Yep, GEP Ghetto Boys is back and reload it all in your mind.
Yeah, now deep throat it. This is going the streets. The real, the real roaded to disenfranchise the truth to escapegoating, and they ain't know where we speak the truth, so they quoted because we wrote it the North South East coach.
Just the ge be mock keeping your head bobbing. It ain't no stopping.
And once the bedrops head by.
Then the system is so corrupt they threw the rock out their heads and then blame it on us.
Don't get it twisted on colding Meg danced, they put no butterment biscuits. It's Willie d y'all Ghetto Boys in the house back with another episode of information and instructions to help you navigate through this wild, crazy, beautiful world.
In the studio Jason.
Mitchell, yes her, yes up. Can't oh good? But how you doing.
Hey, man? Ship hold on hop out be on top.
I heard that, man. Thank you for having me, brother, Thank you for.
Having assolutely man. We got to get right into it. You have portrayed a number of complex characters and films like Straight out of Compton and mud Bound and mud Bound you played a you played a character that was based on uh this guy who was you know, coming home from post World War two and you got this
racial tension going on. How is it that you were able to like channel that energy that was needed to where you're coming home basically damn near war hero coming back home to Mississippi, you know, one of the one of the racists. I mean, this is like damn near like the foundation of racism in America, fact, right, Like, how were you able to to channel to channel that energy well to deliver that role?
I mean to be honest, right, like just being a black man in America, we know they got racism that that just lies on the surface, especially when you grew up in the South like me. I'm originally from New Orleans, right right. But my grandfather he's from Bush, Louisiana, and went to the Korean War, came home with I mean, uh probably like a fourth or fifth grade education, and had to marry my grandmother, which which they consider uh
passe blan. I don't know if you ever seen this movie, The Pass and that Tessa Thompson just did this black.
And white film.
Yeah, it was an excellent film, but it was like real, right, So, my my grandmother was what they called passe blann passed for white, and her my grandfather pretty much got together because he had some money from the war and she was white enough to go start them a business, you know. So that was it was damnar really his story, and like where we actually shot the film when I was in the f four than fifth grade. Man, we took field trips out there to see, you know, the plantations
and the wax museums and all of that. So it was something that was already kind of deep rooted in me that I felt like I just needed to let out. And it was such a privilege to be able to let that.
Out, you know what I mean.
Like, I just appreciate d Read so much for talking about that, because a lot of times people want to jump straight from slavery to civil rights and they never want to talk about this Jim Crow situation that was happening that really, I feel like, built the hate, you know what I mean, between white and black people.
And it was.
Man funny story about that, right, Like I took my grandfather to see Straight out of Compton and he fell asleep in the middle of the movie, just was knocked out, you know what I mean.
Not that had nothing to do with the movie.
Right, But when I took him to go see mud Bone, he literally sat there with his arms folded the entire time. Not mind you, his oldest brother was a slave, you know what I mean. And in his mind's always some work to be done, even on a Sunday, you know what I mean. He always tell me it's always it's always some wit. And he sat there with his arms folded the entire time. And when we left out of there, he was like, so, you mean to tell me that these people paid you to do this, that's.
What you're saying.
Like he couldn't even conceptualize the fact that I had got money put in my pocket and I'm getting glorified for putting this on TV. He couldn't even his brain couldn't even compute it, you know what I mean.
And I just look at it.
Was he upset? Was he upset about it?
Absolutely?
Because I mean, to him, it was way too real, you know, because the exact same thing happened to him and a few of his brothers. They went to the war, came back and even though they was heroes, they wasn't getting no love from no white folks, and they wouldn't
save them, you know what I mean. So they really they had a whole different type of a feeling about the film just in general, you know, and it took other people to tell them, oh, like he getting awards and you know, the movie is doing so good for him to even calm down, Like he wasn't even trying to hear that at first, you know what I mean.
And it was just so he felt that your character was blasphem me.
