July 21, 2022 • 49 mins
On this episode KJ chops it up with actor J.Marques Johnson, who makes his television debut as "Rayshon" in the second season of BET+'s Tyler Perry drama series, All The Queen's Men. KJ and J.Marques also discuss his famous family, battling leukemia as a child, playing college basketball and finding his groove as a model/actor. #allball
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
This is kJ Live with Chris john Sali and Chris
is having conversations with influencers in the sports world and
entertainment industry. Now here's Chris Johnson. You're now tuned in
to kJ Live. Today's guest on the show is an actor, model,
(00:26):
and renaissance man. He recently was named to a role
on Tyler Perry's All the Queen's Men, starring on BT.
Welcome into the show. My little brother, Ja Marcus Johnson
is in the building. What's up, man, appreciate it's kind
of cool. That's something cool to talk about. Now, well,
now you always had something cool to talk about. I
(00:48):
think schedules permitting. You've been a busy man lately, so
I appreciate you taking the time out of your schedule,
your shooting schedule too, to join the show. Man. Look,
it's as somebody that you growing up in a family
with older brothers and brothers and siblings and dads and
people that have always, you know, been sort of in
the limelight or achieved what sort of pressure did you
(01:11):
feel in carving out your own niche when you decided
to chase this acting thing. You know, it's funny you
say that because just thinking about it, you know, Like,
so it's either you kind of fold under the pressure,
which I did as a kid growing up, you know,
just kind of folded blah blah blah, like this is
for me, or then like you rise to it. And
then so I got to a point where I was like, yeah,
(01:32):
that's it. I'm gonna rise to it, man, like whatever, Like,
you know, I got one life to live and like,
this is my life, this is what I want to do.
I'm gonna go for it. And so the pressure, you know,
it kind of just it's just it's I changed in myself,
you know, and I was just like, yeah, like let's
do it. I'm gonna go for it. The pressures on.
I got something to live up to, I got something
to live for, and I'm gonna keep this name going.
(01:53):
How long did it take, as far as like for
that light bulb to click in for you to have
that confident when you say fold or kind of rise?
What made you like when you were folding? Why why
were you folding? Why were you shrinking away from whatever
pressure in your mind? Just growing up? You know, like
(02:17):
just so I mean not to put the blame on basketball,
but you know, our father was NBA legend, you know,
and like so he was like extreme, like athletically, like
he was just supreme and all that and I that
didn't hit from me until later on, and like and
so like I just never thought it would happen, you know,
like I had went through things in my childhood which
it cost my my my process of groing to to
(02:38):
slow down a bit. And I remember one time I
went to the doctor for a check up and you know,
he told he told me and my mother that I'd
be lucky if I made it to six ft and
so like things like that just kind of like destroyed
me and blah blah, and like you know, just that
whole process, me being the fourteen year old kid and
just like dangn just like seeing your dreams kind of
just shattered, you know, like you're taking it from a
(02:59):
medical professional, and then you know, then you just keep
getting older and then you realize like, oh snap, six one,
now he was wrong, you know. So it just it
was just like constant progression of me just realizing things
like you know, I'm in control, and I just you know,
use it to my advantage and just kept pushing and
kept kid persistent and kept persevering and here and you
(03:20):
went through Lookemia. Tell tell us about just with all
that entailed, what the disease did to you and how
you had to deal with it on a daily basis.
Oh man, So you know it started the summer of nineties, six,
I believe or seven. I remember just being just like
(03:40):
just crazy pain, like daily, like couldn't sleep at night,
like nice sweats, just headaches. I feel it in my
lefe right now, like they just burning and all that,
and just not being able to keep up. You know,
I got a brother who's two a year and a
half younger than me, so he's five at the time,
and like you know, I couldn't keep up with him them,
and just like extreme me, thethargic and lazy until one
(04:03):
night I just I just couldn't sleep and then like
my mom was just like no, we gotta go to
the hospital. And then we found out then. So I
just remember that whole process, you know, all the shots
and all the tests had to go through, and then
you know the chemotherapy for four years, gone to remission
when I was eleven, so two thousand, Um, yeah, dude, Jesus,
(04:26):
you know the different medications, the hunger, craves and all that.
And like, so the k is a cancer of the
blood and bones. If I'm not mistaken, oh seven, so
forgive me now. But if I'm not mistakeing to cancer
the blood and bones. So like you know, you feel it.
It's you know, you feel it all throughout your body.
Your whole body is much on fire. Yeah. And with that,
(04:48):
so sports for you, And I do remember this time.
It was tough. I was at U c l A
and just just hearing about the spinal taps and those
those shots. That still remember that vividly, just what you
had to go through every time they did that. Uh,
not to really bring up that memory, but the fact
that you were able two go through that, do you
(05:11):
feel and then you grew and then you were able
to play sports. Talk about just the what that did
for you your life, Just that the beating that disease,
be getting out of that that cloud, that rut. What
did that do for you your confidence? So first and foremost,
you know, a lot of credit to my village, like
(05:35):
you know you Joe Mo, like you know Dad, Mom,
Just I just remember, you know, one of my most
vivid memories through all that is you know, I mean,
I would sleep at the time in the hospital just
waking up and like somebody always being there, you know,
and like especially what y'all haven't been through, you know
what I mean, and like seeing me like that and
(05:56):
like y'all still being there every day, you know. So
that gave me so much strength as a child that
I never realized that it gave me until I got older,
and just how much I appreciate and love y'all for
that and just kind of you know, so my my,
my value of family is just so much bigger and
more important than pretty much anything in the world. And
like so I'm so grateful and blessed that were just
(06:18):
so connected like that first and foremost, and then just
being able to survive that just kind of taught me, like,
you know, I'm built to survive anything in a way,
you know, and like just to have faith and just
to attack it. So that's why I have such a
lust for life and such an attack for life and
(06:39):
just such a I try to be charismatic and everything
I do, I try to be appreciative and everything I do,
like every time, you know, I'm always trying to think,
who if I see a city worker, like I'm rolling
down my window, I'm beeping. I'm thanking them for their
role work. I don't care about the traffic. I'm living
in constant gratitude every day and just you know, constantly
trying to put a smile of somebody else's face. So
this is why I'm glad I'm an entertainment because I'm
(07:01):
able to entertain and like bring joy or show overcoming
or show triumph in in in situations. And so it's
just really put that perspective in my world of just realizing,
you know, things could suck and at the end of
the day, you know, the good always altweighs the bad.
And so I'm just appreciative to have gone through that
antency life through that leans. Yeah, you do live your
(07:25):
life with assessed. To put it mildly, I mean, if
you if you go to Josh's Twitter or i g
or stories and follow them, you'll you'll get a sense
of what this young man's talking about. Um, when you
(07:46):
decided to go on the basketball journey and you took
it serious. Um, We'll talk about basketball journeys a lot
here on this show. When you went on your basketball
journey and it was one in the family of people
that came before you that all bald and you were
involved heavily, deeply rooted in the city of l a
and you went to Crenshaw and you know, so it
was a similar type of path, and so you're going
(08:08):
down the similar path. Is your people before you? How
is your experience? So little backstory, so chemotherapy and all
that that, all that kind of slowed down my my
puberty process and all that. So I really I didn't
hear my Grosberg til I was like eighteen nineteen and
(08:29):
then so I was probably about I probably graduate high
schoolbout six too. Uh, just like barely tapping the surface.
Like I remember I started working out with you like
after my highs my senior season, like I like like
I wasn't able to dunk like that, and then like
I just started being able to. Just I was getting
Oh my god, I was so athletic it was crazy.
And then like you know, now I'm six five six.
(08:50):
It's just like so it's just it's kind of annoying
in hindsight. Just I just I do wonder what if
at points, but you know, everything happens for a reason,
and so I just you know, live be gratitude with that.
But so yeah, I mean I went to prep school
for a year, still worked on my game, you know,
went to a D to an Oregon Western ok University,
(09:11):
did pretty well there, and you know, I thought, you know,
I could probably do better. So I went to Pastadena
City College. I bounced back to the junior college year,
did pretty well, average like fifteen and teen. But then
you know, I just kind of kind of got over it.
Why what what what happened? I was I've always been
I think school. I just kind of like, it's like
(09:32):
I need a new simula. So I went to school
and it was just like I fel like I was
learning the same thing in high school and I was
just like, man, this is a waste of my time. Bro,
Like let me figure this out, and I mean, let
me let me go out another path. It was really
stupid to me. But whatever, that's just not that's not
it's not stupid because you have to go with how
you're feeling. When you're at that age and you're doing
(09:53):
things and you're traveling around and you beat what you beat.
I mean, you have you walk around with a sense
of self confidence, in a sense of you know, hey,
I know my just decisions. I can stand on my
decisions basically, like you know, so I don't think it
was stupid. I think we live and we learned and
it happens the way it's supposed to happen. Now. When
you quit basketball, it was a little like, come on,
you're balling. It was like, what's why? I mean, it
(10:15):
was just a confusing thing for me that I just
kind of like Jesus Christ, I don't know what the
hell is going on. Yeah, he's probably starting to make
sense that you do this now, come on, but I
don't know. I just you know, I don't huh. I
don't really have a strategy and calculation with my decisions though.
I just kind of just like live and go, just
like okay, you just kind of just throttle, which you know,
(10:36):
it looks like work in my benefit a little bit,
but you know, absolutely whatever, you know, it's good. I
was still alive, still living, you know, out here it's
a gamble, it's it's life as a whole as a gamble. Dog.
You never know, especially with all the recent situations we've
had recently, Dog, you know, just you never know, somebody
(10:56):
just gonna snap it. Just want to go crazy, and
you know, you just never know, so you just kind
of gotta stand on your gut and just go for
what you want, almost man like, and it's unfortunate, but
it's the real world and that's it. That's the reality
of it all. And after you made that decision from Pasadena,
you decided to hang it up. What did you do next? Oh? Man,
(11:17):
So my oldest brother you it's kind of you kind
of put me aside over day, like, man, what you
want to do with your life? I don't know. I'm
to figure it out. And you know, you said you
ever thought about modeling, and then I was like, kind of,
but I don't know how to get into it. And
then you made a call next to you know, I
was in Miami and then TIGN with the ABC and
all that, and then my first ever job was with Ever,
(11:39):
probably a fitch. So I was in my I living
in Miami. Then came back home Santa Barbara. That's where
I had my first shoot at for a week Ever
probably a Fish, And that was just crazy because you know,
I don't think Aver probably and Fish be looking for
people to look like me, but you know, they booked me.
It was fun. It was a great experience, and I
was like, dang, I think we're on the right path here.
So that was cool Miami for about a year and
(11:59):
the have Molin work with like ever coming, Fitch, Periellis,
kopa Veda, um, who else? Nike? Yeah, I did a
lot bro Man with Eagle outfit or what was what
was the scene like in Miami? I mean you hear
about it a lot, and I've been New York. I
know the scene in Cold I've been in Mammie for
(12:21):
a little bit. But what was the scene when you
were down there working in monom Oh my god, Miami.
