August 6, 2024 • 17 mins
"Lady Of Rage" Robin Allen stops by the studio to talk about her new leading role playing Miss Cleo in the Lifestime Biopic of the widely known TV personality.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
What's up, guys, he's your girl. Alexandria Ikimoni in the studio.
iHeartRadio with the One, the Only Robin, the Lady of
Rage Alan. How you doing today?
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Excellent? How about yourself?
Speaker 1 (00:12):
I'm doing well. You look fabulous. Happy to have you
at studio.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Thank you. Happy to be here?
Speaker 1 (00:16):
Yes, yes, happy that you are here because we have
so much talk about. You have this amazing biopic coming
out on Lifetime. It is called Miss Cleo, Her Rise
and Fall, airing very soon. I'm super excited about it
because I mean, who does not know it's Cleo?
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Anyone with eyes in that era should know who Ms
Cleo is.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
Hello, came across a TV screen night day, evening morning.
She was everywhere, so is there? She was a cultural
icon as a matter of fact. So yes, it's it's
been a ride. I mean, this is the biggest thing
I think in my career thus.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
Far on the acting side, or just a career period.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
I would say period, Okay, I love it. My first lead.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
This is this is major, not negating the other things
that I've done.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
This is like big leagues, major leagues right.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Here, and it's really exciting. I know we are all
ready to be tuned in and for Miss Cleo to
watch you on Lifetime. So that's super exciting, and you're
talking about it a cultural icon. Who does not know
Miss Cleo? So what made you decide to take on
this role?
Speaker 2 (01:17):
The role was presented to me.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
I was working on a project, and the producers of
that project told me that I didn't know that this
was actually an audition for the Miss Cleo role, and
I was presented with it, So that in itself was amazing, Like,
you mean to tell me, You're just going to give
this to me?
Speaker 2 (01:37):
And that's how it was. That's how I got it. Wow.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
Wow, were you nervous at all trying to really just
top into this role? Or how was the prep like?
Or tell me more about that.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
The prep was basically all I had to draw from
was her interviews, her infomercials, things that she had done previously.
The hardest part for me, some people think, was the accent,
and a lot of people have said that she already
had a bad accent, So improving on something that's bad
it's not hard to do. The biggest thing for me
(02:06):
was smiling her big personality. I'm more reserved, laid back.
I don't smile a lot, so smiling that was the
biggest challenge for me, coming out of my comfort zone
of not smiling.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
So that was the biggest challenge for me.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
And I'm assuming you're smiling on set, I should say
for hours out of time. So what does a typical
day look like when you were really filming for this movie?
Speaker 3 (02:28):
So I think the longest thing was makeup, hair and makeup,
not necessarily hair because I had raps all the time,
so the makeup was a long process.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
I had a guy tell me thank.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
You a couple of times, the guys that were doing lighting,
because they said, we're getting out of here early. And
I said, yeah, y'all, don't get out of get out early.
He said, nah, we rarely ever get out early. He said,
we're getting out early because you know your lines. So
that's something that I pride myself on being able to do,
is learn my lines and recite them. But one particular day,
(03:02):
I was having issues with my stomach and my daughter,
my daughter, she played my daughter on the movie. She
I was messing up with my lines because my stomach
was throwing me off, and she knew my line. She
was like, no, you're supposed to say this, you know,
And I'm looking at her like I know what I'm
supposed to say, like you showing me up, Like you're
(03:24):
the young one and you're showing me up. But it
just showed how great of an actress she is. She's
an inspirement. She's on the grids herself. So for her
to know my lines and her lines just shows that
she also is one who hones her craft and takes
it seriously.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
So right, and I love you mention the co stars
because I do want to get into that. But I
have a personal question. When you're learning your lines, how
does it actually go? Like learning lines? Like do you
learn it the day before? Do you have the papers around?
Like are you learning the whole movie a month in advance?
Like what is what is that process like to really
learn all the lines for a movie?
Speaker 3 (03:57):
For me, it was it was months in advance. Maybe
I got the script, and I got the script and
say I got it in October and we started filming
in December or January. So during that time, I'm just
learning and having my kids recite the other lines, and
(04:18):
I just have to read it over and over and
I take one paragraph for one scene at a time,
and I learned that and then I add more to
it each day and each day and I just take
it to memory. So then I have to once it's action,
then I have to put the character into it, emphasis
on it and things like that.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
So it's no easy thing to do.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
No, well, yes, yeah, yeah, okay.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
Me. I'm like, that's that's not a small thing to memorize.