Well he thought cause in his mind right, acting is already kind of a joke, like they're not paying no black man to be no actor, Like that's that's not like that's never gonna happen, you know, because back in their day it was like if you was acting for them white people, you was basically a joke, like you.
Know, black people wasn't respecting it, you know.
So he already was kind of like looking at my job like when you're gonna get a real job, you know what I mean.
Yeah, and I'm telling you like he never believed me.
It always took everybody else to tell him like, oh, you know, your grandson doing great, and but yeah, he never he never looked at my job, like it was a real thing. So when he saw that, it was like but for me, I feel like, look what we did in three generations, you know what I mean. We basically went from his oldest brother who was a slave. I mean, he put my mama and her two siblings in LSU because all they could do was pick up
trash at LSU. But think about it, like you go to a war and then you come home and all you could do is pick up trash on LSU campus. That's crazy. So he sent all his kids there, you know, just like to be able to stand firm on what he believed. And then you know, my mom had me. And then I put that story on the big screen, you know what I mean, And we went for a few oscars.
So yeah, I.
Feel like that's when I realized as an actor, like what I did really meant something, you know what I mean, Like when I play easy E, I knew.
Like I just couldn't. You just can't fuck that up, you know what I.
Mean, Like if you do, you just gotta hide under a rock until it blow over.
But when you start, like.
You know, when your children come home and they like, Daddy, we watched your movie at school today. That's that's life changing, you know what I mean. So you know, I hate to look at myself like an actor activist or something like that, because I ain't got a racist bone in my body. But you know, it feel good to be able to tell our story and not have to be violent with our protests, you know what I mean.
So I feel like we came a long way.
But how do you go from easy a tough guy, easy e ain't scared of nothing, to Rounzel Jackson. Yeah, you know this this guy who is it? What he rolling? He got a chip on his shoulder, but man, he got a deal. The motherfuckers right in Mississippi. I mean, they're a different type of uncivilized, but right, you know, and and they got they got the law enforcement and the courts and the government everything, everybody all inconhusion, everybody
on the same page. Like you're nobody. You're dealing with a system. You're not dealing with a person. You're dealing with a system.
Right, you know, right, And you know, as sad as it is, like still really haven't wiggled our way outside that system all the way you know, as blacks like because they have this cooker cutter version of what it should be.
You know.
Let you know that with all due respect, Let's just take Hollywood for instance, right, it was built by a certain group of people, and you know a lot of the talent is black talent, or it may be you know, people of color or whatever it may be. But if you're not coloring inside the lines, they can move you around real quick.
And it's the same thing with the sharecropping situation.
It's like you you free, but you live on my land. So in order to have anything that me and anything, you got to work for me. And that's just how this system was built. And it's sad to see.
You know, but.
Me and a few of my brothers, brothers like yourself, you know, we wiggling our way out.
Of this, you know what I mean.
And it's about ownership and it's about having something for yourself. So you know, if anybody learns anything for me in my career, that's what I want him to go home with, you know, go home with something that's for you and that's gonna be for your family, you know what I mean. You gotta you gotta own something in this world for sure, you know. And it's it's it's it's pretty crazy or to have this, uh, this freedom to be able to express myself the way I feel like I need to because.
It's tough. It's hard out here, you know what I mean.
You got the police on your back, you got all of this systemic racism, all of these different things happening, you know. So I think I was very blessed to be in a situation to be able to speak for an entire demographic of people, you know. So I just I really got to get a get a glory to God, man, because when you ask how, I don't really know.
Man's it's a blessing.
You know.
That's where the gift kicking and my own understanding moves out the way.
Yeah, you talked about the role you played and straight out of Compton, Easy, the iconic easy Eric, right, the man the guy above. All right, that was your breakout roll. That was congrats, you know, thank you and salute because when I looked at you do that in fact, all all you guys nailed your roles. Y'all was just perfect. The casting was perfect.
Yeah, we got to give a big shout out to Vicky.