It's crazy pig never ending party dog. It is like
the weather like so it'll rain a lot, but it's
still be warm, so it'll be like it'd be like
sexy raining. So you like you just like f and
I'm gonna go out with my shirt off, you know. Ever,
(12:41):
Like every Thursday is Sunday, it's cracking on the b
I living on South Beat, so you'll be cracking on
Ocean Avenue. Man, So I'm whatever, I'm shirtless, I'm pulling up,
I'm going to the Clevelander. It's a new batch every weekend. Man.
I was out there whiling out. Man, I living my
best life. And then I just got to the point, like,
dagn this is not sustainable. I can't be doing this
much longer. Man. So but shouts out to Miami beach. Man,
(13:03):
it was fun. It was fun for what it was.
I learned a lot. It was a weird place, but
it's all good. Yeah. I'm sure, I'm sure you you
did learn a lot. I mean, god, bro, yeah, I'm
sure you did. Um. I remember when my you know,
when you leave home and the first time anywhere kind
of overseas or whatever. It's sort of a culture shock
at first, but once you figure figure out the culture
(13:24):
and and the network, man, it becomes really live. Um. Now,
you did modeling, You're so you're heavy with the modeling.
This is a career you're trying to chase. It was
modeling something that you actually liked or did you want
to expand on that or were you kind of just
locked into being a model. Um? I liked it. But
(13:46):
me as a person, I'm always looking to to to
what's next and how I can expand on something. And
of course, I mean acting was the next foray and so,
but I did really enjoy modeling. I mean, I mean
you get, like you said, money to take pictures and
like three food on the set and like, but you
(14:06):
can't because you gotta watch your weight, right. I mean
I'm a hog though, so I'll be working out like
four or five times a day. I was going crazy,
so I mean, you know, I was doing like wake
up in the morning, do my hour cardio, just four
situations like that, you know, lifting my weights. You know,
I was doing probably like four or five thousand like
crunches or legled like that whole app combination to day.
(14:27):
I was very serious, you know. And in the South Beach.
I was in New York too, so both of those
places you're doing a lot of walking, so you probably
walked like six seven miles a day easy. And I was,
you know, I was mama talized, was kind of fast
and all that. So me, I would need that. I
would need to eat to sustain to look otherwise, you know,
you get skinny fat and look ugly. Skinny fat fat,
(14:51):
Oh man, it's when you look. It's like when you're skinny,
but like you look sloppy. And I don't down skinny
fat phobic, but like it didn't work for me. I
wasn't happy with the look, and so you know, you
just gotta figure out what's work with, what works for
you as far as your fitness goes. But yeah, I
mean as far as you say about the eating, Like
there were certain things you couldn't eat, so I had
(15:11):
to be really like I had to be super on
top of it. Even it just got so crazy though,
like man, because you just be overthinking everything you eat,
so you end up stressing yourself out, and then that
affects you negatively because when you stress, you build cortisol,
and cortisol builds fat. And it's just it's just all
just a weird, messed up chemical biological situation that goes
on in your body. And I had to a lot
(15:32):
of you to figure it out, but I figured it
out clearly. I mean, you see this to see hello. Yeah.
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
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Radio dot com and within the I Heart Radio app
search f s are to listen live. How many hours
a day you work out? He's too much. I'm probably
(15:54):
like there four. Yeah, it's not too bad. What about you?
Was you? I don't work out at all? You know
work at at all. I don't work out. I woke
up like this. No, but Josh, seriously, listen, you know
we're gonna get on more fitness tips later on. Um,
(16:15):
I just I really want to get to this kind
of thing because because you're very talented in the acting space,
and I'm just trying to figure out the evolution of
the modeling journey into you know, that day or that
moment when I don't remember this story, but when was
the moment that you said I want to make the
(16:37):
transition from acting from modeling the actor. Um, I've always
wanted to be an actor of I've always being so
just boisterous in my character and so just like, um,
you know, I wear my heart on the sleeve, wear
my heart on my face, I wear my emotions on
my face. And like, I think it was a point
of me being afraid to learn how to challenge that
(17:01):
and use it to my advantage in the acting space.
But I think it finally happened when we think. So,
I did this this short film called The Other Side,
and you know, I didn't have very many lines whatever,
It's like five six minutes, but I remember showing Dad
and he showed his acting coach. And you know the
(17:24):
acting coach, his acting coach. He's such a hard as
sorry for cursion and like you know, he's tough. But Rick, Yeah,
and he said, he told that I didn't really told
that I did really good work. And I knew he
meant it because he didn't know which character I was.
So he told, he said that the bad guy with
(17:44):
the white shirt, he did, he did really really, really
good work. And you can tell he really took all
so Rick didn't even know which character. He just picked
out the best performance. Yeah. So there was like a
cop and then there was me, and there was like
I had there was another character who was like my my,
my Robert partner, and he he said he did really
good work and I was like, oh, snap, okay tight.
And then so I started taking classes and all that,
(18:06):
doing more short films, and then I did another short
film called Behind Greatness, which you know, one of my
favorite's one of my favorite pieces that I've done so far.
And uh that the basketball one, that's the basketball one. Yeah, yeah,
that's pretty powerful. I mean you you show a lot
of range and that I didn't know I had that
inem me bro. So I was just like wow, Okay, like,
(18:27):
let's take this serious. So then I just started the
grind of it all, you know. So I was just
constantly or trying to be around set. So I was
working as a p a just to be around you know,
you know, then you know, doing extra word body double work.
And then things started progressing until I got uh so
I went from doing background work. Now the director noticed
(18:49):
me in the in the background, He's like, yo, you
come here, puts me in the front of the camera.
So now I'm getting those those bumps and those upgrades
and all that stuff. And then so it just kind
of just kept progressing and kept progressing, and I just
kept on working and staying on it and just being
cognizant of of of real life situations and applying that,
you know, and just kind of shedding that what I
think actors should be and just me being comfortable in
(19:10):
myself to to portray whatever I could, whatever I want
to portray, and in touch on that point for a minute,
when you say what an act or what you think
and actors should be versus being comfortable with yourself, what
does that mean? So a lot of people get it
mess So a lot of people when they look at acting.
They look at it as you being a character and
all this, when you know that's not real being. You know,
(19:34):
they don't want to see real. So real is this
really your everyday situations, on everyday interactions, And so you
you apply that and you be you be cognizant of
that how you move in real life, and then you
apply that to acting. So now it looks real. Now,
you know, now it looks like you're watching a real
conversation as opposed to you watching two people trying to
be characters and not trying to be anything. You're being you're, you're,
(19:57):
you're you you know, and like you know, they put
on the accent and all that, but you're you're you're
not even know the word I'll be trying to use,
but you're. It's you're, you're, you're, you're using your you
miss it for lack of better terms, you know what
I mean, As opposed to trying to be this whole
other thing, and that that's not it. That's fake and
(20:20):
that's super dramatic. It's not super dramatic because that's not
how life is all the time. Like sometimes just a
simple conversation like that when you're mad, it's not you
just cursing to be sometimes your maddest, you're trying to
hold back a tear or something like that. So you've
got to be able to recognize all those things and
all your triggers and all your inabilities and all what
makes you happy your vulnerabilities and just don't know, throw
(20:40):
them out there though. M hm. So you feel like
you turned the corner once you figured that out? What
you said behind Greatness was the performance that you felt
like you turned the acting corner or was it something
else behind? And then so after so on the heels
of or after beyond greatness? What was your next role
(21:02):
that she had that was notable? Um? So I didn't
do any short films after that, but I did a
couple of commercials, so I was you know, I had
a small role in a commercial Magana Stallion for Coach.
It was it was background, but my face wasn't it
(21:24):
quite a bit? And that because like I wore a
very provocative outfit, you know, I showed the muscles and
all that and they said, oh, yeah, we need that.
And then um, I did another commercial, Magan the Stallion
for cash app where I was like her assistant, her
sexy mail assistant. Remember that. Yeah, I was pretty fun.
She's great. She was like Cleopatra, and you're like the
Egyptian slave or whatever. I wouldn't call it a slave, man.
(21:46):
I was just like, you're acting like a slave in
that one, bro, No man, act like a maid. You know.
It's okay to be making the Stallion slave for for
a few minutes, Bros. A few hours. Shout out to
Magan Stallion, shout out to the party. He's a great right,
that's your boyfriend. But yeah, so I did that. That
was cool, you know, And then um, yeah, then we
(22:07):
started auditioning for like the big stuff, and then getting
closer and closer, I noticed that Mr Perry kept having
me audition for more and more things. You just felt
like you was trying to find something for me. I mean,
I may be wrong, but it just felt like that.
Let's back up. Let's back up to Tyler Perry and
(22:29):
in the auditions and and the whole your introduction into Hollywood,
Black Hollywood, if you will. Yeah, what was the first
audition that you went on? And and you said you
had to do audition for a lot of stuff, So
did you feel like you nailed some other things that
you might have been in or did you did you
feel like your best work was the audition for All
(22:50):
the Queens meant backtrack? Be right. Two weeks before we
got here with the pandemic audition to be on the
oval callback everything cast and director told my manager to
pin me, pin him meeting like we want them, so like, yeah,
everything's all good, and then pandemic happened and then everything
shut down and so I guess things kind of backtrack then.
(23:13):
But so then you know, like audition for like all
his like he has sisters, bro um, you know, he
got everything, bro he got like nineteen million shows, but
a lot. And then finally I had one audition. It
was two different two different roles for All the Queens Man,
So I didh you for both? And then like yeah,
(23:35):
then got the roller ray Sean and let's talk about
ray Sean and All the Queens man. When I was
reading the press release and it just trying to learn
a little bit about it. Um, it's a In the
first season, established Maryland, Madame Deville was a fierce businesswoman
ruling over her empire and delucrative male exotic nightclub industry.
Now hell bent on expanding her queendom. In season two,
(23:58):
Madam will have to navigate the sexy yet dangerous world
and she wants to stay alive in ahead of the game.
And so you're so ray Sean is a character who
was an amateur amateur that's basically not cut out for
the life of an exotic dancer, but he's hell bent
on becoming one. Okay, talk talk about this. What type
(24:19):
of inspirations did you draw upon when you acted out
this character of ray Sean? So honestly, you just I
just drew upon my own, you know, inspiration of of
wanting to be in this, wanting to be an actor,
wanted to be somebody, wanted to be as cool as
(24:39):
my brothers, wanted to be like as cool as my dad,
you know, just kind of just like that kind of
thirst and like desperation and all that, and wanted to
live up to something and just be somebody. And so
just you know, you know, and I wouldn't say willing
to do anything, but god damn willing to go far,
you know what I mean, and just willing to push
myself and do whatever it takes. And so with that,
it's just it was just applying that and too maybe
(25:03):
a little different kind of situations. So it wasn't too hard.
