Miriam A. Hyman talks Power:Force, The Chi, Her Label, Hip-Hop & more | S8 E12 | 1 on 1's w/Deuces - 1-on-1's w/Deuces

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:22):
Let me choose your character.

Speaker 2 (00:35):
All right, all right, all right, welcome back to the
geek Set podcast only podcast that blending hip hop culture
and geek coachure together. I'm your boy, Duces and this
is one and one with deuces the place where is
the creators, curators and people that you should know. And
right now we have another multi hyphenated person. We have
a lyricist, we have an actor, we have a writer
and just an overall dope person. But we have the

(00:56):
one and only Miriam A Hymen aka rit in Hood.

Speaker 1 (01:00):
How are you going?

Speaker 3 (01:02):
What's good?

Speaker 1 (01:03):
How are you doing great? Doing great?

Speaker 2 (01:05):
So before we start, my platform is all about giving
people their flowers while they're here and letting them know
how much they mean to the culture. And I just
want to let you know, like you know, from the
first time that I got introduced to you, and I
actually had the backtrack to see more because it was
the Shy for me, and obviously you had a long,
illustrious career beforehand, and you know it's still going. But

(01:25):
that first iteration of just kind of seeing you on
screen and then with the Shy and the themes that
they cover and your role, you know, a Dre's character
in that show, and then when you popped up on Force,
and then just even just getting tapped into your music
and everything and kind of seeing more like interviews with you.

Speaker 1 (01:45):
I want to let you know, like from the culture,
from hip hop, from black.

Speaker 2 (01:49):
Culture, thank you for everything that you're putting out in
this world and that you're doing in entertainment, because we
truly truly appreciate it, and.

Speaker 1 (01:55):
I want to let you know it does not go unnoticed.

Speaker 3 (01:58):
I appreciate you. Thank you very much, no doubt.

Speaker 2 (02:01):
Oh you know that, absolutely, absolutely, So I want to
I'm gonna jump around because I know I sent the
interview to your peoples, but I do want to jump
around because one of the first things that kind of
like where I got introduced to your music and this
is always I was like, if I ever meet her,
I want to ask this was.

Speaker 1 (02:20):
I was a big late night show watcher.

Speaker 2 (02:22):
I was watching late night shows and everything like that
because I love entertainment.

Speaker 1 (02:26):
I kind of love getting deep dies into it.

Speaker 2 (02:30):
Lupita was rapping and she just kept on shouting you out,
and of course I'm like, all right, well let me
see more.

Speaker 1 (02:37):
I'm like, Lupita be rapping and then I started seeing.

Speaker 2 (02:39):
More videos of her, and she just kept on shouting
you out, and I was like, what is this connection?
So I kind of want to get that story. What
is that lupitza rabbin Hood connection.

Speaker 4 (02:50):
Lupita and I attended Yale School of Drama together.

Speaker 3 (02:53):
We were in the same class.

Speaker 1 (02:54):
Oh okay, yeah.

Speaker 4 (02:56):
So we go back and basically, when she's already you know,
booking some films, she wanted to do something that was creative,
something that would make her, I think, stand out and
seem even more interested, you know, interesting excuse me than
she already was, right, and she had you know, reached
out to me and said, hey, you know, can you
pen me some bars? You know, she knew robin Hood

(03:18):
was was basically being created and just kind of coming
out and everything.

Speaker 3 (03:23):
And so I said, hey, you.

Speaker 4 (03:24):
Know, you're my homie, you my girl, no problem, I'm
gonna look out for you, and wrote her some bars.
And then that just continued, like every time she had
a new project coming out, she would reach out, you
know and be like, hey, can you pen me some bars?
And so that's really you know where that came from.
But yeah, we were in graduate school together at the

(03:44):
same time.

Speaker 1 (03:45):
Oh man, that is so dope.

Speaker 2 (03:47):
And you know, even with like I say, even with
you going to the Yale School of Drama and like
being selected.

Speaker 1 (03:52):
I know that like for a person who comes from
you know, where we come from, you.

Speaker 2 (03:56):
Know, they often try to pigeonhold us and make it
seem like, you know, there there's not places, you know,
the places that are like that there are not.

Speaker 1 (04:04):
Fit for us.

Speaker 2 (04:04):
But then when you hear stories like your story or
you know, like I said, Lupizza, and I've been blessed
enough to talk to a lot of actors, you know,
and so they're telling me things about how there is
in Juilliard and things like that. And for you, when
you became the recipients of those awards and being able
to go to that Yello School of Drama, what's going
through a young you know, Miriam's head.

Speaker 4 (04:28):
You know, I feel truly, truly blessed with my education.
And it's just it's an honor to, you know, be
accepted into a program of the of that status and
really not even so much because it's like, oh, it's Yale,
but there are a lot of people who are auditioning
for these programs every single year. And they pick very

(04:49):
very few, and I like to, you know, think that
they pick those individuals who are going to be very
hard working, who are going to represent you know, the university,
represent that particulicular school you're branded, you know, in such
a way. And so I did the work that it
took to get into the program. You know, when it
came to graduate schools, I only applied to Yell. I

(05:12):
didn't like a lot of people apply to like multiple schools,
and you know, I put all of my eggs in
one basket. You know, like you said, I grew up
in West Philadelphia. I came from the inner city, came
from the hood, and I just felt like, look, I
have nothing to lose, everything to gain. So put all
of those eggs in one basket. And I basically, you know,

(05:35):
once when I applied. You know, this is so funny.
When I applied for Yale, you have to have like
a little password in order to you know, sending your application.
My application. True story, my password was going, your girl
was focused. My password was going, and I truly manifested it.

(05:57):
So I did everything that I need to do. You know,
they said when you had the audition, they wanted you
to have two contrasting monologues, maybe a third on deck Baby,
I came with ten.

Speaker 1 (06:10):
Yeah, that's I heard that story.

Speaker 2 (06:11):
I was like, Yo, it's a testament to even with
everything that you do, because like even with you starting
Truth Teller productions and even with you just even your
approach to acting and everything, you are always a person.
At least what I got from your interviews and things
that I did with my research is that you're a
person that one overly prepares, but you try to like

(06:31):
also be in that moment of like all right everything,
you know, you got to think of everything.

Speaker 1 (06:36):
So when I heard that, I was like, of course.

Speaker 2 (06:38):
She's gonna come with multiple monologues because you know, like
it fits your personality so so much. And it was
like it just it stands a testament to your dedication
to each realm of whatever you're doing.

Speaker 1 (06:49):
It's like when you're in it. Oh you're in it.

Speaker 4 (06:52):
Oh I'm in, I'm in, I'm in, I'm in like
the Flanns and shout.

Speaker 3 (06:55):
Out the powerful floor. Right.

Speaker 4 (06:58):
But yeah, I just I really really wanted it, and
you know, in my statement of purpose, it was like
Yale or Bust, Like I wanted to go to the
institution that I thought was going to be the very best,
the one that was going to help me get very
specific with my work and the type of work that
I wanted to do. You mentioned the Shy, you mentioned
Power Floor Force, two totally different characters. So it's a

(07:22):
testament to just how I feel about versatility. I feel
like the best actors are the most those those people
that are really transformative, the ones that can kind of,
you know, step out of themselves a little bit, but
come into a totally different like energy and really truly
make people believe.

Speaker 3 (07:41):
That they are this person, you know.

Speaker 4 (07:44):
And so for me, it's I play for a living,
you know, I'm making pretend playing, you know. But at
the same time, it's like I believe who I am
when I am in those shoes.

Speaker 1 (07:58):
And from the from the audience, like I said, we
believe it.

Speaker 2 (08:01):
And again it's really dope because you know, when we
see the roles that you choose rights, it's not like
it is showing your versatility. I mean from theater, you know,
so you're doing theater productions, you're doing robbin hood, but
then you know, you show up in a show and
you're a medical examiner or then you you know, or

(08:22):
like you say, you show up in a show and
then you were a pastor or you're a social work
and it's just like whoa the range And it's funny
because the Pentagon, when somebody got introduced to you, when
they deep dive into your career, it's just shock after shock,
like whoa, whoa? To me, I love those layers and
I do love it when it's us.

Speaker 4 (08:42):
I'm like, look, I'm about to add you to my team.
I feel like you can pitch the hell out of me.

Speaker 1 (08:49):
I love doing this.

Speaker 2 (08:50):
I love doing this and you know so, and then
you know for me, like I said, this is the
geek set podcast, so we are blurds, nerves and geeks,
you know, trying to show that not everybody Steve R.

Speaker 1 (09:00):
You know what I'm saying, it's a lot of cool
people like us in.

Speaker 2 (09:01):
It into this absolutely, but then seeing that also like
you had a dope as voice acting run like I mean, Rah,
that game is phenomenal. Walking Dead also Steven Universe, which
my kids love Steven Universe just like just Mad Bangers One.
I want to know, like, are you doing more voice

(09:23):
acting roles because you definitely.