Thomas Thomas man get that that the casting was perfect one thout believable and the way you the way you were able to channel your your your energy, it was like a roller coaster, you know, you was like a roller coaster type thing going on, and but you were able to deliver it and it was believable every step
of the way. That was no hiccups, Like how were you able to channel this iconic character and maintain you know, like you know you're acting, but you know you're going cut cut, cut cut, and still be able to deliver like time and time and time again, because I know the movie only lasted an hour or something, right, right, right, but I know you know it took a lot of takes to get get it right, to get it perfect.
Oh absolutely, Gary, Gary Gray. You know we also got to give a shout out to him. You know, that's our fearless leader and as a black director, I mean, he ain't ever missed, you know what I mean, Like his first film Friday when you look at set it off, the Italian Job, the Negotiator, I mean, he just don't miss you know, so we we definitely got to put him properly on the plateau that he should be on.
And you know, he's definitely one of the greades. He might be the highest paid black you know director ever. So he grew up around the corner from Cbe, you know what I mean. He knew this life very well. But for me, you know, being from New Orleans, all I know is the lingo, right because I'm seeing it on TV. I'm seeing Minister Society, you know, these sorts of movies, and I'm not able to do the voice real quick because and I could switch it up and do the La voice, and you know, I could do
all of that. And it was like something that we always thought was funny in New Orleans because you know, I don't really know exactly what language we speak because it's not quite English, you know, but like it was funny to us that they would pronounce every syllable even though they were super gangster, and you know, and it was things that I saw on TV that like, once I got to La and I met guys like Nipsey and Problem and Laylaw and all of them, when they
started to explain the gang culture to me, a lot of it started to make more sense. Like when people see easy move in certain ways, like all of these things was like crip affiliated situations, right, So I just started looking at it like, you know, what if I could build this man from the ground up and humanize him as a person, you know, from you know him growing up like having their first little studio in his grandmother's garage.
To you know, going through baby Mama drama, to you.
Know, his cousin being killed and being one of the biggest drug dealers ever. I was just sort of putting all these pieces together that would allow me ultimately to be so prepared that by the time I got on set, I was taking direction as easy and not as Jason Mitchell.
You dig that. So that's kind of that's how locked in I was.
And man, we like working with Gary was crazy, right because for four straight weeks we had to like re record the album.
We had to do our kind of like uh.
Performance training and stuff like that with dub C, and they wanted to believe that we was in w A.
Yeah that's my guy.
He's a super solid one, you know what I mean, But yeah, yeah, he's he's amazing. But they wanted us to convince NWA that we was in WA without the costumes, right, right, So you know, it was about being able to listen to each other and really be able to transfer the energy and all of these different things that like, at first, we all really kind of thought some bullshit. He like, man,
this nigga, bro, he's just doing the most. So one day he pulls some money out of his pocket and he said, everybody close your eyes, and he drops a bill on the ground and he said what kind of bill is that? And were like, come on, bro, like you just making up anything now. He like, no, if you're really listening and you're really paying attention, you wouldn't
know what kind of bill that hits the ground. If it's one hundred or five or one dollar bill, a twenty or ten, you gonna know if you're really paying attention, man, listen.
By the end of that training, he had us do it again. He dropped that.
Everybody was like, that's a hundred, that's a hundred. We looked down it was one hundred dollar bill, and it was just incredible to like work with him and get that real coarateie going.
You know what I mean. We was really like brothers.
Like when we were doing all that crying at the end of the movie, it became a joke to us because.
We was like this nigga really about to make me cry.
Like when Algi Hodge walked out of the player mc wren, he was really holding him to his back. When Neil ran out of that crying, he was really he was in the in the in the hallway, really balling off camera, you know what I mean, Because we grew such a brotherhood that it was like it just it felt too real. It felt too real to us, you know what I mean.
I just don't know a way that they could have gotten a better cast out of that. I just don't know, Like it was so perfectly casting. Typically, you can get one person, the right person. You can find somebody that can really really embody the role that character. They can do it for.