It wasn't too hard to transition for me, you know,
to to to to plug all that in and be
fully brought in and fully committed to it. Yeah, because
there are things that you can you said, you relate
to with too, Ray sean Um, what's the most difficult
(25:23):
part of playing a character like that or being on
set in in a situation like that? Like for me,
I would imagine, you know, Tyler Perry working on that
production is sort of like you know, you're you're at
a tryout or you're on you know, at a game
with a high level coach, and you know it's kind
of like this guy is you know your coach isn't
this do you have the same type of correlationship? That
(25:44):
was like one of the factors. But like so like
my first day down there, we got dance rehearsals and
all that, and in the in the in the four
main dudes like them dudes is like crazy ass dances. Bro,
They're so good, Like they got food on, like like
choreography and like they're going crazy and I'm just like,
oh man, dog, I'm just sexy. Bro. I can't dance
like that they like, but they got they do it.
(26:06):
They hit all that like that, like the hit swivels
and all like, so I'm just there intimidated. Man, I'm
just like, damn, these dude is like really because they
actually like they this this is their lane, you know
what I mean lane, and like they're so good at it.
But you know, they all took me in and like
helped me in. So I got a better understanding of
how to feel music as opposed to dance to music,
(26:27):
and so that helped a lot. And so like now
I just find myself like if I'm in the gym,
like I just I'm actudentally hitting my moves, you know,
in the middle of doing bench presser like a role,
I'm just hitting a little swivel and like, you know,
I might get an eyre two looking at me, you know,
do my little gyrations and all that, but I mean
I'm just that. So I'm just always constantly feeling music now,
and I think that helped a lot. And then as
(26:48):
far as working with Mr Perry, I mean, dog man,
it's just just to be down there on that on that.
So they housed us at the studios. Yeah, what's the studio,
Like how big is it? I've heard about it, I've
seen a tour of it, but is it really that huge? Bro?
So from our housing to like the main building where
(27:09):
the gym is, it's a mile and a half walk. Wow,
Like so that's a straight walk. And so he's yeah,
like dog, it's like five different like residential sense, like
he's building like a New York skyline dog like dog.
(27:29):
But you know it's just it's just so it's like
you almost like almost so proud of him because you know,
like I grew up watching mcdea, bro, Like you know,
just see from from that to those stage plays and
productions to like all this is him, Like this is
all this is all his name on it. This is
like it's like almost seeing like like your uncle or
(27:51):
like your big brother just make it, you know what
I mean. And so it's just like it's just humbling
but so inspiring to be there, just like I used
to take walks every day like whenever we had like
an off there or anything, and just like walk around
and just like appreciate everything, just see just see it all.
Just like damn dog, this is really like this is
really him, bro, Like this is it's almost like it's
(28:13):
somebody you known for twenty years, you know, from watching
all his stuff and just to look like this is
all this all you dog, like wow, and then to
work with him, like dude is cool man, you know,
you mean, he's tough, but like you know, it's a lot.
He put a lot of pressure on himself. You want
to put out a good product. He want to really
communicate with his audience and his supporters and put out
(28:34):
a good product that people are gonna watch it, people
are gonna enjoy. And so he puts a lot of
pressure on himself and he puts it on us. But
he's also like a really guy. He's like a great teacher,
like almost like a great coach, acting wized, you know,
like he's you know, he be on you. I got
a problem where I when I'm on camera kind of
do a little like rock and like he like cussing.
(28:56):
He just like, hey, man, you guys stop doing that.
You guys are doing that's that's a bad thing to happen. Man,
gonna work with you. Man, I'm trying to help you.
And so like he keep it so real with you.
But like you know, he talked to you like like
he talked to you like it ain't condescend it, but
like he just really like he really want to help
you keep one get these careers off. Man. So it's
(29:16):
just amazing, bro. Like he pray over the set every day.
You lead us on like a big prayer, man. Like,
it's just it's just amazing, like you do. I still
can't believe, like it's me, you know, I can't believe
it's I get to work with this man. It's just like, Bro,
it's amazing, man, man, dog, it's crazy. You know, it
sounds dope. Man, it sounds like a heck of an
experience from what I've seen, dude, and from just the
(29:40):
reputation Tyler PERRYO. I don't know him personally, but for
you to having worked with him, man, it's it's it's
it's like I feel honored as well because my brother
is with you know, talking to Tyler Perry. He's on there.
You know, he's hey, you know, getting getting yil that
by Tyler Perry. It's all good. Like any other time,
I'm sensitive, bro, so I'll be like one of this,
like know, maybe lash out of crying or something. But na, Rob, Yes,
(30:05):
Tyler Perry absolutely, I call it Mr Tyler Perry, absolutly
give you the whole name Tyler Perry, please absolutely. How
does someone that lands a show on like BT continue
to to stay sharp, not be complacent? They continue to
work on their craft, like what is your strategy or
(30:26):
approach to to like when you get it? When now
you've landed your first big role, how are you going
to continue to land other roles? I mean, first of all,
just staying grateful for it all and maintaining the same
hunger and maintain the same recognition of of life going
on around me. So I'm always observing and people watching
(30:47):
and just trying to take in what I can and
being on top of my thoughts and like my feelings
when I see on top of my thoughts just so
thoughts are like what I was taughting, acting thoughts will
help drive your emotion, like your eyes and all that,
and show people like DA he got a lot going on.
So it's always being on top of those and on
top of my feelings and you know, recognizing how feeling
(31:08):
certain situations, and you know, being aware of my vulnerabilities
and my irritabilities and all that, and you know, sick
as it sounds like remembering my reactions to things, you know,
So it's always constantly real, so it's always true to myself.
And then that's on top of that, staying true to
myself and me and my truth. So like that's why
I like my stories on Instagram or just how they
(31:30):
are so chaotic or whatever, because like it's honestly what
comes to mind. It makes me laughing, entertains me. So
you're about to get it too, whether you like it
or not. It's always trying to stay on top of
it like that. And that's that's that's my practice. You know,
that's my that's my work. You know, that's my That's
how I get my reps in. So I'm constantly getting
reps in. Are you in class? I'm not in class?
(31:54):
And you know I'll get back into it. I mean
I have I have, I have a coach that I
work with. Shout out to pat Uh. I mean he
just he's he's really good. He's really good at breaking
scripts down. He's really good at talking to me like
how I need to be talked to. He's good at
talking my language, and he's good at you know, of
helping me of of of breaking it down to a
philosophical and almost like it's so organic is teaching, and
(32:19):
it's just it's so real and it's like so so
cutic in a way. You know, he just knows how
to talk, and he knows how to just I don't know,
just communicated to me. So it's just every time, every time,
it's always like get an epiphany every time I talked
with him. Man. And so I don't not in the
classes right now, but you know, I got a coach
that I work with weekly. You know, he's also worked
(32:39):
out with me at the gym, So it's always giving
vice and tips. He always sending me tips, so and
I'm just always open to receiving them and just applying them.
Let's go, man, Yeah. Fox Sports Radio has the best
sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all of our
shows at Fox sports Radio dot com and within the
I Heart Radio app search f s R to listen live.
(33:00):
As far as the physical fitness side, you've been You've
mentioned and alluded to yourself being sexy numerous times. You
have a tremendous you have a tremendous physique. I understand
it's not your fault, but when when we're going in
the summer and I had somebody on the show, Dr
Courtney Watson. She gave some great health tips from the
medical side of course. Corner. Yes, absolutely, I want to
(33:24):
I want to Joshua John Marcus Johnson to give us
Josh's tips on how to either maintain a nice summer
beach bod, get a beach bock, or just healthy tips
for living that will enhance our lifestyle because obviously you
have done a tremendous job at that. And it's so crazy, man,
(33:44):
because like people will tell you like all this difficult
heart advice, and in my opinion, it's really like because
people if you people literally do nothing. So like my
biggest thing is to do something like get out and
walk outside of your team twenty minutes. Like if you
got a gym membership, set the time for forty five
to an hour, pick three workout, pick three exercise to do,
(34:06):
so it could be like like a row, a push up,
and a squat do those forty five minutes straight, ten
sets of each. You gotta take a break, take a break,
but you gotta do something, you know, And that's that's
a lot of people's problems, like they're going from doing
nothing and just expecting things to be easy. I mean,
it's not gonna be easy, but you just gotta do
something like you know, it takes an hour a day.
(34:28):
I'm telling you, if you spend an hour a day
dog like, and then you'll find like as you as
you exercise more and more, your your exercise vocabulary experience.
And so now you're doing this, you're doing that, You're
doing this, you're doing that, and then you start actually
liking it. After three or four weeks or maybe a month,
you love it, and then it becomes something that you
need to do. It's it's it's just you take a
day off and you feel gross, and so it's just
(34:50):
something that you need to do. It almost becomes like
a positive addiction, you know. And so I just encourage
people to just do something anything, and then you'll find
it so good for your mental health. It's a good
way to transmute like different energies that you may have,
whether it be sadness, anger, you know, even happiness. You know,
it's just a good way to just just to get
that out, you know, just put it to use it
(35:12):
on something, to get it out, and then you find
that you sleep better, you start caring about what you
put in your body as far as eating goes, you know,
and that so it just starts with doing something. I mean,
I'm even even if it's just twenty minutes straight of
three exercises in the circuit and just go ten ten
ten reps each, like you just go, like you just
gotta do something. Yeah, what about eating stuff? Um, you know,
(35:34):
I felt I've always felt like the eating part is
more important than the physical part to a certain level,
because I've lost weight and gotten into shape and I
didn't work out before, but I was I was on
a vegetarian diet, so without having to go to the
extremes of like vegetarian, what's something like a normal person
you know, my age or younger and my around my
(35:57):
age because this is my audience. My audience is people
you know, thirty five to like fifty or so somewhere
around there, hopefully younger. But I think it's around that
what type of foods should we absolutely stay away from
and what should we gravitate towards. So I like to
live by like an eight percent percent things, So twenty
(36:17):
percent of the time you do something bad if you
have to, like not saying you have to, but but
people know not to eat fry foods, like you know
that that goes without saying, now you know, and and
so you get so I just encourage to get to
a point ahead. But no, there's also but there's also
these foods that for for the longest time, because I'm
(36:37):
asking you, because you're younger, you're you're plugged into the fitness.
But for the longest time, we used to think certain
foods were all good, and then later on they're like,
oh no, those that acts actually isn't all good. That's
not that's not a good. Kind of fact, I was
wonder if there's anything new out like that we should
know about. I don't even follow recommendations no more because
because like they they tell you, they change it up.
(37:00):
When your mess with people's minds. Now it's just, you know,
it's just dumb. So you just kinda gotta go. You
gotta be on top of what makes you feel good.