I can't. I can't remember what I had for dinner
last night, not to mention the whole script.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
See and I rap, so I have to remember my rhyme.
So it's so many things that I have to remember,
and I'm kind of good at it.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (04:57):
I might not remember your name, but I remember your
face and things like that.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
That's what I'm not good at remembering names.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
That's fair. So that's fair. You know you got your lines, yes,
and you're talking about names and faces. Let's talk about
some of the people that you're working with here. I
mean you have Shane Johnson who was Cooper Socks from
Power Man and Bowen who is Ryan Yell Yes, and
then you have this great director we all know Ray
from Father who was a father and sister Tim Ready,
(05:25):
what was it like working with a lot of these
big names in the entertainment industry.
Speaker 3 (05:29):
Big names exactly, yeah, Ms, Daphne, Maxwell, Read Poker Brown,
and I'm like, I'm amongst them, Yeah, but I'm the lead.
So they're rallying, rallying around me, and it was just
like I'm looking to the side and I'm seeing Shane
and somebody's like, were you intimidated by him? And I
(05:50):
was like, no, I wasn't intimidated by him at all.
I wasn't intimidated by anyone.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
It was just an.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
Honor to be amongst them, Like, these are people who
have been in the game for a while and here
I am. This is my first lead, and here I
am amongst them. So it was just it was just
so surreal for me and very exciting. And I just
wanted to show that, you know, I can do it
as well. I can do what y'all are doing. And
(06:17):
they are embracing me and accepting me into their world.
So you know, I'm from the rap world and now
they're embracing me in their world.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
It was a beautiful thing.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
Yeah, which is great. Just curious because whenever I talked
to actors and actresses, they always say they kind of
learned something from some of the people that they are around.
What did you learn as far as incorporating to your
own style of how you act from some of your
co stars?
Speaker 2 (06:41):
Hmmm.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
I don't know if I learned the nice thing. Yeah,
but I took direction from mister Reid. So it was
some scenes that I felt I wanted to do a
particular way, yeah, and he didn't see that. He didn't
think that was part of the vision, and I had to. Well,
I did learn something. I learned to sit back and
(07:04):
take direction, play your stay a lane. He's the director.
He knows what it should be and how it should
be done. And I took the direction and listened to
him and did what he asked me to do. He
also asked me to go watch some things and try
to draw from that, and so I did that.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
So I guess listening was what I learned how to do.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
That makes sense. That makes sense. I know what the director.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
I mean.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
You gotta trust their vision even though you might not
see it yet. It might not make sense, but I
get it one hundred percent, which is great. Okay. So
in this biopic, right, is there anything we might see
about Miss Cleo that maybe the general public did not
know about her, or is it really you know what
we all know, what we all see play out in
real life.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
I think it's both.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
Perhaps you don't know, well, she just only presented the
Miss Cleo character, so that you don't know about Urie
Dale Harris because that's not who you saw. You saw
Miss Cleo, So you don't know that she was an
aspiring actress. You don't know that she was a playwright.
That she came from. She lived in la she went
(08:13):
to Seattle, then she got to Florida and became one
of the biggest faces ever and she turned psychic Rita's
network into what it was, which was a that also
was a phenomenon. People were calling, people were doing all
types of things, just spending money and wanting answers and God, me,
now you need question, you have questions, I have answers,
(08:37):
you know. So it was it was those things that
her personal life is what you don't know and that
you get a glimpse of.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
In this project.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
And of course it's hard to put the whole what
almost fifty sixty years of her life into this one movie.
What parts will the movie focus on.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
Her rise and her fall?
Speaker 3 (08:58):
So it focuses on when she left and pursuit and
went to Florida, and then her struggles during that time,
and then her successes and then the downfall of the
Psychic Reader's network. But people tend to put it all
(09:22):
on her. They throw her under the bus. No one
really brings up the two men who own psyche Reader's network.
So her legacy is tainted. You know, it's been demonized
and everything like that. So I hope that this picture
will show her vulnerability, will redeem her. Like it wasn't her,
(09:46):
It wasn't just her, it was also these other people
behind her, the powers.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
She worked for them. They gave her the script, She
followed the script, and there it is.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
I love but well, we cannot wait to really get
into this movie see it from this perspective with you
starring in this role. So super excited about it.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
Thank you?