Speaker 4 (09:25):
Should absolutely absolutely, I have a big video game that
will be coming out. I can't you know, say the
name of it or anything, but I love doing video games.
In fact, like I have a pretty much like an
arcade room like in my house, so I have like
the old school I have Mortal Kombat, I have NBA Jam,

(09:46):
I have a pac Man, you know, like I have
a PlayStation. Of course, I have a you know, Nintendo Switch.
And I didn't even get a PlayStation until I started
doing all of these different video games. Okay, so when
I I saw that, you know, Steven Universe, when I
saw that The Walking Dead, like all these video games
were coming out on these particular like devices, I.

Speaker 3 (10:09):
Was like, oh, I got to get a PlayStation. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (10:11):
And so when I when I got my PlayStation, Horizon
came with it. I was like, this is amazing, you know,
like it was it was like that. I mean, I
had to pay for the PlayStation, but it was just
sort of like that too. For one, you know, like
it was like, wow, this is such a gift. And
that process, let me tell you, was amazing. I mean

(10:32):
I had all the get up on when I was
in a studio, like.

Speaker 3 (10:36):
I'm moving around and you know, the character on the screen.

Speaker 4 (10:40):
You're you're becoming that it's like you're one, and it
was really it was really enriching.

Speaker 3 (10:45):
I mean I thoroughly enjoyed it. I love working on animation.

Speaker 4 (10:50):
It's it's just really you get to just again, you
get to play, you know, and it's it's it's lovely
to be an adult and getting paid to do what
you love and to getting paid to play, you know,
and you take it very serious.

Speaker 3 (11:04):
It's not like something like, oh, we don't take it,
you know serious.

Speaker 4 (11:07):
It's a very focused profession and I absolutely love doing that.
So yes, there is definitely definitely more coming to add
to that resume.

Speaker 2 (11:16):
Because the one thing that I love about voice acting
and when we get characters, like the characters that you portray,
is that you know, in this world of you know,
blurs and you know, just pop culture, when it gets
time to like representation, like you know, we don't have well,
we didn't have a lot of us like how we
looked into these games, right, especially in the fantastical environment.

(11:40):
So when you get a game like Horizon and then
you get a character like yours, and I often relay
it back to because I go to a lot of
these conventions to either career and stuff. You start seeing
cosplays and you start seeing people choosing characters where they're like, Okay,
I'm gonna do a black version of this character. But
then you have that pocket of people who's like, I'm
only exclusively choosing these black characters, so I can do that,

(12:01):
and you give us a new character for people to
cosplay because it's con.

Speaker 1 (12:08):
Season is coming up.

Speaker 2 (12:09):
I guarantee you how big that Horizon game was and everything.
I guarantee you you're gonna start seeing yourself tagged and
people cosplaying your character.

Speaker 1 (12:19):
I'm putting it out in the air because.

Speaker 3 (12:23):
I look forward to it.

Speaker 2 (12:24):
No, absolutely, absolutely, So I didn't want to talk a
little bit about force because yeah, because one like I said, well,
I guess we.

Speaker 1 (12:33):
Gotta call you maryor candidate now or like.

Speaker 3 (12:36):
Can you see my button? Stacey marks all Day.

Speaker 2 (12:40):
Says a character who it's clear where her like, she
has drive and it clear that she wants to win,
but now due to her environment and things that's happened,
and she gotta she gotta play a little bit, you know,
and stuff like that.

Speaker 1 (12:54):
Getting into that character one, jumping into that already universe
and getting into that char What was your preparation there?

Speaker 4 (13:02):
Okay, So first of all, I've always wanted to play
an attorney that has been like on my list. So
when I had my audition, I had like maybe ten
pages of sides that I had to prepare, and I'm
a very prepared like actress. So when it comes time
to do a play or when it time you know,
comes time for me to walk on set, I'm completely

(13:24):
like off book. So when I had to do this audition,
I was red d okay, like sides on deck, ready
to go. And basically when I auditioned for the part,
initially it was for a guest star. So if you
remember at the end of season one, I come in
and I'm come in as the assistant US attorney and

(13:46):
I'm only in one scene, it's at the very very end,
and those ten pages of sides that I had memorized
and like ready to go. When I booked the part,
I had three lines in the whole episode like that
you don't see. I'm like, this is all y'all want
me to do, But I was. I was so tremendously

(14:07):
grateful for the opportunity that I said, I'm gonna put
my all into these three lines.

Speaker 3 (14:12):
It was a really great experience.

Speaker 4 (14:13):
And then soon after I had as soon as after
after I shot it and everything, I found out they
were coming back for season two and that I was
going to be offered a series regular role, and that
was like whoa, because that was my first series regular opportunity.
And then I found out that I was going to
be bumped from the assistant US Attorney to the US Attorney.

(14:39):
So I was excited because in the audition I had
a lot of a lot of the sides were focused
on me being in the courtroom, so I thought I
had that more of that was going to happen, But
it seems to have taken a turn, you know, within
the actual show, so you haven't seen me in the courtroom,
not yet anyway. So it's been primary me being in

(15:01):
the US Attorney's office. And even that's a great honor
because the president elects the US Attorney. So that was
just really cool me thinking about, like, Wow, what does
that take for a black woman who is from Chicago.
I'm from Philadelphia, like I said, but I can equate,
like what that's like me growing up in Philly and

(15:24):
being selected to go to Yale at a thousands of
kids to be one of fifteen, and then here you
are in Chicago. Out of all of these public defenders,
you're the one who is selected to become the US attorney.
And so it was it was just like, WHOA, this
is amazing. I'm really gonna take this extremely seriously. Find

(15:45):
out like what do US attorneys do? How much money
do they make a year? You know, what is that
process like? And so it was to find out that
I was going to be like chasing after Tommy, you know,
it was just like, wow, Okay, now I have to
process that because he is a loved character. I mean,

(16:08):
my mom is like leave Tommy alone, like I'm trying
to protect you out of the city, and these people are.

Speaker 1 (16:16):
Root for Tommy, you know.

Speaker 4 (16:18):
But I can understand why he's a love character. You know,
Joseph Sikchori. He does his role very very well. And
I initially, you know, kind of fell in love with
his character too from watching.

Speaker 3 (16:28):
The initial power Yeah and everything.

Speaker 4 (16:31):
So I was like, Okay, he's really cool, he's down
to earth. I can see why so many people are like,
you know, like love his character and love his energy
and everything. So for myself, for Stacy, Marks. I just,
you know, I'm very playful myself, Like I'm a joker.
I'm constantly you know, making jokes, and I just believe
in having a good time. But I knew that when

(16:51):
it came to Stacy, there was gonna have to be
a level of seriousness, a level of focus, a level.

Speaker 3 (16:56):
Of drive, a level of determination.

Speaker 4 (16:59):
So I took a lot of Miriam and I put her,
you know, into Stacy. But I just had to craft
her in such a way that these people understood, like, look,
this woman means business.

Speaker 3 (17:10):
He's here to do her job.

Speaker 4 (17:12):
She wants to be effective, she wants to be heard, respected,
you know, really.

Speaker 3 (17:17):
Listen to because it's so easy to just.

Speaker 4 (17:20):
Kind of disregard our people, Black women in ticular, you know,
they're like at the bottom of the totem pole. And
so she's climbing that ladder and basically letting everybody know
that surrounds her, like listen, I'm here, I mean business
and I'm doing my very very best in order to
clean up this city.

Speaker 1 (17:39):
Yea.

Speaker 4 (17:40):
You know, Stacy gets a lot of slack because people
are like, oh, she's just coming after Tommy.

Speaker 3 (17:44):
I'm like, bro, he's a drug dealer.

Speaker 1 (17:46):
Correct, watch out there. I get it.

Speaker 3 (17:53):
He's a murderer, Like what are we talking about?

Speaker 4 (17:55):
You know, but yet people are rooting of for Tommy,
and you know what I get. You know, it's like okay,
but but it's okay because I understand what that's like.
And so really it just fuels me and I and
I put that fuel right into safety marks, you know,
So her tank is never on.

Speaker 3 (18:14):
E because she fueled by me. Okay, let's go.

Speaker 2 (18:19):
But the great thing about the power universe, it's always
like who's chasing the beloved star? And you take any
iteration of power, it's always somebody within law enforcement or
government that's chasing that main person, right, And so like
that first interaction that you had with Tommy to me
really set the stage up, like, no, we need this,

(18:41):
this this cat and mouse chase because.

Speaker 3 (18:43):
You know that dynamic.

Speaker 2 (18:44):
Absolutely yeah, because you know he was like, hey, Legendly,
you gotta throw it that. He like, I ain't gotta
say ship because that's fast, and I was like, oh,
like you know the way that y'all was playing off
each other, I said, oh, I'm here for all of this,
like yeah, And that.