And so like the fry food is never gonna be good,
but if you have to have it, you know, planting
out to where you work out, you eat good for
like the three days before that and make you feel
(37:21):
like it's a reward or something like that. And so
I mean, but like a simple kind of die for
me is like you know, like grill saltae, shrimp, real salta,
chicken fish, steak um, you know, brown rice, white rice,
sweep potato, but starch in greens. You know, I just
keep it simple like that. And what do you do
with brown rice? How can you eat brown rice? This
(37:42):
is my question? How do you how do you actually
swallow brown rice and like eat it? How do you
do that? A little bit of grass their butter and
some of that juice from the fish or the chicken
grass that butter, different dog that grass, said, brother are different. Man.
It's good for you too. It's really good. Where you've
got that conjugated lino leg acid that c l A
(38:03):
and it you know, it helps with your belly fat,
doesn't it. Yeah? So they say where you get it from?
Getting from rouse? It's it's the carry gold carry carry
gold butter. Hm, it's grass fad butter, you know it's
it's so you got your regular butter the American eyes,
I guess whatever, and then you got your grass fed.
(38:24):
Grass fed is like super it's almost like golden color.
So it's this is rich and like and like vitamin
a invada, carrooteen and stuff like that. Got the good
fast for you? And whereas this not as what not
as much interesting? Okay, okay? What about like liquids are
the liquids that like? For the longest I used to
(38:45):
think juice was cool, But juice apparently it's not. It's
not all good. There's a lot of fat. Even diet
sodas are kind of shaky. So do you what do
you suggest water all the time or what is your
juice daily liquid intake? Look like? Like I try to
drink like a don't have two gallons of water a day,
damn And lots of coffee. I like coffee a lot.
(39:06):
How much coffee do you drink? I'm probably like fi
cups coffee a day. It's gonna stain your teeth. You
better get that teeth white. And the thing, boy, it's
all good. You know what you got, what you got.
So it's just it's one of them Instagram has got me.
It's this purple stuff and then you spray and then purple.
It helped bleach out a bunch of it, bleach out
(39:27):
yellow things and stuff like that. It's really cool. I
forget what it's called. I'll texted to you it's working,
as he smiles and shows the pearly whites. Yes, it's working, Yes,
it's working. But so yeah, but water coffee is cool
because caffeine helps, you know, get your metabolism up, and
(39:47):
you know, it burns fat while you're at rest. Um,
I'll drink juice, but so you gotta do it strategically.
So if you have like a nice hard workout, your
muscles and all that are like craving cards. So if
you drink the juice after you work out, your muscle
is gonna know what to do with them, whereas he's
gonna know to do with the cars, whereas before it's
(40:07):
just kind of just chilling and hanging out. You know,
it has no use in application, but if you use
it as like a recovery drink, then you're gonna be like, oh,
this is kind of nice. It's just kind of good.
It's feeding my muscles, it's feeling my muscles. Okay, okay,
lots of water. So like simple cars, like simple cars,
like don't even be thinking you can go get like
a twelve pack of doughnuts from the Crispy Cream even
(40:29):
though the sign hot now on I couldn't blame you
if you did, but you know you gotta be careful. Man.
It's just full of oils and just bad fast and
or make it sixtens. It causes information on that you
don't want to be get. So so what is someone's
supposed to do if they have a sweep too? Uh?
Pick a day, pick a day and go crazy just
one day? So what's crazy to you? Because I feel
(40:51):
like crazy? Like me, my my disciplines got to the
point where crazy to me is like eating like four
doughnuts and and that's it, and that's it. That's my
crazy zy day. Or a piece of pie and ice
cream two in two scoops ice cream, Like that's crazy
for me. So what's crazy? So I don't know. So,
like my biology is kind of different. So I feel
(41:11):
like I'll be having like these cheat days where I
want to just go crazy, and so I start to
day off for like choking chip pancakes, and then I'll
be done, Like it'll be it'll be satisfied. And so
I just think you pick a day and maybe just
planning to go all out, and then you'll find like, oh,
like I'm done this. You know, I got what I needed,
you know, and like, so it ends of not being crazy.
But just pick a day, make sure you on your stuff,
(41:32):
make sure you on you're working out, make sure you're
on eating appropriately for your diet and for your goals.
And then just if you need to have a day
just like, Okay, I'm I'm planning it for two days
from now, I'm gonna go crazy. I'm just gonna just
eat whatever I want. Blah blah blah. But make sure
you're following your plan and doing it right and earn it.
You know, what's your thoughts on alcohol? And this will
(41:53):
be the last question on the diet. Um, So I'm
not gonna love the man. When the pandemic first hit, Dog,
I'll probably taking down a bottle of day I had, Like, man,
I had so much unemployment money. Dog, Like, what so tequila?
If they say tequila is the best one to drink,
(42:14):
is that true? Supposedly? But it's all nasty, it's all gross.
He's yeah, gross, it's all nasty. So yeah, I mean,
you know, But so if you're gonna drink alcohol, you know,
don't make it an everyday thing, because I mean what
you mean, Like, I'm like, I don't know I don't
know because for my like, I'll call it nasty. Man,
(42:35):
it don't taste good, bro, it don't taste good. So
I don't see how people do it every day. But
if you got if you want to get turned up,
I mean, just pick a day. I guess, pick a day.
There you go with your pick a day. So every
so everything is moderation pretty much for you, everything excumely moderation,
Like you don't need to be drinking every day and
like eating all this unhealthy stuff every day, especially when
you know it's not good for you. If you're feeling
like slow, sluggish and lethargic, it's like, why would you
(42:58):
want to feel that? But you know, I can't speak
for everybody because I wouldn't want to feel that. Don't
mean that everybody else will want to feel that. So okay,
but the best alcohol to drink for somebody that's trying
to watch way would be would be like what like
give me an exact like for me, okay, I'll tell
you red wine, all right, I do reds. I also
do like Michaelo Ultra one hundreds, which are very light. Uh.
(43:22):
If if you have Taihen, it really makes it. Uh
easier to go down a little bit. Yeah, but then
you know, but then that's pretty much it. You know,
I don't really subscribe, like I know, dark is bad,
which I understand, but it's important when you get around
my age, because you like to eat good, you like
to drink good, and you like to have these these
consistent you should enjoy yourself and like the main point
(43:44):
I want to say, it's like, don't stress yourself out
about it too much. So even if my picket day
concept don't work for you, don't, you know, don't stress
out about it. If you've got to have that little drink,
take you that little drink, you know, sip it slow,
take a little drink, you know. If you gotta have
that cookie, yeah, yeah, cookie, don't you know, don't play
don't mind too much about it because it's going into
backfind on your regardless, So don't do that. You know,
(44:05):
don't restrict yourself because restricting causes a being. So yes,
it's no, that's a great formula, josh Uh. I like
your approach to it. It's not really it's it's a
good balance of like tough but also giving the person
a lot of leeway to make his own decisions and
holding his own self accountable. That's dope. Um man, man, man,
(44:29):
it's been this. This I enjoyed speaking to you in
this type of form um, in this format, you know,
just hearing you kind of talk about your stuff through
your through how you've experienced it. You know, we you know,
we're brothers. We don't talk as much. We talk all
the time, but we don't talk about this type of
stuff like this in depth. So this was this was
really good. Um Yeah, we hold a lot of things
(44:53):
in and uh, we gotta talk about that. We gotta
talk about that one day. About the toxic masculinity in
like in the sense of of having to be hard
all the time and not you know, you know, spill
out your feelings sometimes and maybe like share a cry bro, Like,
we gotta we gotta have a discussion about that. I
think we should have like a big form me to
talk about that. You know, it's just showed it. It's okay, man,
(45:16):
because like, like the male suicide rate is crazy right now. Dog, Yeah,
we're killing ourselves because we can't we feel like we
can't share it. So like we think that's the next
mess option. Man, we gotta, we gotta clean that up, man.
And that's a side of that toxicity that we need
to clean up. Man. We like we gotta we gotta
save the world, we gotta save ourselves. Yeah, Man, it's
(45:37):
a lot of it is pride, a lot of it
is you know. It's like it takes a lot of
undoing to because you grow up in the culture that
we encouraged it, allowed it. Everything you've seen is pretty
much about it. So unless you were really you know,
taught early, you know, and a lot of us in
(45:59):
our family you were. But there's still tendencies that happen
as you grow, man, and your you you move outside
to different units. People go to school, you know, you
pick up habits and these are bad habits. That and
and something I enjoyed talking about because there are no
real well I won't say no, but it's nice to
have a safe space where you know, men can talk
(46:19):
and share real feelings and things like that. But we'll
definitely um touch on that. We have a whole episode's
worth of stuff like that. But man, your journey has
been an amazing one to hear about. Dude. Although I
knew the story, it's just it resonates more to hear
it through your words and your voice. Uh. Proud of
you and everything that you're accomplishing uh in in life.
(46:44):
I wanted to know this and then this would be
my last question. When you ultimately you're gonna have a platform. Um,
you gotta be someone that has gonna be able to
affect others. What's sort of your message or what do
you live what words or do you live your life
(47:05):
by that you would want others to know about you? Um,
there's I forget the version of Bible. With this version
of Bible where in saying faith, hope, and most important love.
So I try to live my life loving everybody of
different creeds, different orientations, different whatever. Like I always want
(47:27):
to be somebody that we'll listen and try my best
to understand it. If I can't understand, I will sympathize
with you. Want to be somebody know with empathy and
I just want people to know. Like like you said
about safe spaces, like I would you know, I want
to be I want to be a safe space you know,
where people can talk to me about any and everything honestly,
(47:48):
and like you know, I pray that nothing ever gets
too much for me to bear or here you know,
and so like that's it. Man. I just want to
live a life and just love and be a best
of love and to everybody and to anybody. You know,
I don't want, you know, I want people to be
able to walk up to me, you know, and ask
me questions, ask me if I's on working out or
(48:10):
anything like, you know, and not feel, you know, not
not be not be intimidated about me. I don't want
to be intimidating. I want I want to be somebody
who's an open book, somebody who people can just come
and talk to about anything like. And so I try
to live my life like that now. Like you know,
I try to help a lot of people, man, try
to help a lot of people. Man. It's just important
to me to be that voice because a lot of
(48:31):
people don't have that even within their own families. And
I recognized that I was fortunate enough to get that
with mine and so if I could be an extension
of our family to other people, man, like, you know,
that's a life well lived. Dog, you know. Yeah, man,
good stuff. Uh, You're blessed, you're touched, and you've you've
(48:51):
always been destined to do what you're doing. Appreciate you, man,
you know. I I reverbed back to one of my
favorite pictures of us. You have me on your shoulders
at Drake Stadium. Man. You know, you know, I'm just
I'm on my big brother shoulders. Man, you and so
you know, I'm just grateful to have y'all to man
like two the best neig brothers in the world. Ah.
So that's why I try to be the big brother
(49:11):
I am to countless people. Man. So that's direct from you. Man,
So you give yourself around of applause for that. I
appreciate you. Man. You're the first born and you did
the hell of a job, you know, leading us. You know,
so I appreciate you, man. I appreciate you, my brother,
and I love you. Thank lad man, ladies and gentlemen.
