (47:09):
But we were in COVID. We were all at home,
like we had nothing to dow anyway. Well it's still
it's still a huge fee. It's yeah, those good money.
Speaker 1 (47:15):
And trust me, during COVID, people everyone made their own decisions.
Speaker 2 (47:19):
I always go like, damn, did I make the right
decisions during COVID. We did produce eating while broke during COVID.
Speaker 3 (47:24):
I was in Atlanta during COVID. We was outside. You know,
Atlanta did our clothes, they just put them all they
told us they put the thermometer to your head and
just made sure you wasn't hot. And that was it.
Speaker 2 (47:32):
Eighty five South we did. We taped down there LA
five South Lake, Chico and DC and all those guys
down there were like we were on break for about
a week.
Speaker 3 (47:40):
Right.
Speaker 2 (47:41):
LA was shut down for two years.
Speaker 3 (47:43):
Man. I came back to LA and Hollywood looked like downtown. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (47:47):
Yeah, LA was shut down for so long that I
got married and had a baby.
Speaker 3 (47:52):
Oh I didn't think.
Speaker 2 (47:53):
I didn't think, you know, I knew we were gonna
eventually go outside, but it started to become a real norm.
But to hear Atlanta had a whole differ experience.
Speaker 3 (48:00):
We were outside, we would get you could get drinks
to go from the restaurants. We was at. Shout out
to sea. What was I don't think they're opening to
Atlanta anymore. We were at sea. What's smoking? Hookah? Dad
said the clubs was open.
Speaker 2 (48:11):
LA was none of that.
Speaker 3 (48:12):
We were open. So when I flew back here, you
back here, I was like, oh, hell no, I got
to go back to Atlanta.
Speaker 1 (48:19):
When New York had all the horror stores, people in
New York was it was scared straight.
Speaker 2 (48:25):
You couldn't get them to open the door for nothing. Man, listen,
step back from the bag, drop it off, step back.
Speaker 3 (48:31):
When I went home to visit my parents in Virginia
for KRIB we drove up from Atlanta to go because
we were to go spend New Year's in DC. My
dad and my stepmom had masks. When they was like,
can't come in the house, but we when to come outside.
I talked to you the driveway, y'all stay in the
car like we really had Christmas through the window. Like
then they put their gins in the trunk and I
gave them theirs. COVID was a crazy time.
Speaker 1 (48:52):
Yeah, I remember getting a Thanksgiving we was in Detroit.
We got Thanksgiving dinners and the cars. We ate it
for ourselves and where we were staying and thank you.
Speaker 3 (49:02):
COVID looked like a different world being in Atlanta because
I was also that was also the election with Trump
and Biden and Kamala, so I was outside helping promote
Kamala and Biden. Back then we were trying to it
was black Lives Matter. It was so many things going
on during COVID and being in Atlanta and it being
(49:22):
open and everyone outside that way, but looking at the
news and seeing how LA was shut down and boarded
up up north everyone had like fifty masks on and
not outside and the people that were actually passing away
from COVID, and then the whole uproar of the vaccine
and then the election results and then the insurrection on
the It was so COVID was so dramatic. It was
(49:44):
it was that's a book right there.
Speaker 2 (49:45):
That's a book right there.
Speaker 1 (49:47):
And so now after COVID, you have this successful book,
what's your next play?
Speaker 3 (49:52):
So after COVID, and.
Speaker 1 (49:54):
I'm doing your audio audio biography, realizing this is this.
Speaker 3 (49:58):
Is picking u where the book left off so I
got into TV film production. I worked with Heillionaire Productions
and we did a movie called Mama's Boy, which starred
Lawrence Robinson. He's everybody's favorite IG crush person. He was
in it with the young lady name right now and
that's coming out later this year. And then we also
did a film called The Influencer, which aired on All
(50:21):
Black earlier this year, and that was my first film
I did. When I met her the day of came
right on set. I was an extra. She and I
hit it off. She went to family, I went to
Virginia State where both D nine and we just started
working together. And then I went to Houston with her
and filmed the Christmas movie that I actually ended up
having a roll in with the Braxton sisters. So that
was like a whole little three sixty moment and it's
(50:42):
called Christmas Cover Up and that will be out later
this year at Christmas.
Speaker 1 (50:46):
So, wow, you been busy, busy, I don't see you.
You're not going back to reality TV.
Speaker 3 (50:52):
You know what I have. There's been a couple of
things that I have been approached about through my management.
One of them was actually I was really considering it.