Speaker 3 (18:58):
Was really fun.

Speaker 4 (18:58):
I mean, I love being on set with other actors
that really just know how to keep the ball in
the air. It's really like a tennis match. And that
scene was so fun because I'm like, Okay, not only
was I acting with him for the first time, like Miriam,
I'm going up against like this heavyweight, but also, like
you said, this is Stacy going up against Tommy, and

(19:21):
he is this you know, love character and everything, and
she knows like it doesn't even matter, like I'm gonna
stay in my ground with this guy. If you remember
in the scene, I'm like, I go and I post
up on his car. I'm looking like it's a low Mustang.

Speaker 3 (19:36):
Boy.

Speaker 4 (19:36):
I just bought him in an suv and I'm in
the back seat and somebody's driving me what you know.
So she has to have that, you know, just sort
of boldness about her and to show him I'm not
intimidated by you, right, Okay, I understand that you are
who you are, but guess what, I'm who I am.
And the same way that you feel like you have
a job to do, I feel I know that I

(19:59):
have a job to do because I've been appointed by
the president, and in my mind that president is like Obama,
Well you know, so you know, I have a I
have a responsibility to myself, I have a responsibility to
my community.

Speaker 3 (20:12):
And so with that said, sir, this is what needs
you know.

Speaker 4 (20:18):
And then also one of my officers had recently been murdered.

Speaker 3 (20:23):
And he was responsible for that.

Speaker 4 (20:25):
So of course I'm coming with Vargas, I'm coming with
that energy as well.

Speaker 3 (20:29):
So it was it.

Speaker 4 (20:30):
Was great, you know, I just I had a blast
shooting that scene with him.

Speaker 3 (20:35):
There's definitely more, you.

Speaker 1 (20:36):
Know, well, I mean, now you got some hiccups on
the campaign trail that you're gonna have to deal with.

Speaker 3 (20:43):
About that.

Speaker 4 (20:44):
About that, but even with that, you know, she didn't say, hey,
I want to run for mayor. She was selected, true,
and she was selected because of all of the great
work that has that she's been doing thus far. So
even with that, it was like whoa, you know, in
the scene, it was like this is this is amazing.
Like when I found out, like you know, as Miriam,

(21:05):
like oh okay, this is what's going to happen. She's
gonna be running for mayor, Like oh wow, she's going
to be a candidate and like a front runner to
begin with. So I thought that that was really cool,
and I just tried to embrace it all as much
as possible. And in episode three or three, when I'm
I'm speaking to like all the journalists and everything, I mean,
I really felt like.

Speaker 1 (21:26):
I was running.

Speaker 4 (21:28):
I was this is I could do this politics. Let's
get it, you know. So that's why I'm still wearing
my button.

Speaker 1 (21:36):
Why not? Why listen? I listen.

Speaker 2 (21:39):
I'm a voice actor myself, and you know, trying more
my hands and more in acting and everything like that.

Speaker 1 (21:44):
I'm definitely going to be that person that like, hey,
I'm taking props like oh this you had that right.

Speaker 4 (21:49):
You can't see it right now, but I have a
poster that says both Stacey marks, like.

Speaker 3 (21:53):
Oh yeah, as you looking at it, have it like
behind me, just like posted up in the back.

Speaker 4 (21:58):
I didn't want to do too much, but you know,
I said, I'm wearing about button.

Speaker 2 (22:01):
You told a dope story on your Instagram about a
full circle moment that you used to do promo for fifty,
and I wanted to ask about that, like at what
time was.

Speaker 1 (22:09):
You doing the promo for fifty?

Speaker 2 (22:10):
And then that first initial meeting again with fifty, Like
what was how was that?

Speaker 3 (22:15):
Wow? That was crazy?

Speaker 4 (22:16):
I so yeah, when I was in college, I used
to do promo for Like, I was a part of
a street team and we used to do promo for
a lot of different record labels, which is so crazy
that I now have my own like music label, right,
because I wasn't thinking about it then.

Speaker 3 (22:32):
Of course, I was just trying to make some money.

Speaker 4 (22:34):
Okay, But basically, yeah, he was one of the artists
that I would do you know, promo for.

Speaker 3 (22:42):
So I'm one of those kids.

Speaker 4 (22:44):
I'm out there with posters and give it out you know,
vinyl to the DJs and you know, stuff of that nature.
And wasn't even old enough to be in the clubs.
But it was just kind of like, hey, this, I
can make a couple of dollars.

Speaker 3 (22:57):
I'm in college.

Speaker 4 (22:58):
I need to be able to feed myself, right, And
so it was just a It was one of my
side hustles, okay, because I.

Speaker 3 (23:04):
Had like eight, as we do I'm Happy Jamaican.

Speaker 4 (23:09):
No, I'm kidding, but yeah, I had like eight hustles
and that was one of them. And I thoroughly enjoyed
it because I'm a dancer first and foremost. So I
used to teach you know, hip hop classes I had
a hip hop company called Center of the Cipher and
it was a lot of local dancers in Philadelphia. So
it was my opportunity to just be in the clubs.

(23:30):
We're dancing, we're promoting. It was it was all of that,
you know, that was going on so fast forward.

Speaker 3 (23:36):
When I actually booked Force, I'm like.

Speaker 4 (23:39):
This is wild that fifty is one of the executive producers,
Like how does that happen?

Speaker 3 (23:46):
And so on?

Speaker 4 (23:48):
Se in season three, one of my first days on set,
I found out that he wanted to come and watch
me work. So I was just like WHOA, Like that's
really dope, you know, because you don't always have the
execs that are present or that want to be present.
So I got a chance to officially meet him because

(24:09):
I've been in the room with him before. You just
didn't know I was in the room, you know. But
I was like, you know, from a distance and you
know many men, you know, I'm knowing all the lyrics
and everything. But that was really that was really cool
because he was just very open, very warm, had really
lovely things to say. And I told him about my
story that I used to promote for him, and he's

(24:31):
the one that said, you know, full circle in his fifties,
and he's like, yeah, you know, bull circle, you know, and.

Speaker 3 (24:39):
It was really sweet.

Speaker 4 (24:40):
It was it was a nice sort of tender moment,
and I was just really grateful because this business is
it can just be really tricky, you know, and you
just have to your faith has to be strong. You
have to just trust and believe on God that these
opportunities are going to come your way. And when they do,
it's time for you to just you know, stand up

(25:00):
and show everything that you have.

Speaker 3 (25:02):
You know, you have to show up and show out.

Speaker 4 (25:04):
So I hope that, you know, he's been pleased with
my performance thus far.

Speaker 2 (25:09):
I feel like what we know about fifty and how
he handles online, yeah, I feel like you're good because
because we didn't see we didn't seen fifty when he's.

Speaker 1 (25:19):
Not like, all right, you ain't doing as.

Speaker 4 (25:21):
Well, right, you know, and I'm like, you know, don't
be a mes me, you know, like you know, dreaming,
Do me right?

Speaker 1 (25:27):
Yea, do me right?

Speaker 4 (25:28):
But yeah, it's it was, it's it was just a
really great opportunity to be alongside of him and for
him to offer me, you know, just really lovely words
of like wisdom and and I just you know, I
took it and I received it, and I was like, wow,
you know, it's it's go time. You know, I'm really
going to make sure that I'm showing up and showing

(25:50):
out even more. And uh yeah that was that was
pretty much it.

Speaker 2 (25:55):
No, that's no man, I know, being a hip hop
head again, you're being You're sad and being I feel
like that's got to be crazy and absolutely and so
I do want to get into like with your music
because it so what I love about your production company,
your label is that when I listen to, like, you know,
like I would listen to that Family Over Everything album

(26:17):
and it one is such a complete album, you know
because like like you know, like from front to back
Air Jordan, which is your cousin going like I rock
with him tough. But the first thing that like really
attracted me to that album and even just listening to
the songs was that I was like, this reminds me
kind of like early TD, where it was like the

(26:39):
production value is current, but the lyrics does not lack.
Like you know, oftentimes you get that area where people
it's like, oh, you know, I'm just heavy on the production.

Speaker 1 (26:48):
I don't got it.

Speaker 2 (26:49):
I can dumb down my lyrics and it don't sound
like you guys are dumbing down your lyrics at all.
Like lyricism first, and that the music makes it, you
know where It's like if you only listen to beats,
you can vibe out to this.

Speaker 1 (27:02):
If you listen to the lyrics, you been like, oh shit,
they going crazy?

Speaker 2 (27:07):
Was that the like the model, I guess, was that
like the vision when you was putting together this production house.

Speaker 4 (27:13):
I mean, first of all, with the label itself, it's
called truth Teller Productions, and that is very purposeful.

Speaker 3 (27:20):
You know.