Ja Marcus Johnson
This is kJ Live with Chris john Sali and Chris
is having conversations with influencers in the sports world and
entertainment industry. Now here's Chris Johnson. You're now tuned in
to kJ Live. Today's guest on the show is an actor, model,
(00:26):
and renaissance man. He recently was named to a role
on Tyler Perry's All the Queen's Men, starring on BT.
Welcome into the show. My little brother, Ja Marcus Johnson
is in the building. What's up, man, appreciate it's kind
of cool. That's something cool to talk about. Now, well,
now you always had something cool to talk about. I
(00:48):
think schedules permitting. You've been a busy man lately, so
I appreciate you taking the time out of your schedule,
your shooting schedule too, to join the show. Man. Look,
it's as somebody that you growing up in a family
with older brothers and brothers and siblings and dads and
people that have always, you know, been sort of in
the limelight or achieved what sort of pressure did you
(01:11):
feel in carving out your own niche when you decided
to chase this acting thing. You know, it's funny you
say that because just thinking about it, you know, Like,
so it's either you kind of fold under the pressure,
which I did as a kid growing up, you know,
just kind of folded blah blah blah, like this is
for me, or then like you rise to it. And
then so I got to a point where I was like, yeah,
(01:32):
that's it. I'm gonna rise to it, man, like whatever, Like,
you know, I got one life to live and like,
this is my life, this is what I want to do.
I'm gonna go for it. And so the pressure, you know,
it kind of just it's just it's I changed in myself,
you know, and I was just like, yeah, like let's
do it. I'm gonna go for it. The pressures on.
I got something to live up to, I got something
to live for, and I'm gonna keep this name going.
(01:53):
How long did it take, as far as like for
that light bulb to click in for you to have
that confident when you say fold or kind of rise?
What made you like when you were folding? Why why
were you folding? Why were you shrinking away from whatever
pressure in your mind? Just growing up? You know, like
(02:17):
just so I mean not to put the blame on basketball,
but you know, our father was NBA legend, you know,
and like so he was like extreme, like athletically, like
he was just supreme and all that and I that
didn't hit from me until later on, and like and
so like I just never thought it would happen, you know,
like I had went through things in my childhood which
it cost my my my process of groing to to
(02:38):
slow down a bit. And I remember one time I
went to the doctor for a check up and you know,
he told he told me and my mother that I'd
be lucky if I made it to six ft and
so like things like that just kind of like destroyed
me and blah blah, and like you know, just that
whole process, me being the fourteen year old kid and
just like dangn just like seeing your dreams kind of
just shattered, you know, like you're taking it from a
(02:59):
medical professional, and then you know, then you just keep
getting older and then you realize like, oh snap, six one,
now he was wrong, you know. So it just it
was just like constant progression of me just realizing things
like you know, I'm in control, and I just you know,
use it to my advantage and just kept pushing and
kept kid persistent and kept persevering and here and you
(03:20):
went through Lookemia. Tell tell us about just with all
that entailed, what the disease did to you and how
you had to deal with it on a daily basis.
Oh man, So you know it started the summer of nineties, six,
I believe or seven. I remember just being just like
(03:40):
just crazy pain, like daily, like couldn't sleep at night,
like nice sweats, just headaches. I feel it in my
lefe right now, like they just burning and all that,
and just not being able to keep up. You know,
I got a brother who's two a year and a
half younger than me, so he's five at the time,
and like you know, I couldn't keep up with him them,
and just like extreme me, thethargic and lazy until one
(04:03):
night I just I just couldn't sleep and then like
my mom was just like no, we gotta go to
the hospital. And then we found out then. So I
just remember that whole process, you know, all the shots
and all the tests had to go through, and then
you know the chemotherapy for four years, gone to remission
when I was eleven, so two thousand, Um, yeah, dude, Jesus,
(04:26):
you know the different medications, the hunger, craves and all that.
And like, so the k is a cancer of the
blood and bones. If I'm not mistaken, oh seven, so
forgive me now. But if I'm not mistakeing to cancer
the blood and bones. So like you know, you feel it.
It's you know, you feel it all throughout your body.
Your whole body is much on fire. Yeah. And with that,
(04:48):
so sports for you, And I do remember this time.
It was tough. I was at U c l A
and just just hearing about the spinal taps and those
those shots. That still remember that vividly, just what you
had to go through every time they did that. Uh,
not to really bring up that memory, but the fact
that you were able two go through that, do you
(05:11):
feel and then you grew and then you were able
to play sports. Talk about just the what that did
for you your life, Just that the beating that disease,
be getting out of that that cloud, that rut. What
did that do for you your confidence? So first and foremost,
you know, a lot of credit to my village, like
(05:35):
you know you Joe Mo, like you know Dad, Mom,
Just I just remember, you know, one of my most
vivid memories through all that is you know, I mean,
I would sleep at the time in the hospital just
waking up and like somebody always being there, you know,
and like especially what y'all haven't been through, you know
what I mean, and like seeing me like that and
(05:56):
like y'all still being there every day, you know. So
that gave me so much strength as a child that
I never realized that it gave me until I got older,
and just how much I appreciate and love y'all for
that and just kind of you know, so my my,
my value of family is just so much bigger and
more important than pretty much anything in the world. And
like so I'm so grateful and blessed that were just
(06:18):
so connected like that first and foremost, and then just
being able to survive that just kind of taught me, like,
you know, I'm built to survive anything in a way,
you know, and like just to have faith and just
to attack it. So that's why I have such a
lust for life and such an attack for life and
(06:39):
just such a I try to be charismatic and everything
I do, I try to be appreciative and everything I do,
like every time, you know, I'm always trying to think,
who if I see a city worker, like I'm rolling
down my window, I'm beeping. I'm thanking them for their
role work. I don't care about the traffic. I'm living
in constant gratitude every day and just you know, constantly
trying to put a smile of somebody else's face. So
this is why I'm glad I'm an entertainment because I'm
(07:01):
able to entertain and like bring joy or show overcoming
or show triumph in in in situations. And so it's
just really put that perspective in my world of just realizing,
you know, things could suck and at the end of
the day, you know, the good always altweighs the bad.
And so I'm just appreciative to have gone through that
antency life through that leans. Yeah, you do live your
(07:25):
life with assessed. To put it mildly, I mean, if
you if you go to Josh's Twitter or i g
or stories and follow them, you'll you'll get a sense
of what this young man's talking about. Um, when you
(07:46):
decided to go on the basketball journey and you took
it serious. Um, We'll talk about basketball journeys a lot
here on this show. When you went on your basketball
journey and it was one in the family of people
that came before you that all bald and you were
involved heavily, deeply rooted in the city of l a
and you went to Crenshaw and you know, so it
was a similar type of path, and so you're going
(08:08):
down the similar path. Is your people before you? How
is your experience? So little backstory, so chemotherapy and all
that that, all that kind of slowed down my my
puberty process and all that. So I really I didn't
hear my Grosberg til I was like eighteen nineteen and
(08:29):
then so I was probably about I probably graduate high
schoolbout six too. Uh, just like barely tapping the surface.
Like I remember I started working out with you like
after my highs my senior season, like I like like
I wasn't able to dunk like that, and then like
I just started being able to. Just I was getting
Oh my god, I was so athletic it was crazy.
And then like you know, now I'm six five six.
(08:50):
It's just like so it's just it's kind of annoying
in hindsight. Just I just I do wonder what if
at points, but you know, everything happens for a reason,
and so I just you know, live be gratitude with that.
But so yeah, I mean I went to prep school
for a year, still worked on my game, you know,
went to a D to an Oregon Western ok University,
(09:11):
did pretty well there, and you know, I thought, you know,
I could probably do better. So I went to Pastadena
City College. I bounced back to the junior college year,
did pretty well, average like fifteen and teen. But then
you know, I just kind of kind of got over it.
Why what what what happened? I was I've always been
I think school. I just kind of like, it's like
(09:32):
I need a new simula. So I went to school
and it was just like I fel like I was
learning the same thing in high school and I was
just like, man, this is a waste of my time. Bro,
Like let me figure this out, and I mean, let
me let me go out another path. It was really
stupid to me. But whatever, that's just not that's not
it's not stupid because you have to go with how
you're feeling. When you're at that age and you're doing
(09:53):
things and you're traveling around and you beat what you beat.
I mean, you have you walk around with a sense
of self confidence, in a sense of you know, hey,
I know my just decisions. I can stand on my
decisions basically, like you know, so I don't think it
was stupid. I think we live and we learned and
it happens the way it's supposed to happen. Now. When
you quit basketball, it was a little like, come on,
you're balling. It was like, what's why? I mean, it
(10:15):
was just a confusing thing for me that I just
kind of like Jesus Christ, I don't know what the
hell is going on. Yeah, he's probably starting to make
sense that you do this now, come on, but I
don't know. I just you know, I don't huh. I
don't really have a strategy and calculation with my decisions though.
I just kind of just like live and go, just
like okay, you just kind of just throttle, which you know,
(10:36):
it looks like work in my benefit a little bit,
but you know, absolutely whatever, you know, it's good. I
was still alive, still living, you know, out here it's
a gamble, it's it's life as a whole as a gamble. Dog.
You never know, especially with all the recent situations we've
had recently, Dog, you know, just you never know, somebody
(10:56):
just gonna snap it. Just want to go crazy, and
you know, you just never know, so you just kind
of gotta stand on your gut and just go for
what you want, almost man like, and it's unfortunate, but
it's the real world and that's it. That's the reality
of it all. And after you made that decision from Pasadena,
you decided to hang it up. What did you do next? Oh? Man,
(11:17):
So my oldest brother you it's kind of you kind
of put me aside over day, like, man, what you
want to do with your life? I don't know. I'm
to figure it out. And you know, you said you
ever thought about modeling, and then I was like, kind of,
but I don't know how to get into it. And
then you made a call next to you know, I
was in Miami and then TIGN with the ABC and
all that, and then my first ever job was with Ever,
(11:39):
probably a fitch. So I was in my I living
in Miami. Then came back home Santa Barbara. That's where
I had my first shoot at for a week Ever
probably a Fish, And that was just crazy because you know,
I don't think Aver probably and Fish be looking for
people to look like me, but you know, they booked me.
It was fun. It was a great experience, and I
was like, dang, I think we're on the right path here.
So that was cool Miami for about a year and
(11:59):
the have Molin work with like ever coming, Fitch, Periellis,
kopa Veda, um, who else? Nike? Yeah, I did a
lot bro Man with Eagle outfit or what was what
was the scene like in Miami? I mean you hear
about it a lot, and I've been New York. I
know the scene in Cold I've been in Mammie for
(12:21):
a little bit. But what was the scene when you
were down there working in monom Oh my god, Miami.