That one person, right, but everybody is a different what five different man and even down to like the Jimmy Iveen little roles that they popped in that you like, damn.
Like when I first met Jimmy, I was so impressed to see him standing next to the guy that was playing him.
It blew my mind.
I'm like, damn, they find everybody that really looked like the people.
But they still had their chops too.
Yeah, yeah, Paul, he was he was amazing to work with Bro.
He like, he changed my whole mind frame on where I was on the totem pole, you know what I mean. Because I didn't know no actors growing up, Like the actors that are from New Orleans, they had to leave New Orleans in order to you know, flourish. They had to you know, go to New York, LA or whatever it was. So I grew up around all rappers, you know what I mean. I come up under Lil Wayne and you know what I mean, the squad and all of these guys.
That's what I'm saying. Coming up, I rapped.
I rapped before everybody thought I was gonna rap, you know what I mean, and not act. But I was just like, you know what, ain't nobody acting. So once I found that little hustle, I was like, hey, I might be good at this, you know.
So I ended up.
You're going you're gonna put it in? You gotta put it. It's like it's calling you, bro.
It definitely is. I got it.
I got a couple of records, you know, because I ain't gonna lie. I can write any kind of music. I could write country music if I really wanted to. Me and Trevor Jackson, who I did Superfly with. We we write a lot of music together. Yeah, that's my guy.
Man, That's that's something else. You can country music.
I can. I can. I'm here for it because I mean, I'm a storyteller.
At the end of the day, I bet you can't do that opera.
Opera, you know what.
That might be a little out my jacket, you know what I mean, But it's not necessarily something I enjoyed, Like the artist beautiful.
I just saw a black opera singing like.
Like a couple of months ago, and I was just like, wow, this is it's incredible.
But I'm did you cry? I didn't.
You're supposed to cry when you listen to opera. You gotta cry. You know what you're listening. That's what make it feel good. It's all about crime, bro. Like you if you don't cry, you you really don't understand opera. Like I'm supposed to go to my first opera event in a few days, and you know.
You gotta record yourself crime.
I'm a cry.
I gotta see, I gotta I gotta I want to see the process.
I got some tears for him, bro, Like, yeah, but you if you, if you can't cry or you're not really an actor.
Oh I could.
You gotta be able to cry, to be a really cry right now, do it right now, right now, right now, all right, let me see see you're gonna take me there, and I'm gonna be able to come back, Willie, don't do you see you see you're big. You're about to do it.
Though I saw us.
I was, I was, but it's not the easiest place to come back from, you know, it's not the easiest place.
Yeah, you was about to do that, boy, Yeah, but I also I saw that.
Look, yeah, you can see the Wellington quick.
Yeah.
Man, it's it's it's crazy because like you know, as a youngster, I would always entertain myself and entertain my friends.
But I never thought that that.
Meant anything, you know, and all the hardships that I really had in my life, I didn't I didn't cry about them then. You know, like I lost my dad when I was fifteen. He ended up killing himself. You know, like we experienced a lot of trauma and New Orleans. Yeah, just you know, my friends dying and all of this, and it's like you get so immune to the to the shock of it that you don't never really take
the time to cry. So I think when I did start figuring out that that was something I could tap into and let loose on it, that it became like a therapy for me, right, Like me and f Gary Gray.
I'll never forget.
We're doing the Detroit scenes and you know, the big concert scenes.
It's like high energy all of that.
You know, we laughing and you know, I'm going back to my trailer for my lunch. And he comes to my trailer and he's like, yeah, these hospital scenes, you know they're coming up next week, and I just want to know what you're gonna do. And I'm like, well, you know, besides what's on the script, you know what I mean, I'm gonna bring the rain. I'm definitely gonna cry, you know what I mean. Like it's it's a process,
you know what I mean. Because you know, he didn't even they didn't even think heterosexual men could get AIDS at that time, you know.
So I told him.
About the discovery I was gonna have and you know, I'm gonna cry, and he was like, well, I want you to do it right now, and I was like.