Speaker 4 (27:20):
We want to speak truth. We want to tell our truth.
We want to be what I like to say is
hot with people. That's my little acronym, honest, open and
truthful hot. And so I say to myself, all the
lyricists you know that are under our company, all of
the producers, like listen again, like with those beats. Me
being a dancer first, if I can't move to the beat,

(27:41):
it's going to be challenging for me to write to it.
So honestly, I have to physically respond to that in
an honest way. And then in terms of the lyrics,
we got to come you know, you know what I mean,
like come, like speak your truth here, Like what are
we talking about?

Speaker 3 (27:56):
What's the song?

Speaker 4 (27:57):
You know, what's the focus within the song? So that
first song that's on that particular album, yes, it's eight
without works, you know FWW and it's out dead. So
that's something that I grew up with, that scripture, you know,
just understanding that it's not about you just wanting to
do something. It's about you again trusting on God. But

(28:18):
you have to put that work into it as well.
So I'm even reminding myself right now, you know, as
I'm speaking this to you. So for Jordan, first of all,
hands down, I think that he is a really talented
there's like actually one of my favorites, you.

Speaker 3 (28:35):
Know, and.

Speaker 4 (28:37):
He just sent me some stuff to the other day,
and I'm just like, Jordan is so dope, Like he
just his metaphors and analogies, like the way that he
just breaks things down. And he's from Chicago actually, okay,
and so when I started working on the Shy, like
we're cousins, but we didn't necessarily both grow up in
the same area. So I grew up in Philadelphia, he

(28:57):
was in Chicago, and so when I started working on this,
we just kind of like reconnected in a major way,
and we were constantly in the studio.

Speaker 3 (29:05):
So pretty much wherever I'm working, I have like.

Speaker 4 (29:07):
A studio home in that particular you know city or
you know state or whatever. And so it was for
that particular album, it was introducing him. So he's on
pretty much every song I want to say, of like
one or two, and he's also a producer, so a
lot of those songs he produced those songs as well.

Speaker 3 (29:28):
So I believe in being multifaceted.

Speaker 4 (29:31):
You know, and definitely just again going back to versatility,
like multi hyphenated.

Speaker 3 (29:36):
What else can you bring to the table, what else
can you do?

Speaker 4 (29:39):
So there's nobody on my team that's like, oh I
just write, or oh I just spit bars, Oh I
just produce. Everybody knows how to do a variety of
different things. So I feel like when you have that
type of variety within your company, then you can look
to different people to produce in a different way, you know.

(29:59):
But it's always high standard. So yes, the beats had
to be on point, but those lyrics had to match
those beats one hundred percent.

Speaker 3 (30:07):
Nothing could be lacking.

Speaker 4 (30:09):
So you know, all of my engineers, everybody that was
mixing and mastering the put. Everybody had to come with
their a game. And then also because we're independent label,
you have so many other people, Like I don't like
to think of it as competition, but essentially you have
under individual you're you know, competing with, So you just
want to make sure that you're ready to go. And

(30:31):
then I've received music placements for some of my other
songs that I.

Speaker 3 (30:34):
Have a couple of music placements, yeah, like on.

Speaker 4 (30:36):
The Shy, So you want to make sure that that
music quality is like up to par, if not beyond.
So I'm so glad that you felt the album and
hopefully you can identify with some things because that's that's
really what the goal is.

Speaker 2 (30:52):
No, Yeah, because like after listening to that album, I
started tapping in more, like I said, listening to more freestyles,
like said, because you.

Speaker 1 (30:57):
Drop a lot of freestyles, and I'm just like, what
I love.

Speaker 2 (31:00):
About your style is like it reminds me of like Rhapsody,
but it also has that hunger of like push a tea,
Like you know what I'm saying, Because the way that
you play around with your voice and everything, you know, push.

Speaker 3 (31:09):
Your tea is one of my favorites.

Speaker 1 (31:11):
No, I didn't know that.

Speaker 4 (31:13):
I had an interview the other day and they were like,
who would you like to work with? And I was like,
you know, I love pushing tea, Like.

Speaker 1 (31:20):
So you just made my day.

Speaker 3 (31:22):
Like I'm I'm done. I'm bad here.

Speaker 2 (31:26):
Because I'm a hip hop head as well. Like I said,
I like hip hop was my first love and everything.
That's why I continue to write, why I continue to
make music myself right, and so like I understand like
when I listened to like just like how people present
themselves right, and so when I was listening to like
your flow and everything, it was again, it's the it's
the inflections in the way that you play with your

(31:47):
voice with certain bars and certain you know, I'm saying
certain moments in it and that, and I was like, yo,
I was like, I'm hearing push in that, and I'm
hearing that when he gets into that, like in that
like when you get into your I'm hearing that when
you get into your back, especially on those freestyles, and
I'm just like, yo, it like I said, it made
me tap in more because.

Speaker 1 (32:08):
One you're acting is so upper.

Speaker 2 (32:11):
Echelanze, right, whereas like it can always seem like all right,
acting is here.

Speaker 1 (32:16):
You know, the music is.

Speaker 2 (32:17):
Probably you know this baby, it's like it's a it's
a it's a love, it's a hobby. But it's like, nah,
it's like you can be fully just Robin Hood and
still be having as many success as you are having
like you are with it acting because the music is
so good.

Speaker 1 (32:32):
And then what you said is one hundred percent purpose.

Speaker 2 (32:36):
So a lot of the times with my music, I'll
put it in playlist with other, like you know, industry
songs just to see how when that blend happens when
my song comes up, if it's it doesn't do it
sound local or do it sound like it fit?

Speaker 1 (32:49):
Right? So when I think about the shy and like that.

Speaker 2 (32:51):
Placement when your music comes on, I'm just like, hey,
that's just a dope song, like it fits.

Speaker 1 (32:56):
It doesn't sound like they just grab some local artists
or anything. And I think think that.

Speaker 2 (33:00):
That is you again putting that that thought process into
making sure that hey, everything is up is up here
because we're competing. We're not just indy. Even though we're indy,
we don't look at ourselves as indy. We are computing.

Speaker 3 (33:13):
Absolutely not, absolutely not.

Speaker 4 (33:15):
I mean even when I started acting, the first agent
that I was working with, I was about to get
my head shots and she's like, you know, do you
want to be a local actor or do you want
to work everywhere? And I said, well, I want to
work everywhere, and she's like, okay, so your headshot has
to reflect that, because coming out of Philly, there was
a very sort of localized Philadelphia headshot. You know, everybody

(33:39):
was kind of posing the same way, the quality of
the photo was the same. So I ended up getting
my photos done in New York so that it was
like more across the board, like, Okay, she could be
she could work in LA she could work in New York,
she could work in Philadelphia if she wants to. But
it's that same mentality, you know, It's like nobody wants

(34:00):
us to just be on the block. You want to
be able to be on everybody's block. You want everybody's
block pumping you, you know, and playing your music so
you you I'm smiling ear to ear because you once
you said to push your ta I'm just.

Speaker 1 (34:12):
Like, I love it.

Speaker 2 (34:13):
The one thing that I absolutely love about the culture
is that it's still embedded in black culture.

Speaker 4 (34:19):
Mike he still rock dumps or Jordan's and they also
talked about Batman first Superman, Batman and super Superman is
literally Brown Verst Jordan.

Speaker 1 (34:28):
Dragon ball Z that like, my whole trajectory and life changed.
Don't nobody talk to me. My shit is on. We
just experience it looks like it's gonna be real deep.
Then elevation from where King Vader started.

Speaker 4 (34:48):
To now black geek culture helped me through some of
the highs of my life, from some of the loves
of my life. It's always been there, sort of like
an undercurrent of everything I did.

Speaker 1 (34:58):
There was no term for it, there was no it
was just this is what I'm doing.

Speaker 3 (35:03):
I love us in it.

Speaker 2 (35:05):
I love the fact that we take things and we
always make it better. In this hip hop conversation then
because I wanted it as because the big conversation conversation
that happened over the past, like you know, four weeks,
was that you know, in the first time in thirty
five years that hasn't been a song number one on

(35:25):
the charts.

Speaker 1 (35:26):
Right now, I put I did a little quick rant
on my podcast.

Speaker 2 (35:29):
Where I was saying I was like, when did hip
hop start focusing caring so much about the charts. I said,
hip hop has always been an expression. It's always been
about lyrics. It's always been about representation. And I was like, yes,
it was dope that we had number ones on the charts,
but that's never been what moved this culture. But it
seems like, you know, that's not the genuine consensus from everybody.

(35:51):
But I wanted to get from another lyricist, what is
your thought process, I mean, not thought, what is your
thoughts about that about hip hop not being number one?
Because I still like this year we got some amazing albums.

Speaker 4 (36:02):
I mean, we have some amazing albums, some amazing lyricists,
and I just I don't know, it's kind of like,
I just.

Speaker 3 (36:09):
Want to hear quality music. I just want to hear
quality music.