It's crazy pig never ending party dog. It is like
the weather like so it'll rain a lot, but it's
still be warm, so it'll be like it'd be like
sexy raining. So you like you just like f and
I'm gonna go out with my shirt off, you know. Ever,
(12:41):
Like every Thursday is Sunday, it's cracking on the b
I living on South Beat, so you'll be cracking on
Ocean Avenue. Man, So I'm whatever, I'm shirtless, I'm pulling up,
I'm going to the Clevelander. It's a new batch every weekend. Man.
I was out there whiling out. Man, I living my
best life. And then I just got to the point, like,
dagn this is not sustainable. I can't be doing this
much longer. Man. So but shouts out to Miami beach. Man,
(13:03):
it was fun. It was fun for what it was.
I learned a lot. It was a weird place, but
it's all good. Yeah. I'm sure, I'm sure you you
did learn a lot. I mean, god, bro, yeah, I'm
sure you did. Um. I remember when my you know,
when you leave home and the first time anywhere kind
of overseas or whatever. It's sort of a culture shock
at first, but once you figure figure out the culture
(13:24):
and and the network, man, it becomes really live. Um. Now,
you did modeling, You're so you're heavy with the modeling.
This is a career you're trying to chase. It was
modeling something that you actually liked or did you want
to expand on that or were you kind of just
locked into being a model. Um? I liked it. But
(13:46):
me as a person, I'm always looking to to to
what's next and how I can expand on something. And
of course, I mean acting was the next foray and so,
but I did really enjoy modeling. I mean, I mean
you get, like you said, money to take pictures and
like three food on the set and like, but you
(14:06):
can't because you gotta watch your weight, right. I mean
I'm a hog though, so I'll be working out like
four or five times a day. I was going crazy,
so I mean, you know, I was doing like wake
up in the morning, do my hour cardio, just four
situations like that, you know, lifting my weights. You know,
I was doing probably like four or five thousand like
crunches or legled like that whole app combination to day.
(14:27):
I was very serious, you know. And in the South Beach.
I was in New York too, so both of those
places you're doing a lot of walking, so you probably
walked like six seven miles a day easy. And I was,
you know, I was mama talized, was kind of fast
and all that. So me, I would need that. I
would need to eat to sustain to look otherwise, you know,
you get skinny fat and look ugly. Skinny fat fat,
(14:51):
Oh man, it's when you look. It's like when you're skinny,
but like you look sloppy. And I don't down skinny
fat phobic, but like it didn't work for me. I
wasn't happy with the look, and so you know, you
just gotta figure out what's work with, what works for
you as far as your fitness goes. But yeah, I
mean as far as you say about the eating, Like
there were certain things you couldn't eat, so I had
(15:11):
to be really like I had to be super on
top of it. Even it just got so crazy though,
like man, because you just be overthinking everything you eat,
so you end up stressing yourself out, and then that
affects you negatively because when you stress, you build cortisol,
and cortisol builds fat. And it's just it's just all
just a weird, messed up chemical biological situation that goes
on in your body. And I had to a lot
(15:32):
of you to figure it out, but I figured it
out clearly. I mean, you see this to see hello. Yeah.
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Fox sports
Radio dot com and within the I Heart Radio app
search f s are to listen live. How many hours
a day you work out? He's too much. I'm probably
(15:54):
like there four. Yeah, it's not too bad. What about you?
Was you? I don't work out at all? You know
work at at all. I don't work out. I woke
up like this. No, but Josh, seriously, listen, you know
we're gonna get on more fitness tips later on. Um,
(16:15):
I just I really want to get to this kind
of thing because because you're very talented in the acting space,
and I'm just trying to figure out the evolution of
the modeling journey into you know, that day or that
moment when I don't remember this story, but when was
the moment that you said I want to make the
(16:37):
transition from acting from modeling the actor. Um, I've always
wanted to be an actor of I've always being so
just boisterous in my character and so just like, um,
you know, I wear my heart on the sleeve, wear
my heart on my face, I wear my emotions on
my face. And like, I think it was a point
of me being afraid to learn how to challenge that
(17:01):
and use it to my advantage in the acting space.
But I think it finally happened when we think. So,
I did this this short film called The Other Side,
and you know, I didn't have very many lines whatever,
It's like five six minutes, but I remember showing Dad
and he showed his acting coach. And you know the
(17:24):
acting coach, his acting coach. He's such a hard as
sorry for cursion and like you know, he's tough. But Rick, Yeah,
and he said, he told that I didn't really told
that I did really good work. And I knew he
meant it because he didn't know which character I was.
So he told, he said that the bad guy with
(17:44):
the white shirt, he did, he did really really, really
good work. And you can tell he really took all
so Rick didn't even know which character. He just picked
out the best performance. Yeah. So there was like a
cop and then there was me, and there was like
I had there was another character who was like my my,
my Robert partner, and he he said he did really
good work and I was like, oh, snap, okay tight.
And then so I started taking classes and all that,
(18:06):
doing more short films, and then I did another short
film called Behind Greatness, which you know, one of my
favorite's one of my favorite pieces that I've done so far.
And uh that the basketball one, that's the basketball one. Yeah, yeah,
that's pretty powerful. I mean you you show a lot
of range and that I didn't know I had that
inem me bro. So I was just like wow, Okay, like,
(18:27):
let's take this serious. So then I just started the
grind of it all, you know. So I was just
constantly or trying to be around set. So I was
working as a p a just to be around you know,
you know, then you know, doing extra word body double work.
And then things started progressing until I got uh so
I went from doing background work. Now the director noticed
(18:49):
me in the in the background, He's like, yo, you
come here, puts me in the front of the camera.
So now I'm getting those those bumps and those upgrades
and all that stuff. And then so it just kind
of just kept progressing and kept progressing, and I just
kept on working and staying on it and just being
cognizant of of of real life situations and applying that,
you know, and just kind of shedding that what I
think actors should be and just me being comfortable in
(19:10):
myself to to portray whatever I could, whatever I want
to portray, and in touch on that point for a minute,
when you say what an act or what you think
and actors should be versus being comfortable with yourself, what
does that mean? So a lot of people get it
mess So a lot of people when they look at acting.
They look at it as you being a character and
all this, when you know that's not real being. You know,
(19:34):
they don't want to see real. So real is this
really your everyday situations, on everyday interactions, And so you
you apply that and you be you be cognizant of
that how you move in real life, and then you
apply that to acting. So now it looks real. Now,
you know, now it looks like you're watching a real
conversation as opposed to you watching two people trying to
be characters and not trying to be anything. You're being you're, you're,
(19:57):
you're you you know, and like you know, they put
on the accent and all that, but you're you're you're
not even know the word I'll be trying to use,
but you're. It's you're, you're, you're, you're using your you
miss it for lack of better terms, you know what
I mean, As opposed to trying to be this whole
other thing, and that that's not it. That's fake and
(20:20):
that's super dramatic. It's not super dramatic because that's not
how life is all the time. Like sometimes just a
simple conversation like that when you're mad, it's not you
just cursing to be sometimes your maddest, you're trying to
hold back a tear or something like that. So you've
got to be able to recognize all those things and
all your triggers and all your inabilities and all what
makes you happy your vulnerabilities and just don't know, throw
(20:40):
them out there though. M hm. So you feel like
you turned the corner once you figured that out? What
you said behind Greatness was the performance that you felt
like you turned the acting corner or was it something
else behind? And then so after so on the heels
of or after beyond greatness? What was your next role
(21:02):
that she had that was notable? Um? So I didn't
do any short films after that, but I did a
couple of commercials, so I was you know, I had
a small role in a commercial Magana Stallion for Coach.
It was it was background, but my face wasn't it
(21:24):
quite a bit? And that because like I wore a
very provocative outfit, you know, I showed the muscles and
all that and they said, oh, yeah, we need that.
And then um, I did another commercial, Magan the Stallion
for cash app where I was like her assistant, her
sexy mail assistant. Remember that. Yeah, I was pretty fun.
She's great. She was like Cleopatra, and you're like the
Egyptian slave or whatever. I wouldn't call it a slave, man.
(21:46):
I was just like, you're acting like a slave in
that one, bro, No man, act like a maid. You know.
It's okay to be making the Stallion slave for for
a few minutes, Bros. A few hours. Shout out to
Magan Stallion, shout out to the party. He's a great right,
that's your boyfriend. But yeah, so I did that. That
was cool, you know, And then um, yeah, then we
(22:07):
started auditioning for like the big stuff, and then getting
closer and closer, I noticed that Mr Perry kept having
me audition for more and more things. You just felt
like you was trying to find something for me. I mean,
I may be wrong, but it just felt like that.
Let's back up. Let's back up to Tyler Perry and
(22:29):
in the auditions and and the whole your introduction into Hollywood,
Black Hollywood, if you will. Yeah, what was the first
audition that you went on? And and you said you
had to do audition for a lot of stuff, So
did you feel like you nailed some other things that
you might have been in or did you did you
feel like your best work was the audition for All
(22:50):
the Queens meant backtrack? Be right. Two weeks before we
got here with the pandemic audition to be on the
oval callback everything cast and director told my manager to
pin me, pin him meeting like we want them, so like, yeah,
everything's all good, and then pandemic happened and then everything
shut down and so I guess things kind of backtrack then.
(23:13):
But so then you know, like audition for like all
his like he has sisters, bro um, you know, he
got everything, bro he got like nineteen million shows, but
a lot. And then finally I had one audition. It
was two different two different roles for All the Queens Man,
So I didh you for both? And then like yeah,
(23:35):
then got the roller ray Sean and let's talk about
ray Sean and All the Queens man. When I was
reading the press release and it just trying to learn
a little bit about it. Um, it's a In the
first season, established Maryland, Madame Deville was a fierce businesswoman
ruling over her empire and delucrative male exotic nightclub industry.
Now hell bent on expanding her queendom. In season two,
(23:58):
Madam will have to navigate the sexy yet dangerous world
and she wants to stay alive in ahead of the game.
And so you're so ray Sean is a character who
was an amateur amateur that's basically not cut out for
the life of an exotic dancer, but he's hell bent
on becoming one. Okay, talk talk about this. What type
(24:19):
of inspirations did you draw upon when you acted out
this character of ray Sean? So honestly, you just I
just drew upon my own, you know, inspiration of of
wanting to be in this, wanting to be an actor,
wanted to be somebody, wanted to be as cool as
(24:39):
my brothers, wanted to be like as cool as my dad,
you know, just kind of just like that kind of
thirst and like desperation and all that, and wanted to
live up to something and just be somebody. And so
just you know, you know, and I wouldn't say willing
to do anything, but god damn willing to go far,
you know what I mean, and just willing to push
myself and do whatever it takes. And so with that,
it's just it was just applying that and too maybe
(25:03):
a little different kind of situations. So it wasn't too hard.