Speaker 1 (10:04):
Yes, yes am? I oh, I love it. Okay, So
let's talk about it now, you specifically, and.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
I'm as Cleo okay, but you okay?
Speaker 1 (10:12):
First with this whole I mean, of course, you started
in the rap industry and now we're doing more. Are
we focusing more on acting now or what's plan?
Speaker 3 (10:22):
Acting has always been my focus. Okay, And I've been
saying on this run that a lot of people don't
know that acting is my first love. I only started
rapping because I used to write poetry, and when rap
came out, it wasn't a bad It wasn't a big
transition from poetry to rap. So when I was a
little girl, when I watched television, I called people on
(10:45):
television superstar because I didn't know the term actress. So
I always said I want to be a superstar. So
this is what I've always wanted to do. And I
just use rap as a stepping stone to get to acting.
And it seems to be walking up those steps getting there.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
Now. You know, I've done the.
Speaker 3 (11:02):
Steve Harvey and Baby d A lot of people know
me from ride different projects. But this right here, I
think this is my my welcoming into Okay, come on
over here, girl, we got room for you.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
I love it. What other roles would you like to
play in the future.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
I want to play. I want to get away from
the bully girl, the tough girl. I don't want to
be type cast into that. I want to show my range.
I want to show vulnerability. I could be a victim
I could be a person who's an addict, a survivor,
even if it's period pieces. I would want to be
someone from the sixties who you know, black Panther type role,
(11:49):
someone who I just want to do it all.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
I can do it all, so I don't want to
just limit myself. Whatever you have for me, I can
do it.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
I love it. I love it, and you really can't
do it. And they will continue to see this roll
out as the movies.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
Yeah, yeah, okay, thank you.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
So tell me more about if you could pick your
top three inspiration in the movie film space that are alive.
Who would those three people be that you really look
up to or inspire you in some way. I didn't
do one. I did three, just to be fair.
Speaker 3 (12:27):
Angela Bassett, see, I should have prepared for this because
I know when I leave, I'm gonna.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
Say I should have said I get it. Yeah, it's
hard on the.
Speaker 3 (12:36):
Denzel Washington and Michael kay Williams Rest in Peace. Yes,
I've always wanted to do something with him. I just
I just liked his character from seeing him on the
wire as Omar Damn his roles thereafter, and he just
seemed like someone I would want to work with. And
(12:58):
also Queen latif. Oh, yes, Queen La Tifa is someone
I want to work with, and I could just see us.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
Either we're sisters, or we're something.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
We're related, or we're enemies and we would be good enemies.
So have a fight scene and everything. Bring out her
equalizing skills and I have to bring out whatever skills
I made.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
I love and I actually do want to see that.
That's not like it's gonna be a really good one too,
So that's exciting. Okay, So let's talk about you know,
rap for a second. You know, are we trying to
do anything else with it, anything new in that space,
or we're just really kind of focusing on the first love.
Speaker 3 (13:39):
The first love because I used to love her hip hop.
I still do, yeah, but my passion is not there
like it once was. I felt I had something to prove. Yeah,
I don't feel I have anything to prove anymore. I
wanted to be known as one of the best female mcs,
and I think arguable I am one of the best
(14:02):
female mcs out or EMCs. However you want to list me.
As long as I'm in the list, I'll take that.
But however, I may hear beats and feel like, Okay,
I can do that, or someone may call me and
say can you do a verse? Or will you do
a verse? And I may depending on the beat. I
(14:23):
just did a song with the Dog Pound. They have
a new release called We Are What is it called
We All We Got? And I'm on a song called
who the Hardest? And that's myself RBX, Dad's corrupt and
Snoop so things like that. I'll always, you know, work
with my teen, but for the most part, I just
(14:46):
admire her from a distance and now I have my
eyes set on somebody else.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
We broke up, but we're still cool. Now I'm on
to the.
Speaker 1 (14:54):
Next I get it, next phase of life. Yes, yes,
I love and you mentioned Snoop, so the relation cousins, correct, brothers, brothers, Okay,
I love it. I love it. So did he have
any influence on you know, you making your transition to
more so focusing on acting or leaving the rap game
behind or did he have any influence on your path?