Speaker 4 (36:12):
I don't want to hear the same thing over and
over and over again. Even the clips like with their project,
I'm just like, Yo, these dudes, they're they're they're killing agism,
Like it's not even about that anymore. And I don't
think it ever really should have been about that. I
think you have some really dope like lyricists period, and
I feel like the more mature, you become, you know,

(36:33):
hopefully you're more well rounded.

Speaker 3 (36:35):
You've seen, you know more.

Speaker 4 (36:36):
I have a lyric in one of my songs where
I say, you know, you say you've been around the world,
but took the hood off your mat. You know.

Speaker 3 (36:43):
It's like, so you're out.

Speaker 4 (36:45):
There now, and so you're not focused on the hood
in any way, shape or form. You know, you're not
giving back to your community. And so for me, it's
just like, as long as we are feeding and fueling
our communities and motivating and inspiring. Really, I think that
that that's what's most important. But charts, you know, that
equals dollars. It's just like, how many times is your

(37:08):
album being downloaded? How many streams are you getting? And
I think as we get more and more and more
into stream culture, I think that's that's probably gonna be
a thing.

Speaker 3 (37:17):
You know. So the theme for me will.

Speaker 4 (37:20):
Always be quality, quality music, and that that's with the lyrics.

Speaker 3 (37:24):
You know, obviously you want the beat.

Speaker 4 (37:26):
To be like really great, you know, because that's gonna
again if you're moving to it, then okay, what's the
lyrics You're gonna want to you know, spit those bars right,
So it's it's interesting because it's like, yeah, wow, in
thirty five years, like that's that's a long time, you know, But.

Speaker 3 (37:45):
I don't know. I mean.

Speaker 1 (37:48):
So no right, so.

Speaker 2 (37:50):
Again, like I said with me, because a couple of
things like one, like you said with the beat, you
gotta have to beat because as much as I love NAS,
you know that joke has always been any big bad beats.

Speaker 1 (37:59):
But then you on that run that he did with
hip with hip Boy and Nas.

Speaker 2 (38:03):
He's been giving us just amazing things, and I said,
we got the clips j I d to me is
one of the is he is one of the best
of the new class that is coming out, Like Chance
gave us an amazing album.

Speaker 1 (38:14):
Frent Gibbs is getting his love.

Speaker 2 (38:16):
Right now, like we to me, I was like, this
is one of the best years in hip hop. I
don't care about the charts because there's a lot of
hip hop albums that I listened to, like you from Philly.

Speaker 1 (38:27):
So I tell this to every Philly person. I know.

Speaker 2 (38:30):
One of my favorite albums of all time, and it
just so happened it came out right before another.

Speaker 1 (38:36):
Big thing eclipsed them. Was Philly's most wanted get down
or Lay Down? I love that album back like that
is one of my favorite albums.

Speaker 3 (38:45):
If we're gonna talk about Philly, then I gotta throw
out the reason.

Speaker 1 (38:48):
Yeah, of course the reason. Oh my god, I literally used.

Speaker 3 (38:53):
To live on Seagu Street. Okay it was. It was
a tough block. Okay it was.

Speaker 4 (38:59):
It was tough, and I mean feeling in the air.
I'm quoting throughout like my first, my very very first mixtape.
I couldn't not quote being like constantly because he just
had so many like dope lines, like his bars were
just like, oh my gosh, it is anybody listening to this, Like,

(39:22):
you know, I can see why Hove was like that.

Speaker 1 (39:26):
One, you know, and and all the songs that him
and Hove always did.

Speaker 2 (39:29):
It just felt like a sparring match because because like
I said, he like that State Property album, that State
that first one. I mean, I like Chain Gang too,
but that first one, and then once again it's on
once again.

Speaker 1 (39:42):
It's on with Sego and Ja.

Speaker 3 (39:45):
Oh my, you drove me crazy right now.

Speaker 1 (39:49):
I love Listen.

Speaker 2 (39:50):
I'm from Milwaukee, but like, I love all of hip hop.
I'm a hip hop head, you know what I'm saying,
And so like, and I was listen, you couldn't tell
me anything about Rockefeller.

Speaker 1 (40:01):
I was Rockefeller was upper echelons for me.

Speaker 2 (40:04):
I would I would defend Rockefeller to this day, like
I was heartbroken when they broke out.

Speaker 1 (40:10):
It hurt my heart. And then but get right now.

Speaker 2 (40:16):
Beanie Siegel to right now is the postal child for
the correct way to use AI because of you know,
with his voice issues and everything and how they're reconstructed.
I said that is because I'm anti AI. But if
they're using it that way, or like how they're going
or how they doing with James Earl Jones. So James
Earl Jones when he passed away, you know, he's Darth Vader,
but he licensed his voice to AI and the residuals

(40:38):
and everything goes to his family and his a state.
To me, I said, these are like longest you put
some type of parameters and the right people get paid
around it.

Speaker 1 (40:46):
That's how I'm.

Speaker 3 (40:47):
Like, there's a way to use it. There's a way
to use it.

Speaker 4 (40:50):
And just going back to Beanie real quick, you know,
Jada Kiss has always been one of my favorites as well.
And one of the things that you've made me when
you were speaking about my voice and like push your teeth.

Speaker 3 (41:03):
That's another thing, like it's it's in that tone.

Speaker 1 (41:06):
Yeah, that's what grabs you.

Speaker 4 (41:07):
That's why people love DMX, you know, or even whole
It's like there was something about that raspiness, like it
just made you want to just feel what they were saying.
Even more so Jadakiss hands down. You know they have
a project, yes and be okay cool. So yeah, it's like,
I mean, I'm with you. We're not worried about the charts.

(41:31):
We just want great music, great lyricism, dope. Them's like,
hands down, that's that's what we want.

Speaker 2 (41:36):
And it's dope seeing Kiss and Sea go together because
Quiet has kept to me, that's my second favorite rap
beef of all time because when you listen, because when
you listen to that, when you listen to them going
back and forth. The one thing I said, I said,
one they didn't get personal nasty.

Speaker 1 (41:53):
Like how nowadays is It was really.

Speaker 2 (41:55):
Just I'm a better rapper than you, or I want
streak to you, let me tell you why. And they
went at each other bars and I like when Jada
Kiss pulled out the disco beat, I said, bro, you're
going crazy for even trying that and and yeah that's
low key my second favorite, like rap Battle because it
was just pure hip hop.

Speaker 1 (42:16):
It was you know.

Speaker 2 (42:17):
And then like I said, what I love about you
Philly artists is that you Philly artists always it's clear
to see their hunger, whether they're free styling on the corner,
whether they're battling, whether like we can see from like
there's to me, everybody from Philly, it's always had a
moment where they was like my top lyricists, like Cassidy
came out, he was one of the Meek Mills came out.

(42:38):
He was one of my favorite read dollars. Like like
I was tapped into all what you was doing on you.

Speaker 3 (42:45):
You can't put on the Meek Mill right now.

Speaker 4 (42:47):
And everybody in the stadium, everybody in the club, the block,
everybody's gonna go crazy. Yeah, everybody's gonna go But like
you said, the hunger and I think, you know, just
growing up in those Philly streets, like you know, people
used to always say to me like, oh, if you
can make it.

Speaker 3 (43:02):
In New York, you can make it anywhere.

Speaker 4 (43:04):
And I used to joke about it, like, look, if
you could make it in Philly, you can make it anywhere,
but I understand what they were saying, of course about
New York, because it is that you know, pound and Pavement.

Speaker 3 (43:14):
There's a lot of competition.

Speaker 4 (43:16):
But coming from Philly, I feel like that that prepped me,
you know, for New York and prepped me for being
in LA because you're not necessarily thinking about competition, you're
just thinking about it.

Speaker 3 (43:26):
I have to come and be the best.

Speaker 1 (43:28):
Yes.

Speaker 3 (43:29):
You know, when I was auditioning for.

Speaker 4 (43:30):
Yale, there was a girl who after I got in
the program, there was a girl who was basically auditioning
to come into the program, and she, you know, would
be like, so, how do they go about selecting their students,
like you know, how many how many black women? How
many women period? How many men? And I'm like, you
don't need to be worried about any of that. Don't

(43:50):
worry about anybody else's spot. You just need to be
worried about your spot. Okay, that's it. Get really focused
hone in on that. Unfortunately she didn't get in the program,
but I think it's.

Speaker 3 (44:02):
Because she too many things.

Speaker 4 (44:06):
And when you have too many distractions, you're looking over
here and looking over here and wondering what they're doing.
You can't really focus on what you need to do
in order to accomplish the goal.

Speaker 3 (44:15):
So Meek Mill, you know when he went.

Speaker 4 (44:17):
Up to Power ninety nine FM, you know, like he's like,
this is my chance, Like this is my opportunity.

Speaker 3 (44:24):
And I think it was like Rick Ross or somebody
who was up.