It wasn't too hard to transition for me, you know,
to to to to plug all that in and be
fully brought in and fully committed to it. Yeah, because
there are things that you can you said, you relate
to with too, Ray sean Um, what's the most difficult
(25:23):
part of playing a character like that or being on
set in in a situation like that? Like for me,
I would imagine, you know, Tyler Perry working on that
production is sort of like you know, you're you're at
a tryout or you're on you know, at a game
with a high level coach, and you know it's kind
of like this guy is you know your coach isn't
this do you have the same type of correlationship? That
(25:44):
was like one of the factors. But like so like
my first day down there, we got dance rehearsals and
all that, and in the in the in the four
main dudes like them dudes is like crazy ass dances. Bro,
They're so good, Like they got food on, like like
choreography and like they're going crazy and I'm just like,
oh man, dog, I'm just sexy. Bro. I can't dance
like that they like, but they got they do it.
(26:06):
They hit all that like that, like the hit swivels
and all like, so I'm just there intimidated. Man, I'm
just like, damn, these dude is like really because they
actually like they this this is their lane, you know
what I mean lane, and like they're so good at it.
But you know, they all took me in and like
helped me in. So I got a better understanding of
how to feel music as opposed to dance to music,
(26:27):
and so that helped a lot. And so like now
I just find myself like if I'm in the gym,
like I just I'm actudentally hitting my moves, you know,
in the middle of doing bench presser like a role,
I'm just hitting a little swivel and like, you know,
I might get an eyre two looking at me, you know,
do my little gyrations and all that, but I mean
I'm just that. So I'm just always constantly feeling music now,
and I think that helped a lot. And then as
(26:48):
far as working with Mr Perry, I mean, dog man,
it's just just to be down there on that on that.
So they housed us at the studios. Yeah, what's the studio,
Like how big is it? I've heard about it, I've
seen a tour of it, but is it really that huge? Bro?
So from our housing to like the main building where
(27:09):
the gym is, it's a mile and a half walk. Wow,
Like so that's a straight walk. And so he's yeah,
like dog, it's like five different like residential sense, like
he's building like a New York skyline dog like dog.
(27:29):
But you know it's just it's just so it's like
you almost like almost so proud of him because you know,
like I grew up watching mcdea, bro, Like you know,
just see from from that to those stage plays and
productions to like all this is him, Like this is
all this is all his name on it. This is
like it's like almost seeing like like your uncle or
(27:51):
like your big brother just make it, you know what
I mean. And so it's just like it's just humbling
but so inspiring to be there, just like I used
to take walks every day like whenever we had like
an off there or anything, and just like walk around
and just like appreciate everything, just see just see it all.
Just like damn dog, this is really like this is
really him, bro, Like this is it's almost like it's
(28:13):
somebody you known for twenty years, you know, from watching
all his stuff and just to look like this is
all this all you dog, like wow, and then to
work with him, like dude is cool man, you know,
you mean, he's tough, but like you know, it's a lot.
He put a lot of pressure on himself. You want
to put out a good product. He want to really
communicate with his audience and his supporters and put out
(28:34):
a good product that people are gonna watch it, people
are gonna enjoy. And so he puts a lot of
pressure on himself and he puts it on us. But
he's also like a really guy. He's like a great teacher,
like almost like a great coach, acting wized, you know,
like he's you know, he be on you. I got
a problem where I when I'm on camera kind of
do a little like rock and like he like cussing.
(28:56):
He just like, hey, man, you guys stop doing that.
You guys are doing that's that's a bad thing to happen. Man,
gonna work with you. Man, I'm trying to help you.
And so like he keep it so real with you.
But like you know, he talked to you like like
he talked to you like it ain't condescend it, but
like he just really like he really want to help
you keep one get these careers off. Man. So it's
(29:16):
just amazing, bro. Like he pray over the set every day.
You lead us on like a big prayer, man. Like,
it's just it's just amazing, like you do. I still
can't believe, like it's me, you know, I can't believe
it's I get to work with this man. It's just like, Bro,
it's amazing, man, man, dog, it's crazy. You know, it
sounds dope. Man, it sounds like a heck of an
experience from what I've seen, dude, and from just the
(29:40):
reputation Tyler PERRYO. I don't know him personally, but for
you to having worked with him, man, it's it's it's
it's like I feel honored as well because my brother
is with you know, talking to Tyler Perry. He's on there.
You know, he's hey, you know, getting getting yil that
by Tyler Perry. It's all good. Like any other time,
I'm sensitive, bro, so I'll be like one of this,
like know, maybe lash out of crying or something. But na, Rob, Yes,
(30:05):
Tyler Perry absolutely, I call it Mr Tyler Perry, absolutly
give you the whole name Tyler Perry, please absolutely. How
does someone that lands a show on like BT continue
to to stay sharp, not be complacent? They continue to
work on their craft, like what is your strategy or
(30:26):
approach to to like when you get it? When now
you've landed your first big role, how are you going
to continue to land other roles? I mean, first of all,
just staying grateful for it all and maintaining the same
hunger and maintain the same recognition of of life going
on around me. So I'm always observing and people watching
(30:47):
and just trying to take in what I can and
being on top of my thoughts and like my feelings
when I see on top of my thoughts just so
thoughts are like what I was taughting, acting thoughts will
help drive your emotion, like your eyes and all that,
and show people like DA he got a lot going on.
So it's always being on top of those and on
top of my feelings and you know, recognizing how feeling
(31:08):
certain situations, and you know, being aware of my vulnerabilities
and my irritabilities and all that, and you know, sick
as it sounds like remembering my reactions to things, you know,
So it's always constantly real, so it's always true to myself.
And then that's on top of that, staying true to
myself and me and my truth. So like that's why
I like my stories on Instagram or just how they
(31:30):
are so chaotic or whatever, because like it's honestly what
comes to mind. It makes me laughing, entertains me. So
you're about to get it too, whether you like it
or not. It's always trying to stay on top of
it like that. And that's that's that's my practice. You know,
that's my that's my work. You know, that's my That's
how I get my reps in. So I'm constantly getting
reps in. Are you in class? I'm not in class?
(31:54):
And you know I'll get back into it. I mean
I have I have, I have a coach that I
work with. Shout out to pat Uh. I mean he
just he's he's really good. He's really good at breaking
scripts down. He's really good at talking to me like
how I need to be talked to. He's good at
talking my language, and he's good at you know, of
helping me of of of breaking it down to a
philosophical and almost like it's so organic is teaching, and
(32:19):
it's just it's so real and it's like so so
cutic in a way. You know, he just knows how
to talk, and he knows how to just I don't know,
just communicated to me. So it's just every time, every time,
it's always like get an epiphany every time I talked
with him. Man. And so I don't not in the
classes right now, but you know, I got a coach
that I work with weekly. You know, he's also worked
(32:39):
out with me at the gym, So it's always giving
vice and tips. He always sending me tips, so and
I'm just always open to receiving them and just applying them.
Let's go, man, Yeah. Fox Sports Radio has the best
sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all of our
shows at Fox sports Radio dot com and within the
I Heart Radio app search f s R to listen live.
(33:00):
As far as the physical fitness side, you've been You've
mentioned and alluded to yourself being sexy numerous times. You
have a tremendous you have a tremendous physique. I understand
it's not your fault, but when when we're going in
the summer and I had somebody on the show, Dr
Courtney Watson. She gave some great health tips from the
medical side of course. Corner. Yes, absolutely, I want to
(33:24):
I want to Joshua John Marcus Johnson to give us
Josh's tips on how to either maintain a nice summer
beach bod, get a beach bock, or just healthy tips
for living that will enhance our lifestyle because obviously you
have done a tremendous job at that. And it's so crazy, man,
(33:44):
because like people will tell you like all this difficult
heart advice, and in my opinion, it's really like because
people if you people literally do nothing. So like my
biggest thing is to do something like get out and
walk outside of your team twenty minutes. Like if you
got a gym membership, set the time for forty five
to an hour, pick three workout, pick three exercise to do,
(34:06):
so it could be like like a row, a push up,
and a squat do those forty five minutes straight, ten
sets of each. You gotta take a break, take a break,
but you gotta do something, you know, And that's that's
a lot of people's problems, like they're going from doing
nothing and just expecting things to be easy. I mean,
it's not gonna be easy, but you just gotta do
something like you know, it takes an hour a day.
(34:28):
I'm telling you, if you spend an hour a day
dog like, and then you'll find like as you as
you exercise more and more, your your exercise vocabulary experience.
And so now you're doing this, you're doing that, You're
doing this, you're doing that, and then you start actually
liking it. After three or four weeks or maybe a month,
you love it, and then it becomes something that you
need to do. It's it's it's just you take a
day off and you feel gross, and so it's just
(34:50):
something that you need to do. It almost becomes like
a positive addiction, you know. And so I just encourage
people to just do something anything, and then you'll find
it so good for your mental health. It's a good
way to transmute like different energies that you may have,
whether it be sadness, anger, you know, even happiness. You know,
it's just a good way to just just to get
that out, you know, just put it to use it
(35:12):
on something, to get it out, and then you find
that you sleep better, you start caring about what you
put in your body as far as eating goes, you know,
and that so it just starts with doing something. I mean,
I'm even even if it's just twenty minutes straight of
three exercises in the circuit and just go ten ten
ten reps each, like you just go, like you just
gotta do something. Yeah, what about eating stuff? Um, you know,
(35:34):
I felt I've always felt like the eating part is
more important than the physical part to a certain level,
because I've lost weight and gotten into shape and I
didn't work out before, but I was I was on
a vegetarian diet, so without having to go to the
extremes of like vegetarian, what's something like a normal person
you know, my age or younger and my around my
(35:57):
age because this is my audience. My audience is people
you know, thirty five to like fifty or so somewhere
around there, hopefully younger. But I think it's around that
what type of foods should we absolutely stay away from
and what should we gravitate towards. So I like to
live by like an eight percent percent things, So twenty
(36:17):
percent of the time you do something bad if you
have to, like not saying you have to, but but
people know not to eat fry foods, like you know
that that goes without saying, now you know, and and
so you get so I just encourage to get to
a point ahead. But no, there's also but there's also
these foods that for for the longest time, because I'm
(36:37):
asking you, because you're younger, you're you're plugged into the fitness.
But for the longest time, we used to think certain
foods were all good, and then later on they're like,
oh no, those that acts actually isn't all good. That's
not that's not a good. Kind of fact, I was
wonder if there's anything new out like that we should
know about. I don't even follow recommendations no more because
because like they they tell you, they change it up.
(37:00):
When your mess with people's minds. Now it's just, you know,
it's just dumb. So you just kinda gotta go. You
gotta be on top of what makes you feel good.