Speaker 3 (15:14):
I should say not at all. Okay, he didn't have
any influence on it. But he was always a cheerleader.
Whatever I wanted to do, he supported. He was always
a supporter However, he does tell me rage, I'm gonna
do an album on you. No snoop, I don't want
to do out. Man, I ain't trying to hear that
(15:35):
cuz look, you know he doesn't want to hear that.
So he sees He's a visionary, so he may see
something that I don't see. So he's one of the
people that I allow in my life that can pull
me a certain way because normally, if I say I'm
not doing something, I'm not doing it. But if you
have that relationship with me, you might be able to
(15:57):
pull a little more and I might give it you.
And he's one of those, so you might hear an
album from me based on Smooth.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
So I love it. I love it. Also, I have
to do this side note him in Paris right now
with this meme going around. He is just a hilarious person.
So that is amazing. Okay, so we have the biopic
coming out. We know more is to come in the
acting space. But for the rest of the year, after
you know this biopic has its moment, are you going
to be doing anything else the rest of the year,
We're going to just kind of take it back for
(16:27):
a second, enjoy the holidays or what's the plan for
twenty twenty four.
Speaker 3 (16:31):
My plan is day by day because you know, we're
not promised tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (16:35):
That's it.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
But I try to.
Speaker 3 (16:39):
Focus on the now. So if I've gone on auditions,
I've been doing auditions, and the hopes are that I
will get calls and I will get booked and I
can continue to do this because this is what I
want to do. So if God, if this is God's will,
then it will be.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
I love it. It makes sense. So we are praying
on it. We are having our fingers crossed for more
to come very soon. Already know this movie is about
to be ahead, so I'm super.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
Excited about it right now.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
Yeah, any last words you want to leave with the people,
By the.
Speaker 3 (17:09):
Way, people, I need you all to tune in August tenth,
eight pm Lifetime, Miss Cleo, Horizon Fall.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
I need y'all to check that out.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
Call your friends, call your neighbors, call anybody you can call,
and y'all check it out.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
Yes, I love it, Robin, the Lady of Rage Allan
so happy to have you in the studio so much. Yes,
thank you for coming in once again. Alexandricamoni in the studio.
iHeartRadio
What's up, guys, he's your girl. Alexandria Ikimoni in the studio.
iHeartRadio with the One, the Only Robin, the Lady of
Rage Alan. How you doing today?
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Excellent? How about yourself?
Speaker 1 (00:12):
I'm doing well. You look fabulous. Happy to have you
at studio.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Thank you. Happy to be here?
Speaker 1 (00:16):
Yes, yes, happy that you are here because we have
so much talk about. You have this amazing biopic coming
out on Lifetime. It is called Miss Cleo, Her Rise
and Fall, airing very soon. I'm super excited about it
because I mean, who does not know it's Cleo?
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Anyone with eyes in that era should know who Ms
Cleo is.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
Hello, came across a TV screen night day, evening morning.
She was everywhere, so is there? She was a cultural
icon as a matter of fact. So yes, it's it's
been a ride. I mean, this is the biggest thing
I think in my career thus.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
Far on the acting side, or just a career period.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
I would say period, Okay, I love it. My first lead.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
This is this is major, not negating the other things
that I've done.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
This is like big leagues, major leagues right.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Here, and it's really exciting. I know we are all
ready to be tuned in and for Miss Cleo to
watch you on Lifetime. So that's super exciting, and you're
talking about it a cultural icon. Who does not know
Miss Cleo? So what made you decide to take on
this role?
Speaker 2 (01:17):
The role was presented to me.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
I was working on a project, and the producers of
that project told me that I didn't know that this
was actually an audition for the Miss Cleo role, and
I was presented with it, So that in itself was amazing, Like,
you mean to tell me, You're just going to give
this to me?
Speaker 2 (01:37):
And that's how it was. That's how I got it. Wow.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
Wow, were you nervous at all trying to really just
top into this role? Or how was the prep like?
Or tell me more about that.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
The prep was basically all I had to draw from
was her interviews, her infomercials, things that she had done previously.
The hardest part for me, some people think, was the accent,
and a lot of people have said that she already
had a bad accent, So improving on something that's bad
it's not hard to do. The biggest thing for me
(02:06):
was smiling her big personality. I'm more reserved, laid back.