Speaker 4 (44:26):
There and he's like, I gotta this is my opportunity,
Like I have to go and show up, show out
and do what I need to do.

Speaker 2 (44:35):
So I mean freeway getting that car going up there,
you know, like you know that you have these moments
of people, it's like I'm just gonna go crazy, like.

Speaker 1 (44:44):
You know what I'm saying, It's dope, It's dope.

Speaker 2 (44:47):
So I mean, I like I said, I did want
to like when you talk about Yell and I said,
I just thought it was hilarious. It was just like
being from Philly and going to Yell. That's like Uncle
Phil's dream for Will Smith and Fresh Prince.

Speaker 3 (45:01):
The Fresh Princess. It's really.

Speaker 2 (45:06):
Now in my research also learned that you know, you
got some short con skills like you do and you.

Speaker 1 (45:13):
Now and they haven't like the tapped into that yet.

Speaker 3 (45:18):
You said, you said, well, now I'm surprised.

Speaker 1 (45:20):
That, like, you haven't gotten the road to flex that yet.

Speaker 3 (45:23):
That's coming.

Speaker 4 (45:24):
And you know again I had a previous interview and
they're like, what do you want to do more of?

Speaker 3 (45:28):
And I said, I want to get even more physical.

Speaker 4 (45:31):
I did take Showa Con for several years and I'm
trained in you know, stage combat, and I did a
couple of years ago. I was in Three Musketeers and
they wanted a female d'Artagnan, so I had multiple sword fights.

Speaker 3 (45:45):
You know.

Speaker 4 (45:46):
Like I had this review that came out that said
it was like when Wonder Woman came out and they
were like, this is the real Wonder Woman.

Speaker 3 (45:53):
Oh it's really dope. I mean, I'm out there, bank man.
You know, I was doing my thing and.

Speaker 4 (46:00):
I had a blast doing so I'm trusting God, you know,
trusting on God by faith for more of those opportunities.

Speaker 2 (46:07):
But go on, give me what you got because I'm
a manifest I manifest things, right, So you know there
is a black wonder Woman.

Speaker 3 (46:15):
No, I did not tell you put her name.

Speaker 2 (46:17):
So in the Wonder Woman, the race you know, the Domescarrans,
they're just full of warrior women, right, and there's the
black wonder Woman named Nubia. Right now, you are already tall,
you are, you already have.

Speaker 1 (46:35):
The skill set.

Speaker 2 (46:35):
And I'm pretty sure, like I said, they put you
in that superhero work out that you can you can
get them the.

Speaker 3 (46:45):
Like I'm getting on my bike right after it.

Speaker 2 (46:47):
Like so listening here we manifesting that right now that
brings them wonder Woman and they need a Nubia boom
right here, we right here, you need you in that row.

Speaker 3 (46:57):
Further, I am your Nubia.

Speaker 2 (47:00):
And I said, you know what, what know what I'm
gonna do, Like I said, I'm gonna reach out to
some of my people.

Speaker 1 (47:04):
I'm gonna get you some of those like just the
comics about her so you can appreciate that.

Speaker 2 (47:08):
You can read up on her because I'm because again
now I see the vision because it's one of those things,
especially with James Gunn doing his rework of the DC world,
like we haven't got our we haven't got our wonder
Woman yet, but I know that when they do it,
they're gonna be more focused on them a scare, which
is where she's from, so that we're gonna were gonna
put that.

Speaker 4 (47:28):
In there that you know, my reflexes are crazy, like
I catch nets in the.

Speaker 1 (47:33):
Air, okay, like yeah, that's stuff.

Speaker 4 (47:39):
And that's actually how I started taking show to con
Like I was watching Bruce Lee for the first time,
like just as a little kid, and I'm jumping off
the chairs and the couches and I told my dad,
I'm like, Dad, I want to study CE And so
they put me into Y M c A. And I started,
you know, training and everything, and I loved it then
I love it to this day. And it's just my

(48:00):
reflexes are really crazy. Like if somebody food like an
orange or something, I'm like bow. You know, it's weird.

Speaker 3 (48:07):
Like I don't know where that came from.

Speaker 4 (48:10):
But it's just something like if I if I was
to drop a pencil or something like, I'm able to
grab it like really quickly. And it's not even something
that I think about. It just kind of like happens.

Speaker 1 (48:22):
And you said, what, so you just naturally gifted that's what.

Speaker 4 (48:28):
Well, thank you, I received that. But yes, it just
it just naturally happens. So I know that there is
a world in which I would be able to utilize
that capability within my work.

Speaker 3 (48:39):
So I'm just like yo yo, something at me. I
dare you, I.

Speaker 1 (48:44):
Dare you, Like that's the that's the exactly exactly what
I'm show.

Speaker 4 (48:54):
Yeah, you want something, just test me, please test me,
you know, and even like applying to yell. Like I said,
I only auditioned for one school, and a lot of
people would probably think that that's crazy because they're like, oh, no,
you need to audition for at least four or five UCSD, NYU,
Juliard Yale, you know, just to throw out a few

(49:15):
but some of the top programs. But for me, it
was like, no, I want to go to the best
of the best, what I consider to be the best
of the best, and if I can't get into bad school,
then I don't want to go.

Speaker 3 (49:27):
And praise God, it happened.

Speaker 2 (49:30):
So getting back to a little bit more about with
your acting, because you've worked with a lot of juggernauts
just within different multiple platforms, whether it's voice acting, whether
it's an acting. Who is there any actors that you
haven't gotten a chance to work with that you would
love to work with?

Speaker 1 (49:47):
You know?

Speaker 4 (49:48):
So I was in this film called The Laundromat, a
Netflix film, and Meryl Street was a part of that cast.
I mean, Merle's like the lead and it It's really
lovely because the day that I was working on set,
Merril was like at the top of this like escalator
and she saw me working and she came down and

(50:09):
she's like, wow, you know you're you're really good.

Speaker 3 (50:12):
And I was just like, who me.

Speaker 4 (50:17):
So I would love to kind of like go toe
to toe, you know, have an opportunity like a Stacey Marks.

Speaker 3 (50:24):
Joseph Socora, you know sort of thing.

Speaker 4 (50:27):
I mean, we can be friends, like I don't have
to be going against her anything, but I would love
to work directly with her. Even in that video game,
you know, Horizon, Angela Bassett is also one of the characters. Yeah,
but I have not had the opportunity to work directly.

Speaker 3 (50:45):
Oh so I want to work.

Speaker 4 (50:47):
With the heavy hitters, like the people who really, you know,
make the people who inspired me to do what I'm
what I'm doing right now, and so that that would
be a huge you know, to work with either one
of those you know women, love to do something with
Denzel before he just completely stops right right because he.

Speaker 3 (51:09):
Said he's wrapping it up. He's wrapping up.

Speaker 4 (51:11):
But I mean there's so there's so many really talented
individuals out there. I don't want to leave anybody out
I mean, but but those three in particular. It's like
if somebody could say, hey, today, who do you want
to work with? Because it's really about the wisdom, like
I need to get those gems. And yes, I could
work with somebody my age or younger or something like that,

(51:33):
but I don't necessarily know that I'll be fueled in
the same way because, like you said, I'm a hard worker.
I put you know, I go above and beyond, and
so I really want to make sure that I'm keeping.

Speaker 3 (51:44):
The ball in the air.

Speaker 4 (51:45):
And that's actually challenging to do with a lot of
people because some people are just concerned about you know.

Speaker 3 (51:51):
My line, my line, my line.

Speaker 4 (51:52):
They're not they're not not really tapped into the listening
right that has to occur, you know, and so it's
acting as reac acting. So it's not all about oh,
why I'm speaking, listen to what I have to say.
It's more about, like, you know, what is that person?
What did they say to me that's affecting me, That's
going to make me respond, So you know, if it's
not a heavy hitter, then.

Speaker 2 (52:14):
Yeah, yeah, But I mean you also play like a
lot of heavy roles though, like in general, like in
The Shy, like you said, you jumped into a season
where it immediately was just drama, drama, drama drama, Like
I said, every Parent's worse nightmare, and you it's more
so the step step parent. So you have to be

(52:34):
a crush to that when you play certain heavy roles
like that, like one, how do you prepare? But also
how do you decompress like from those heavy themes.

Speaker 1 (52:44):
You know, I.

Speaker 4 (52:45):
Believe in safe method acting, and so that's like a
term that I've coined because I've just heard method acting.
But I think that you have to be able to
walk into it safely and then walk out of it
safely because I have my own life and I can't
allow those the characters are, like what they're going through
processing to affect like my own personal life.

Speaker 3 (53:06):
It just wouldn't be healthy.