No, Like I'm having a great day. I don't you know what. I don't want to do this right now, Like what do you mean?
He was like, we really had a hot and heavy argument in my trailer because I didn't want to show him, you know, what I was gonna do. But then on the day I'm talking about take one, that's what you're seen on the movie because it just was coming down and he just was in there hugging me, and I was like, I told you, bro, I told you that
I was gonna be able to get there. But getting back ain't the easiest thing in the world because they got so much to cry for that we hold back sometimes, and they got so much pain inside of us that like if it's not channeled properly, you know, you could it could pop out and go.
The wrong way.
So I'm glad that I do have this, this safe place to be able to come and let them tears out, like it ain't nothing.
What's the process getting there and what's the process getting back?
The process getting there?
I think, you know, they teach you, like in these acting classes to use these breathing techniques, and you know, after like different therapy and stuff that I've been through, I realized that like when you are alone with your thoughts and you try to breathe through it. Right, A lot of times you can't help the way your body starts to feel, you know what I mean. So I just I built this muscle memory to not fight it, you know what I'm saying. Once it starts to come,
let it go, you know. But getting back, I mean, like you know, I this this film that's about to come out. Now, everything is both you know, I had a I had a tough scene. Well you know, I had to. I had to let the tears out. But like it really pretty much just took everybody coming and put their arms around me, you know what I mean. And that's that's what you need. You need that family love, you know. So we have that moment, we had that
guy love situation and then it's over. You know, sometimes you need that.
And did he did?
He hug?
He did?
He did.
But you know, you know how people give you the tough hug you good man, You're good, great job man, but you good. It's like cause it's you know, like a lot of times when people see you go there that fast and they're like, all right, well we're gonna do a couple of more of these and you turn it on and turn it off. It's like, you know, it's crazy, but you know how like when you're young and you get a whooping and you cry yourself to sleep and you wake up feeling like a lot better.
A lot of times, that's how it is.
You know, it might feel a little fucked up while you're doing it and going through it, but afterwards you feel like the best.
That's why to me, it's it's definitely like a therapy thing.
I mean, Gottle Boys reloaded podcasts will be right back after the squat?
How did you endust Man?
Me and jaquevis mad.
He ended up reaching out to me, just like I think he might have just ran across my page or something like that. But I was like, at the time COVID had just hit, I was living in New York and my life was kind of like, you know, it was just a little bit slow for everybody like you
locked in the house, can't really do nothing whatever. So he was, I'm gonna send you some book, you know, but like you know, you know, nigga sometime say books and you'd be like, damn, I ain't gonna, you know, all right, send me books, you know, what I mean.
So it was all good.
But he sent me the books and I had nothing to do, so I just I started reading. But then I ain't put the books down. I'm like, damn, it's nigga cold, you know what I mean. So I'm just checking his books out, like dam he could you know, he really dope. So through that we just built a friendship,
you know what I mean. And we just would always just talk and just always be on the phone, and we just you know what I mean, We just jokes COVID together pretty much like you know, and we started talking about maybe, you know, how we could turn one of the books into a movie. And one thing just sort of led to another, and he was like, man, listen, you know I believe in you. If you believe in me, let's do a movie. So I'm like, all right, one thing just led to another and we ended up doing a movie.
And did you know he was a New York best seller before he reached out.
I didn't. I didn't. I mean I had heard his books before, you know. I heard his books because you know, they real popular in the black community, him and his wife. But I wasn't a big reader, you know, I would read scripts and stuff. But you know, like a lot of other black children, I just wasn't a big reader.
When you would read scripts, did you just read your own parts and you read the whole script?
No?
I always read the whole script. Everybody know.
When I come on set, like I know my lines, I know your lines.
I was like, I'm just.
Yeah, because I mean, I feel like you fine, because I love movies, you know what I mean. And a lot of times you got these little breadcrumbs and these little gems that happen, and this is how you know good writing. And I feel like, you know, a lot of people think that I got where I am in my career from the yesest, but it was really the nose.