I don't smile a lot, so smiling that was the
biggest challenge for me, coming out of my comfort zone
of not smiling.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
So that was the biggest challenge for me.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
And I'm assuming you're smiling on set, I should say
for hours out of time. So what does a typical
day look like when you were really filming for this movie?
Speaker 3 (02:28):
So I think the longest thing was makeup, hair and makeup,
not necessarily hair because I had raps all the time,
so the makeup was a long process.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
I had a guy tell me thank.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
You a couple of times, the guys that were doing lighting,
because they said, we're getting out of here early. And
I said, yeah, y'all, don't get out of get out early.
He said, nah, we rarely ever get out early. He said,
we're getting out early because you know your lines. So
that's something that I pride myself on being able to do,
is learn my lines and recite them. But one particular day,
(03:02):
I was having issues with my stomach and my daughter,
my daughter, she played my daughter on the movie. She
I was messing up with my lines because my stomach
was throwing me off, and she knew my line. She
was like, no, you're supposed to say this, you know,
And I'm looking at her like I know what I'm
supposed to say, like you showing me up, Like you're
(03:24):
the young one and you're showing me up. But it
just showed how great of an actress she is. She's
an inspirement. She's on the grids herself. So for her
to know my lines and her lines just shows that
she also is one who hones her craft and takes
it seriously.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
So right, and I love you mention the co stars
because I do want to get into that. But I
have a personal question. When you're learning your lines, how
does it actually go? Like learning lines? Like do you
learn it the day before? Do you have the papers around?
Like are you learning the whole movie a month in advance?
Like what is what is that process like to really
learn all the lines for a movie?
Speaker 3 (03:57):
For me, it was it was months in advance. Maybe
I got the script, and I got the script and
say I got it in October and we started filming
in December or January. So during that time, I'm just
learning and having my kids recite the other lines, and
(04:18):
I just have to read it over and over and
I take one paragraph for one scene at a time,
and I learned that and then I add more to
it each day and each day and I just take
it to memory. So then I have to once it's action,
then I have to put the character into it, emphasis
on it and things like that.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
So it's no easy thing to do.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
No, well, yes, yeah, yeah, okay.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
Me. I'm like, that's that's not a small thing to memorize.
I can't. I can't remember what I had for dinner
last night, not to mention the whole script.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
See and I rap, so I have to remember my rhyme.
So it's so many things that I have to remember,
and I'm kind of good at it.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (04:57):
I might not remember your name, but I remember your
face and things like that.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
That's what I'm not good at remembering names.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
That's fair. So that's fair. You know you got your lines, yes,
and you're talking about names and faces. Let's talk about
some of the people that you're working with here. I
mean you have Shane Johnson who was Cooper Socks from
Power Man and Bowen who is Ryan Yell Yes, and
then you have this great director we all know Ray
from Father who was a father and sister Tim Ready,
(05:25):
what was it like working with a lot of these
big names in the entertainment industry.
Speaker 3 (05:29):
Big names exactly, yeah, Ms, Daphne, Maxwell, Read Poker Brown,
and I'm like, I'm amongst them, Yeah, but I'm the lead.
So they're rallying, rallying around me, and it was just
like I'm looking to the side and I'm seeing Shane
and somebody's like, were you intimidated by him? And I
(05:50):
was like, no, I wasn't intimidated by him at all.
I wasn't intimidated by anyone.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
It was just an.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
Honor to be amongst them, Like, these are people who
have been in the game for a while and here
I am. This is my first lead, and here I
am amongst them. So it was just it was just
so surreal for me and very exciting. And I just
wanted to show that, you know, I can do it
as well. I can do what y'all are doing. And
(06:17):
they are embracing me and accepting me into their world.
So you know, I'm from the rap world and now
they're embracing me in their world.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
It was a beautiful thing.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
Yeah, which is great. Just curious because whenever I talked
to actors and actresses, they always say they kind of
learned something from some of the people that they are around.
What did you learn as far as incorporating to your
own style of how you act from some of your
co stars?
Speaker 2 (06:41):
Hmmm.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
I don't know if I learned the nice thing. Yeah,
but I took direction from mister Reid. So it was
some scenes that I felt I wanted to do a
particular way, yeah, and he didn't see that. He didn't
think that was part of the vision, and I had to. Well,
I did learn something. I learned to sit back and
(07:04):
take direction, play your stay a lane. He's the director.