It would have been the third season of that show. Unfortunately,
that show got put on pause and it ain't been
play ain't been pressed yet, so I'm assuming it's canceled.
And then a show that I actually helped create had
(51:17):
went through the whole pitch process and unfortunately, when the
strike happened, all the network shut down and that project
pretty much got shelved. But it was about to be greenld.
I was super excited, Well it might come back. I
don't know the timing for me now it fits for me,
but I would love to work with those gentlemen again
and put some money else in my spot because there
(51:38):
was definitely something there. It was gonna be amazing. And
as of recent something has come up that I'm interested in,
but my focus is in TV right now. I have
the name, they know who I am. I really am
just advocating for HBCUs, especially now with this current administration
and all these DEI things. They're wiping you away and
(52:00):
trying to do away with I say, black education. It's
very important for me to share my platform and inform
people of types of financial aid so the children can
go to HBC's Because hbcs were creative, creative for a
specific reason things that are going on now is why
we have HBCUs and they are important, they are relevant.
I had the best transformative four years of my life
(52:21):
in Virginia State, and I would love for kids, especially
from southern California, to get to go down south and
find out other things. You can put us out of taco.
Speaker 2 (52:28):
You know, exactly, exactly exactly, Okay, all right, so right now,
your passions is definitely community service.
Speaker 3 (52:36):
Being a brother of Alpha Phi Alpha for.
Speaker 1 (52:37):
T and that's how that's how I ended up meeting
you at the Do you remember we met Christmas Prey
prey but it was a park.
Speaker 3 (52:46):
It was a bunch of us. It was Ray J
torriy Omar Gooding.
Speaker 2 (52:52):
Yeah, yeah, Omar was on the show did Man.
Speaker 3 (52:55):
When I first met Omar, I was like, that's the
guy from Baby Boy. It's so cool with meeting people
in person that you grew up watching and now we're
in the same business, same industry, got the same management,
and it's like, oh, what's up. You were trying my
soy sauce tacos.
Speaker 1 (53:12):
Them things are slamming. So no, it's nice to hear
that you are in your community service era. And that's
actually where I met you.
Speaker 2 (53:18):
Yeah, I was doing you were doing community.
Speaker 3 (53:20):
I love it. It's fulfilling. I've had an awesome forty years.
I've twenty eighteen specifically working in entertainment, and I just
feel like part of my legacy and what I want
to start building is that, you know, I met these people,
I've had these opportunities, but somebody gave it to me.
So if I can be a blessing to someone else,
I know I'll get something later in life.
Speaker 2 (53:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (53:39):
So that's where I am with that.
Speaker 1 (53:41):
I like that you heard it here first everybody, And
please don't judge us for our taco eating break because.
Speaker 3 (53:46):
We fin go get some more them. Tacos was delicious.
Speaker 2 (53:50):
Okay, I'm gonna be eating tacos for dinner tonight.
Speaker 1 (53:53):
Okay, don't forget when you make your tacos at home
to add soy sauce to it.
Speaker 2 (53:57):
I definitely think it does make the difference.
Speaker 3 (53:59):
Shout outs to.
Speaker 2 (54:00):
Miss the Red for the secret ingredient and not being
stingy and sharing.
Speaker 3 (54:03):
It with us. Right, Guccie, I gave her some good
tea good tie.
Speaker 1 (54:06):
And where can everybody keep up with you besides on
the mainstream Because you have a lot of stuff coming out.
Speaker 3 (54:11):
Yeah, so Instagram is the best place to catch me.
It's m I S S T E r r A
Y eight oh four. I'm forever eight oh four boy,
but I'm a Dina boy at HART. I definitely want
to give a special shout out to everybody in Altadena
Pasadena and everyone who has contributed to their relief efforts
out there. Our community is still building day by day.
Some people are just coming home seeing their place for
(54:33):
the first time and just trying to figure out how
to get it together. As it rains.
Speaker 1 (54:37):
Now, as it rains, I know, finally, yeah, exactly. All right, Well,
thank you so much for taking time out of your day.
Speaker 2 (54:46):
To feed me.
Speaker 3 (54:47):
Right, Okay, that was good.
Speaker 1 (54:48):
You know you're more than welcome to feed me anytime.
And then if I have a holiday, you're more than
welcome because she.
Speaker 3 (54:53):
Do crab legs for her holidays, you know, black folks
from the DMV, we love a crab leg.
Speaker 2 (54:57):
You know, I gotta do it that way, all right,
Peace out, y'all. For more eating while broke from iHeartRadio
and The Black Effect, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows,
Host
Coline Witt
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