Speaker 1 (53:07):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (53:07):
So, I mean when it came to Dre when I
when I read the character, initially she was supposed to
be older, and I said to my team, I'm like,
I don't really know if if I would be right
for this because the character is she's supposed to be
a little older. But I came in I did what
I needed to do, and they were like, it's fine,

(53:28):
because we actually want somebody that's a little younger who
can sort of balance out the age of the two,
like children, So not somebody that was as young as
they were obviously, somebody who had more youthful energy and
just kind of like that cool parent, you know. It
was kind of like a good cop, bad cop, you know,

(53:49):
sort of a thing in the household. But because Dre
had also kind of grew up you know, in the street,
you know, not necessarily like the support of her parents,
them completely kind of looking down upon her because she
was in the LGBTQ you know community, or and her
grandparents also kind of feeling that way, you know, towards

(54:10):
her as well. It was just like, okay, she's had
a lot of struggles that she's had to deal with
as a young person, so how has she been able
to progress, you know and move forward?

Speaker 3 (54:20):
So I got, you know, got some braids in.

Speaker 4 (54:22):
And braids that I wouldn't typically wear, you know, but
the breakdown said that she was a soft stud. So
I'm like, okay, I think I can you know, play
that often and be honest about it. So I didn't
want to be stereotypical. I wasn't like, oh, I'm wearing
you know, baggy jeans. Yeah, I want to you know,
boxers showing or anything like that, And not that there's

(54:45):
anything wrong with that. I just wanted the world to
be able to see something different, you know, something that
maybe was new, you know for some people, but that
they could still identify with and be like, oh, wow,
she's she's really real. She's really OpEd in to the
point where people were just thinking, like me and as Miriam,
like I'm just Dre and I'm like, no, Dre's.

Speaker 2 (55:07):
I told you you did, but you did it so
well that, like I was like, it did seem that
I talked.

Speaker 1 (55:14):
I thought you was from Chicago.

Speaker 3 (55:15):
I thought I was from Chicago.

Speaker 4 (55:18):
But then this is the beauty of versatility because then
you hit them with a Stacey Marx. A lot of
people don't even know to this day, they don't know
that I that I'm both.

Speaker 1 (55:28):
When I was like hey and I was like, oh,
this is a completely different character.

Speaker 3 (55:33):
Exactly, people are like, well, why did she have brains anymore?

Speaker 4 (55:36):
And I'm like, you know, you have to think about
it again. How many black women do we know that
are US attorneys that are walking around with braids. You know,
this is not her private practice, like she's serving the
country in a different way. It's not like like reasonable doubt,
you know, where that actress has her own you know,

(55:58):
like she's opening up her own front and she's working
for a private firm. It's not like that. So with this,
she has to play by certain rules. She has to
to do things in the way that they would like
for her to do, not necessarily the way that she
would like for, you know, to go about things. And
even that, I mean it was a conversation in terms
of like hair, it wasn't the short haircut was was

(56:22):
not my idea. And you know, they had some pushback
of course for me, because I'm like, well, you know,
she is a you know, she's a black woman. Like
can we can she have different hairstyles? You know, because
black women we change up our hair. And even with Dre,
I always had different braids, Like I had an amazing
braider in Chicago, and so she would always just do

(56:44):
really cool styles. All it's always a conversation. I'm like, oh,
I want stars, you know this week or next week.
I want hearts, you know, like switch it up, but
that's who she was, So that's who Dre was living
in that particular world, and then Stacy Marx is living
in a totally different world and it has to go
about things in a very specific way.

Speaker 3 (57:06):
So I love for the fans to just sort of respect.

Speaker 4 (57:09):
And support that, like support the fact that while you
you are able to shift in such a believable way
that people come up to me and they're like, we
love you as Dre, but I can't stand us, but
we love dray And.

Speaker 3 (57:26):
And that's just that's just a testament to my work.

Speaker 4 (57:28):
You know, I'm fully committed to do both, you know,
and for other like other characters that I played as well.
I want you to, you know, fall in love, you know,
with that particular person or hey, if you're gonna have
to Danny Glover me.

Speaker 3 (57:43):
Like you know, the color purple, It was that sort
of a thing.

Speaker 1 (57:48):
Why me like this?

Speaker 2 (57:49):
But you know what I love about your portrayal of
Dre is that one that I said exactly what you said,
Dre is from the shot, you know what I'm saying,
so like and she she grew up in this streets
and Dre always like the way you portrayed, Dre was
somebody who was a little bit younger, but that wisdom
was there because of what they went through. Right, So
you know when every time Dre had to talk to

(58:10):
the kids or you know, just even in general, had
to you know what I'm saying, give her perspective or anything,
you commanded the intention, but in a respectful way. But
then also, like you said, with how dra.

Speaker 1 (58:23):
Carried her carried herself, it wasn't stereotypical.

Speaker 2 (58:26):
Like, to me, what I loved about the shy and
even that relationship is that the her being part of
the LGBTQ community wasn't the character trait of the character.
Oftentimes you'll see that that's like, that's the main part
about the character. No, Like we was invested in Dre
just because we was like, Okay, what what has.

Speaker 1 (58:45):
Dre been through? What is Drake going to say on this?
How is how is how is Drake.

Speaker 2 (58:50):
Going to handle you know what I'm saying these kids
who you know, obviously they're going through their growing pains,
they're going through all their trauma.

Speaker 1 (58:56):
How is Dre going to help parent this?

Speaker 2 (58:58):
And you know, just like to me, that wasn't that
was just a part of the character, but not the
big that wasn't what was forefronted.

Speaker 4 (59:07):
And I mean that's a testament to Lena Waite and
the writers and everything. I mean, whatever you give me,
whatever's on the paper, I have to make a jump off.
And so I'm always gonna bring something to the table.
So even if even if they just say, Okay, this
is what we have, I'm gonna say, oh, okay, that's great.
How about we tweak it a little bit this way,

(59:27):
or how about we we add this or add that.
So it's just a blessing that you're saying that because
you and so many other people responded, you know, to
that character in such a positive way that it wasn't like, oh,
I can't identify with her, she's so much in the box,
like she's so stereotypical.

Speaker 3 (59:45):
It wasn't like that at all.

Speaker 4 (59:46):
It was like Drea's for the people, you know, and
when she yeah, and when she did deal with the
kids and everything, it was like she had words of wisdom.
But she wasn't coming from that like parental, you know,
sort of judgmental, like like stance. It wasn't about that.
It was like, look, I already know what this is
you know. But at the same time, I'm trying to

(01:00:07):
understand and respect what your you know, your your your
existence and how things you know are different for you
and how you know you're trying to go about life
and so on and so forth, and what can I
what can I offer you? It's gonna help raise you
up because it's also about what she didn't receive growing up,
and so how can I offer that, you know to

(01:00:30):
these other individuals. So I mean, I love dre like
hands down and one of my favorites to this day.

Speaker 2 (01:00:39):
Now now I'm gonna let my I'm gonna let my
fandom come in a little bit because I didn't I
didn't like the turmoil I needed. I needed y'all to
get I needed y'all to stick through. And I get it,
you know, it happens in life and everything like that.
But I was just like, come on, let us have
let's let us have this union. I did not like
the turmoil. I listened to Brant came in and I said,

(01:00:59):
get out of here, like I love you, the Brat,
but no, I did not want any of this.

Speaker 4 (01:01:05):
I was about to break robinhood and robinhood versus the Brat. Yeah,
I mean, you know a lot of people felt that way.
But I'm so grateful for the opportunity at the time.

Speaker 3 (01:01:17):
You know, I came in.

Speaker 4 (01:01:19):
I was originally only like contracted for five episodes, and
I did thirty two.

Speaker 1 (01:01:24):
That's not the story. That's the story of your career.
It's like, just get you in the room.

Speaker 2 (01:01:28):
You're like, you know what, I don't care it says three,
it has three lines on this spage, But y'all gonna
want me from more.

Speaker 3 (01:01:34):
You're gonna get thirty three. Okay, you're gonna trust me.
You're gonna want me in the room.

Speaker 4 (01:01:38):
But yeah, even that's that's really a blessing because I
think people, you know, like right now, when we audition
for a lot of different things, we're not in the
room in the same way that we kind of used
to be like prior to COVID. And for me, it's
like it's such a an awesome advantage when you're in
the womb, you know, with a casting director, like they

(01:02:00):
can feel you in a different way, and we don't
get a chance to do these necessarily, Like I'm not
just talking to you about life, you know, we're just
chopping it up and it's like, oh, I really like
this brother, Like I'm feeling his energy. It's not like
that you go in the room, you're there for like
a few minutes, and then you head out. But that
to me was so much better than doing a self
tape and they don't get a chance. They're only they're

(01:02:21):
trying to feel you through like this lens. You know,
so you know it is what it is. We will prevail.
But at the same time, it's like, I really do
look forward to getting back in the room with directors,
but oh yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:02:38):
You get me in that room, well it's.

Speaker 1 (01:02:39):
A rap out the room. I'm leaving it with something
absolutely all right.