He knows what it should be and how it should
be done. And I took the direction and listened to
him and did what he asked me to do. He
also asked me to go watch some things and try
to draw from that, and so I did that.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
So I guess listening was what I learned how to do.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
That makes sense. That makes sense. I know what the director.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
I mean.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
You gotta trust their vision even though you might not
see it yet. It might not make sense, but I
get it one hundred percent, which is great. Okay. So
in this biopic, right, is there anything we might see
about Miss Cleo that maybe the general public did not
know about her, or is it really you know what
we all know, what we all see play out in
real life.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
I think it's both.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
Perhaps you don't know, well, she just only presented the
Miss Cleo character, so that you don't know about Urie
Dale Harris because that's not who you saw. You saw
Miss Cleo, So you don't know that she was an
aspiring actress. You don't know that she was a playwright.
That she came from. She lived in la she went
(08:13):
to Seattle, then she got to Florida and became one
of the biggest faces ever and she turned psychic Rita's
network into what it was, which was a that also
was a phenomenon. People were calling, people were doing all
types of things, just spending money and wanting answers and God, me,
now you need question, you have questions, I have answers,
(08:37):
you know. So it was it was those things that
her personal life is what you don't know and that
you get a glimpse of.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
In this project.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
And of course it's hard to put the whole what
almost fifty sixty years of her life into this one movie.
What parts will the movie focus on.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
Her rise and her fall?
Speaker 3 (08:58):
So it focuses on when she left and pursuit and
went to Florida, and then her struggles during that time,
and then her successes and then the downfall of the
Psychic Reader's network. But people tend to put it all
(09:22):
on her. They throw her under the bus. No one
really brings up the two men who own psyche Reader's network.
So her legacy is tainted. You know, it's been demonized
and everything like that. So I hope that this picture
will show her vulnerability, will redeem her. Like it wasn't her,
(09:46):
It wasn't just her, it was also these other people
behind her, the powers.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
She worked for them. They gave her the script, She
followed the script, and there it is.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
I love but well, we cannot wait to really get
into this movie see it from this perspective with you
starring in this role. So super excited about it.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
Thank you?
Speaker 1 (10:04):
Yes, yes am? I oh, I love it. Okay, So
let's talk about it now, you specifically, and.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
I'm as Cleo okay, but you okay?
Speaker 1 (10:12):
First with this whole I mean, of course, you started
in the rap industry and now we're doing more. Are
we focusing more on acting now or what's plan?
Speaker 3 (10:22):
Acting has always been my focus. Okay, And I've been
saying on this run that a lot of people don't
know that acting is my first love. I only started
rapping because I used to write poetry, and when rap
came out, it wasn't a bad It wasn't a big
transition from poetry to rap. So when I was a
little girl, when I watched television, I called people on
(10:45):
television superstar because I didn't know the term actress. So
I always said I want to be a superstar. So
this is what I've always wanted to do. And I
just use rap as a stepping stone to get to acting.
And it seems to be walking up those steps getting there.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
Now. You know, I've done the.
Speaker 3 (11:02):
Steve Harvey and Baby d A lot of people know
me from ride different projects. But this right here, I
think this is my my welcoming into Okay, come on
over here, girl, we got room for you.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
I love it. What other roles would you like to
play in the future.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
I want to play. I want to get away from
the bully girl, the tough girl. I don't want to
be type cast into that. I want to show my range.
I want to show vulnerability. I could be a victim
I could be a person who's an addict, a survivor,
even if it's period pieces. I would want to be
someone from the sixties who you know, black Panther type role,
(11:49):
someone who I just want to do it all.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
I can do it all, so I don't want to
just limit myself. Whatever you have for me, I can
do it.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
I love it. I love it, and you really can't
do it. And they will continue to see this roll
out as the movies.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
Yeah, yeah, okay, thank you.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
So tell me more about if you could pick your
top three inspiration in the movie film space that are alive.
Who would those three people be that you really look
up to or inspire you in some way. I didn't
do one. I did three, just to be fair.
Speaker 3 (12:27):
Angela Bassett, see, I should have prepared for this because
I know when I leave, I'm gonna.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
Say I should have said I get it. Yeah, it's
hard on the.