And so like the fry food is never gonna be good,
but if you have to have it, you know, planting
out to where you work out, you eat good for
like the three days before that and make you feel
(37:21):
like it's a reward or something like that. And so
I mean, but like a simple kind of die for
me is like you know, like grill saltae, shrimp, real salta,
chicken fish, steak um, you know, brown rice, white rice,
sweep potato, but starch in greens. You know, I just
keep it simple like that. And what do you do
with brown rice? How can you eat brown rice? This
(37:42):
is my question? How do you how do you actually
swallow brown rice and like eat it? How do you
do that? A little bit of grass their butter and
some of that juice from the fish or the chicken
grass that butter, different dog that grass, said, brother are different. Man.
It's good for you too. It's really good. Where you've
got that conjugated lino leg acid that c l A
(38:03):
and it you know, it helps with your belly fat,
doesn't it. Yeah? So they say where you get it from?
Getting from rouse? It's it's the carry gold carry carry
gold butter. Hm, it's grass fad butter, you know it's
it's so you got your regular butter the American eyes,
I guess whatever, and then you got your grass fed.
(38:24):
Grass fed is like super it's almost like golden color.
So it's this is rich and like and like vitamin
a invada, carrooteen and stuff like that. Got the good
fast for you? And whereas this not as what not
as much interesting? Okay, okay? What about like liquids are
the liquids that like? For the longest I used to
(38:45):
think juice was cool, But juice apparently it's not. It's
not all good. There's a lot of fat. Even diet
sodas are kind of shaky. So do you what do
you suggest water all the time or what is your
juice daily liquid intake? Look like? Like I try to
drink like a don't have two gallons of water a day,
damn And lots of coffee. I like coffee a lot.
(39:06):
How much coffee do you drink? I'm probably like fi
cups coffee a day. It's gonna stain your teeth. You
better get that teeth white. And the thing, boy, it's
all good. You know what you got, what you got.
So it's just it's one of them Instagram has got me.
It's this purple stuff and then you spray and then purple.
It helped bleach out a bunch of it, bleach out
(39:27):
yellow things and stuff like that. It's really cool. I
forget what it's called. I'll texted to you it's working,
as he smiles and shows the pearly whites. Yes, it's working, Yes,
it's working. But so yeah, but water coffee is cool
because caffeine helps, you know, get your metabolism up, and
(39:47):
you know, it burns fat while you're at rest. Um,
I'll drink juice, but so you gotta do it strategically.
So if you have like a nice hard workout, your
muscles and all that are like craving cards. So if
you drink the juice after you work out, your muscle
is gonna know what to do with them, whereas he's
gonna know to do with the cars, whereas before it's
(40:07):
just kind of just chilling and hanging out. You know,
it has no use in application, but if you use
it as like a recovery drink, then you're gonna be like, oh,
this is kind of nice. It's just kind of good.
It's feeding my muscles, it's feeling my muscles. Okay, okay,
lots of water. So like simple cars, like simple cars,
like don't even be thinking you can go get like
a twelve pack of doughnuts from the Crispy Cream even
(40:29):
though the sign hot now on I couldn't blame you
if you did, but you know you gotta be careful. Man.
It's just full of oils and just bad fast and
or make it sixtens. It causes information on that you
don't want to be get. So so what is someone's
supposed to do if they have a sweep too? Uh?
Pick a day, pick a day and go crazy just
one day? So what's crazy to you? Because I feel
(40:51):
like crazy? Like me, my my disciplines got to the
point where crazy to me is like eating like four
doughnuts and and that's it, and that's it. That's my
crazy zy day. Or a piece of pie and ice
cream two in two scoops ice cream, Like that's crazy
for me. So what's crazy? So I don't know. So,
like my biology is kind of different. So I feel
(41:11):
like I'll be having like these cheat days where I
want to just go crazy, and so I start to
day off for like choking chip pancakes, and then I'll
be done, Like it'll be it'll be satisfied. And so
I just think you pick a day and maybe just
planning to go all out, and then you'll find like, oh,
like I'm done this. You know, I got what I needed,
you know, and like, so it ends of not being crazy.
But just pick a day, make sure you on your stuff,
(41:32):
make sure you on you're working out, make sure you're
on eating appropriately for your diet and for your goals.
And then just if you need to have a day
just like, Okay, I'm I'm planning it for two days
from now, I'm gonna go crazy. I'm just gonna just
eat whatever I want. Blah blah blah. But make sure
you're following your plan and doing it right and earn it.
You know, what's your thoughts on alcohol? And this will
(41:53):
be the last question on the diet. Um, So I'm
not gonna love the man. When the pandemic first hit, Dog,
I'll probably taking down a bottle of day I had, Like, man,
I had so much unemployment money. Dog, Like, what so tequila?
If they say tequila is the best one to drink,
(42:14):
is that true? Supposedly? But it's all nasty, it's all gross.
He's yeah, gross, it's all nasty. So yeah, I mean,
you know, But so if you're gonna drink alcohol, you know,
don't make it an everyday thing, because I mean what
you mean, Like, I'm like, I don't know I don't
know because for my like, I'll call it nasty. Man,
(42:35):
it don't taste good, bro, it don't taste good. So
I don't see how people do it every day. But
if you got if you want to get turned up,
I mean, just pick a day. I guess, pick a day.
There you go with your pick a day. So every
so everything is moderation pretty much for you, everything excumely moderation,
Like you don't need to be drinking every day and
like eating all this unhealthy stuff every day, especially when
you know it's not good for you. If you're feeling
like slow, sluggish and lethargic, it's like, why would you
(42:58):
want to feel that? But you know, I can't speak
for everybody because I wouldn't want to feel that. Don't
mean that everybody else will want to feel that. So okay,
but the best alcohol to drink for somebody that's trying
to watch way would be would be like what like
give me an exact like for me, okay, I'll tell
you red wine, all right, I do reds. I also
do like Michaelo Ultra one hundreds, which are very light. Uh.
(43:22):
If if you have Taihen, it really makes it. Uh
easier to go down a little bit. Yeah, but then
you know, but then that's pretty much it. You know,
I don't really subscribe, like I know, dark is bad,
which I understand, but it's important when you get around
my age, because you like to eat good, you like
to drink good, and you like to have these these
consistent you should enjoy yourself and like the main point
(43:44):
I want to say, it's like, don't stress yourself out
about it too much. So even if my picket day
concept don't work for you, don't, you know, don't stress
out about it. If you've got to have that little drink,
take you that little drink, you know, sip it slow,
take a little drink, you know. If you gotta have
that cookie, yeah, yeah, cookie, don't you know, don't play
don't mind too much about it because it's going into
backfind on your regardless, So don't do that. You know,
(44:05):
don't restrict yourself because restricting causes a being. So yes,
it's no, that's a great formula, josh Uh. I like
your approach to it. It's not really it's it's a
good balance of like tough but also giving the person
a lot of leeway to make his own decisions and
holding his own self accountable. That's dope. Um man, man, man,
(44:29):
it's been this. This I enjoyed speaking to you in
this type of form um, in this format, you know,
just hearing you kind of talk about your stuff through
your through how you've experienced it. You know, we you know,
we're brothers. We don't talk as much. We talk all
the time, but we don't talk about this type of
stuff like this in depth. So this was this was
really good. Um Yeah, we hold a lot of things
(44:53):
in and uh, we gotta talk about that. We gotta
talk about that one day. About the toxic masculinity in
like in the sense of of having to be hard
all the time and not you know, you know, spill
out your feelings sometimes and maybe like share a cry bro, Like,
we gotta we gotta have a discussion about that. I
think we should have like a big form me to
talk about that. You know, it's just showed it. It's okay, man,
(45:16):
because like, like the male suicide rate is crazy right now. Dog, Yeah,
we're killing ourselves because we can't we feel like we
can't share it. So like we think that's the next
mess option. Man, we gotta, we gotta clean that up, man.
And that's a side of that toxicity that we need
to clean up. Man. We like we gotta we gotta
save the world, we gotta save ourselves. Yeah, Man, it's
(45:37):
a lot of it is pride, a lot of it
is you know. It's like it takes a lot of
undoing to because you grow up in the culture that
we encouraged it, allowed it. Everything you've seen is pretty
much about it. So unless you were really you know,
taught early, you know, and a lot of us in
(45:59):
our family you were. But there's still tendencies that happen
as you grow, man, and your you you move outside
to different units. People go to school, you know, you
pick up habits and these are bad habits. That and
and something I enjoyed talking about because there are no
real well I won't say no, but it's nice to
have a safe space where you know, men can talk
(46:19):
and share real feelings and things like that. But we'll
definitely um touch on that. We have a whole episode's
worth of stuff like that. But man, your journey has
been an amazing one to hear about. Dude. Although I
knew the story, it's just it resonates more to hear
it through your words and your voice. Uh. Proud of
you and everything that you're accomplishing uh in in life.
(46:44):
I wanted to know this and then this would be
my last question. When you ultimately you're gonna have a platform. Um,
you gotta be someone that has gonna be able to
affect others. What's sort of your message or what do
you live what words or do you live your life
(47:05):
by that you would want others to know about you? Um,
there's I forget the version of Bible. With this version
of Bible where in saying faith, hope, and most important love.
So I try to live my life loving everybody of
different creeds, different orientations, different whatever. Like I always want
(47:27):
to be somebody that we'll listen and try my best
to understand it. If I can't understand, I will sympathize
with you. Want to be somebody know with empathy and
I just want people to know. Like like you said
about safe spaces, like I would you know, I want
to be I want to be a safe space you know,
where people can talk to me about any and everything honestly,
(47:48):
and like you know, I pray that nothing ever gets
too much for me to bear or here you know,
and so like that's it. Man. I just want to
live a life and just love and be a best
of love and to everybody and to anybody. You know,
I don't want, you know, I want people to be
able to walk up to me, you know, and ask
me questions, ask me if I's on working out or
(48:10):
anything like, you know, and not feel, you know, not
not be not be intimidated about me. I don't want
to be intimidating. I want I want to be somebody
who's an open book, somebody who people can just come
and talk to about anything like. And so I try
to live my life like that now. Like you know,
I try to help a lot of people, man, try
to help a lot of people. Man. It's just important
to me to be that voice because a lot of
(48:31):
people don't have that even within their own families. And
I recognized that I was fortunate enough to get that
with mine and so if I could be an extension
of our family to other people, man, like, you know,
that's a life well lived. Dog, you know. Yeah, man,
good stuff. Uh, You're blessed, you're touched, and you've you've
(48:51):
always been destined to do what you're doing. Appreciate you, man,
you know. I I reverbed back to one of my
favorite pictures of us. You have me on your shoulders
at Drake Stadium. Man. You know, you know, I'm just
I'm on my big brother shoulders. Man, you and so
you know, I'm just grateful to have y'all to man
like two the best neig brothers in the world. Ah.
So that's why I try to be the big brother
(49:11):
I am to countless people. Man. So that's direct from you. Man,
So you give yourself around of applause for that. I
appreciate you. Man. You're the first born and you did
the hell of a job, you know, leading us. You know,
so I appreciate you, man. I appreciate you, my brother,
and I love you. Thank lad man, ladies and gentlemen.
Ja Marcus Johnson
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