Speaker 2 (01:02:45):
I got two fun We're gonna get in some fun
questions and I'll get you out of here.

Speaker 1 (01:02:49):
So I need to know.

Speaker 2 (01:02:50):
Musically, like I said, I know we talked about push
it or anything like that, but top five influences for
you musically, well.

Speaker 3 (01:02:58):
Yeah, push your t a Jadakiss of course. I love Beanie.

Speaker 4 (01:03:04):
You know, I really really was rocking with early kind
of like Nicki Minaj. I feel like her lyricism is
is amazing, Like the way that she just phrases things,
you know is really dope. And I'll just throw in
I'll throw in a Queen Latifah, you know, on top
of that, because again there's just that that wisdom and knowledge,

(01:03:25):
that positivity that I feel like we can still gain
from that I really think is lacking within the culture.
And it's so much about you know, a lot about
drugs and alcohol and just partying and having fun. And
I think that that's a part of growing up. I
think that that's a part of life. But there's so
much more to life, and I feel like we need

(01:03:47):
to be able to offer just a more well rounded scope.

Speaker 3 (01:03:51):
You know.

Speaker 4 (01:03:52):
I rock with you know NB, a young boy, like
he has a lot of things that he has to say,
you know, as do you know a Cardi B or
you know something like everybody has something to say. It's
just what are we really saying and how are we
really fueling? Yeah, you are we fueling them in a
positive way, so they go out here and they do

(01:04:12):
something with themselves, or they're going out here and just
kind of you know, being menaces to society.

Speaker 2 (01:04:21):
I often tell people, like I said, is in you
know Charlamage and God because he the one that said it.

Speaker 1 (01:04:26):
But you got to have a balance of righteousness.

Speaker 3 (01:04:27):
And Ratchets got to have it absolutely, like.

Speaker 2 (01:04:29):
You gotta have that balance, right because I said, like
I made, like I said, when I'm in the car,
I may be bumping Dolf, I may be bumping money
bag yo and everything like that. But also I have
those moments where I'm bumping earth gang j I D
I'm going back to old kiss and be really d
and so it's like, you know, it's one of those things.

Speaker 1 (01:04:46):
But again, like you said, it's your youth.

Speaker 4 (01:04:47):
And throw Kendrick in there too, because I feel like again,
you know, it's like Ratchet, you know, righteous like you
you know, having that balance and everything, and you know
we're I'm a libra, so I'm constantly trying to like
establish like fine balance yea. And sometimes we can lean

(01:05:08):
too much this way or lean too much that way.
So if we just you know, try to be as
even kilter, you know, like as possible, it's just like, oh, okay,
that helps you go through life, because too much of
anything is not good for you, right, So you want
to make sure that you are having that balance so
that like a dred you're like, okay, well I understand,
but maybe we should try this, you know, or I

(01:05:30):
get that, but you know what, maybe this might be
a little bit more helpful in this particular situation. So
it's just like that well roundedness that really I feel
like helps us to you know, propel and being able
to like, you know, pivot and just as we like
to say, yeah, you know, change with the changes.

Speaker 1 (01:05:47):
Oh I like that. I like that all right?

Speaker 2 (01:05:49):
So this question I like to ask the actors and
actresses who have multiple characters, Right, if you have to
put together a buddy cop movie two characters that you played,
which two characters are you pulling for a buddy Hello,
Dre and Stacy?

Speaker 3 (01:06:05):
I mean.

Speaker 1 (01:06:07):
It's easy.

Speaker 3 (01:06:07):
Could you imagine?

Speaker 1 (01:06:09):
Could you imagine?

Speaker 3 (01:06:11):
I mean, they could be twins, you know what I mean?

Speaker 4 (01:06:13):
Matter of fact, I can play both my whole little
Eddie Murphy thing and go right.

Speaker 3 (01:06:20):
Something like that I think.

Speaker 4 (01:06:21):
Could be dope because again, it's two totally different perspectives
and they both grew up in Chicago, and so yeah,
you're gonna find out more why Stacey.

Speaker 3 (01:06:31):
It's how she is moves, the way that she moves,
you know.

Speaker 4 (01:06:35):
As the story continues to unfold, and it's like one
of those Dray moments of being like, oh okay, Okay,
now I get it. I see and I see her
in a different light because of what she's encounter like
what she's been through.

Speaker 3 (01:06:49):
So I know, even from me, when I was reading
the script, I was like, ah, I.

Speaker 4 (01:06:54):
Mean I always love Stacy from the gate, you know,
I've always been at Stacey right, but just understanding her
story more and more, I just was like, Okay, I
get that, Like I can see why she goes so hard.

Speaker 2 (01:07:09):
All right, So last question, and this is our our
geek set hypothetical. Okay, zombie apocalypse, alien apocalypse or robot apocalypse?

Speaker 1 (01:07:18):
Which one do you believe that you can survive the longest?

Speaker 3 (01:07:24):
Probably robot robot?

Speaker 4 (01:07:27):
Yeah, because I don't mess with no zombies. After working
on the Walking Dead, like in that video game it.

Speaker 3 (01:07:31):
Was treacherous, I said, oh, hell no, I don't know
zombie coming from my deck. So yeah, I probably would.

Speaker 4 (01:07:38):
Because robots, I feel like, you know, you could just
dismantle robot.

Speaker 2 (01:07:44):
True, but I always say, though, but what if it's
the terminator robot?

Speaker 1 (01:07:48):
Because them on robots, I don't know.

Speaker 4 (01:07:50):
Even the terminator, Like even the terminator, you can still
take them down. There was some water on them like something,
you know, like you can do something, but a zombie.

Speaker 1 (01:08:00):
I mean I'm thinking.

Speaker 3 (01:08:02):
About it right now.

Speaker 1 (01:08:04):
Ta getting the heavy gis now.

Speaker 3 (01:08:07):
Absolutely yeah, Robot, absolutely all right.

Speaker 2 (01:08:10):
So with you because before we end, I want to
like one for the people watching and listening, where do
you need them to support you at, Like what is
your current initiative that you need people to check out?

Speaker 4 (01:08:23):
Definitely the Force, you know, PowerBook flour Force Thursday nights,
you know, going into Friday we air. Definitely tap in
really great season and of course you know tap into
the label Truth Teller Productions. There's constant music from myself
another artist that are coming out on the label, and
we're always taking in you know, new talent and everything.

(01:08:44):
So I always say, you know, be on the lookout
for those gems that we're going to be dropping because
oh they're coming. So Power Book flour Force right now,
True Teller Productions.

Speaker 1 (01:08:53):
Awesome. Awesome.

Speaker 2 (01:08:54):
Well I wanted to tell you again one more time,
like I said, from me from my podcast, from the culture,
from Blurred Coach, from Hip Hop culture, from film culture,
thank you so much, thank you for this conversation and
it's been amazing, and I just want to say we'll
continue to support everything that you got going on, and
we'll continue to tap in with you.

Speaker 4 (01:09:12):
Okay, likewise, I appreciate you so much, Thank you for
the opportunity.

Speaker 2 (01:09:15):
This was amazing, no doubt, and as always, this is
the only podcast that blame hip hop coachure and geek
coaching together.

Speaker 1 (01:09:21):
I have been your boyd s. This has been the amazing, amazing.

Speaker 2 (01:09:24):
Robin Hood aka Miriam Aim and we are out, please please,
I mean, what the fuck were talking about here Fridays
we are talking a brand new show bringing you hilarious

(01:09:47):
commentary about black characters like Goofy.

Speaker 1 (01:09:49):
In the whole the whole game. We all know that
black They've been nig you said, pee black he unkle Yeah,
p Black of the cartoon intro Dark Quen.

Speaker 2 (01:10:01):
Nobody gonna join you, y.

Speaker 3 (01:10:04):
You gotta have.

Speaker 1 (01:10:05):
Around the anime drip and jo our adventure.

Speaker 2 (01:10:07):
What I'm talking about it I want to be able
to have my polls just want I want to throw
it in there.

Speaker 1 (01:10:12):
Game nights.

Speaker 2 (01:10:13):
I feel like Twister is gonna get people in some
positions that they don't need to be on.

Speaker 1 (01:10:18):
That's an hr nightmares. It's a lawsuit and video games
would have to be a two k Hey sometimes sometimes
two k Chi Man and More.

Speaker 2 (01:10:27):
Brought to you by Geek Set featuring Deuce s Card
did Trippy and King Tune in Fridays only on YouTube.

Speaker 1 (01:10:38):
I mean, what the fuck were talking about here,

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Miriam A. Hyman talks Power:Force, The Chi, Her Label, Hip-Hop & more | S8 E12 | 1 on 1's w/Deuces

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Miriam A. Hyman talks Power:Force, The Chi, Her Label, Hip-Hop & more | S8 E12 | 1 on 1's w/Deuces