Speaker 3 (12:36):
Denzel Washington and Michael kay Williams Rest in Peace. Yes,
I've always wanted to do something with him. I just
I just liked his character from seeing him on the
wire as Omar Damn his roles thereafter, and he just
seemed like someone I would want to work with. And
(12:58):
also Queen latif. Oh, yes, Queen La Tifa is someone
I want to work with, and I could just see us.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
Either we're sisters, or we're something.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
We're related, or we're enemies and we would be good enemies.
So have a fight scene and everything. Bring out her
equalizing skills and I have to bring out whatever skills
I made.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
I love and I actually do want to see that.
That's not like it's gonna be a really good one too,
So that's exciting. Okay, So let's talk about you know,
rap for a second. You know, are we trying to
do anything else with it, anything new in that space,
or we're just really kind of focusing on the first love.
Speaker 3 (13:39):
The first love because I used to love her hip hop.
I still do, yeah, but my passion is not there
like it once was. I felt I had something to prove. Yeah,
I don't feel I have anything to prove anymore. I
wanted to be known as one of the best female mcs,
and I think arguable I am one of the best
(14:02):
female mcs out or EMCs. However you want to list me.
As long as I'm in the list, I'll take that.
But however, I may hear beats and feel like, Okay,
I can do that, or someone may call me and
say can you do a verse? Or will you do
a verse? And I may depending on the beat. I
(14:23):
just did a song with the Dog Pound. They have
a new release called We Are What is it called
We All We Got? And I'm on a song called
who the Hardest? And that's myself RBX, Dad's corrupt and
Snoop so things like that. I'll always, you know, work
with my teen, but for the most part, I just
(14:46):
admire her from a distance and now I have my
eyes set on somebody else.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
We broke up, but we're still cool. Now I'm on
to the.
Speaker 1 (14:54):
Next I get it, next phase of life. Yes, yes,
I love and you mentioned Snoop, so the relation cousins, correct, brothers, brothers, Okay,
I love it. I love it. So did he have
any influence on you know, you making your transition to
more so focusing on acting or leaving the rap game
behind or did he have any influence on your path?
Speaker 3 (15:14):
I should say not at all. Okay, he didn't have
any influence on it. But he was always a cheerleader.
Whatever I wanted to do, he supported. He was always
a supporter However, he does tell me rage, I'm gonna
do an album on you. No snoop, I don't want
to do out. Man, I ain't trying to hear that
(15:35):
cuz look, you know he doesn't want to hear that.
So he sees He's a visionary, so he may see
something that I don't see. So he's one of the
people that I allow in my life that can pull
me a certain way because normally, if I say I'm
not doing something, I'm not doing it. But if you
have that relationship with me, you might be able to
(15:57):
pull a little more and I might give it you.
And he's one of those, so you might hear an
album from me based on Smooth.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
So I love it. I love it. Also, I have
to do this side note him in Paris right now
with this meme going around. He is just a hilarious person.
So that is amazing. Okay, so we have the biopic
coming out. We know more is to come in the
acting space. But for the rest of the year, after
you know this biopic has its moment, are you going
to be doing anything else the rest of the year,
We're going to just kind of take it back for
(16:27):
a second, enjoy the holidays or what's the plan for
twenty twenty four.
Speaker 3 (16:31):
My plan is day by day because you know, we're
not promised tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (16:35):
That's it.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
But I try to.
Speaker 3 (16:39):
Focus on the now. So if I've gone on auditions,
I've been doing auditions, and the hopes are that I
will get calls and I will get booked and I
can continue to do this because this is what I
want to do. So if God, if this is God's will,
then it will be.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
I love it. It makes sense. So we are praying
on it. We are having our fingers crossed for more
to come very soon. Already know this movie is about
to be ahead, so I'm super.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
Excited about it right now.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
Yeah, any last words you want to leave with the people,
By the.
Speaker 3 (17:09):
Way, people, I need you all to tune in August tenth,
eight pm Lifetime, Miss Cleo, Horizon Fall.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
I need y'all to check that out.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
Call your friends, call your neighbors, call anybody you can call,
and y'all check it out.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
Yes, I love it, Robin, the Lady of Rage Allan
so happy to have you in the studio so much. Yes,
thank you for coming in once again. Alexandricamoni in the studio.
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