It was all the shit that I turned down.
There was so many scripts that I get sent that like I'm looking for key things in it to know like if this is gonna be a good film or not.
You know what I mean, what are you looking for?
Because that's one of the questions I have to ask you, like what do you look for? Because you actually picked some of the best roles, like memorable characters, characters that have to dive deep and pull out those emotions. Yeah, consistent with.
That, Well, I'm looking for the human pieces of it. Man.
A lot of times we just see stuff it's like on the surface, right, Like I mean, I don't want to I don't want to give no examples because I don't want to say, oh this is bad acting or bad movies. But we see it all the time, you know. And and me, I need layers to a man, right, Like just using Easy for example, he was the villain that everybody hated to hate, right because he did a lot of dumb shit and everybody was still rooting for him.
At the end, nobody wanted Easy to die.
He about to get his shit together. But in real life he was definitely the villain. He was the bad guy in the movie. You know, he liked Yeah, he didn't have no problem with it because in his mind he's thinking, QB, you seventeen years old, your opinion really don't count. You ain't got no money, dre you you got talent, but you ain't got no money, you know what I'm saying. Still, I'm out here risking my life for my money. So y'all, ain't my friends, Like this
is a business transaction. So at the end of the day, without no money, all of these fantasies that y'all have about being superstars and all of this good stuff is out the window, you know. And at the time they really was just thinking about being hood stars. Easy was thinking bigger than them. So for him, he was the mastermind and the money behind it. So how do you go to somebody and tell them I deserve xyz that they ain't never seen, you.
Know what I mean?
Like these guys went viral and it was just hand to hand situations. So every character that I try to find has layers. Rather they be good, bad, ugly, but they they got layers of a man and they need to be able to show that, you know what I'm saying, Because I'm one of them people who I really believe, Like I mean, you could feel when people got an ugly energy about themselves, right, or some kind of demonic energy about themselves. But for the most part, I don't
really believe in good people and bad people. I think it's just people and there's decisions on the table, you know, and like all of us have made a bad decision here or there in our life, or you know, made somebody feel a certain way, you know, Like everybody ain't gonna love you. Everybody ain't gonna love your opinions. And I think that's what humanizes roles and humanizes movies the most, you know, just being able to show them different layers.
I'm a seventeen layer cake, so I need to be to show people.
You know, you say everybody, you don't believe in good and bad people, just people what you're saying on that with And I think it is some demonic ass people out that. Yeah, you do you think that? Do you think that somebody like like say Dylan Ruth who shot up the black people at the church, You don't think he was a bad person. You think he just a person?
Well, you know, I'm also like, I ain't gonna say I'm a conspiracy theorist, but I do believe that agendas be pushed a lot of times and situations, and like children are so easily influenced, Like they do have a lot of demonic energies out here, right, But do I believe that that kid was born hating black people and said to himself, as soon as I get a chance, I'm gonna shoot up a black church.
Absolutely not.
Now, whatever took over his mind at the time to make him go do that foolishness is a whole different story, you know, cause, like I don't know the dude named the other white boy who shot up the grocery store and was only killing black people, remember, and he ran up on a white person who was like, oh, I'm sorry.
He went to the next person.
But the first guy that he killed, the security guard who was at the door, invented the engine that ran off water and was just on the news like two weeks before that. They ain't trying to have that, so they gonna shoot him and then make it look like a random mass mass shooting, you know what I mean.
So now when I'm starting to see these shootings, it's getting more and more popular and a little bit crazy now, and I feel like it's an agenda to cover up what's really happening behind whoever they are out there looking for.
At the time, Well, I heard that theory. I heard that that was people saying that, you know, this happened because this guy, this black guy, invented a car that could run off water, and they can't let that happen. And we know that those things do happen. We know that they do try to silence black people who who have ideas and information that can change the world because they don't want to. They don't want to encourage black kids to think bigger.
Right, And then on top of that, you know, it's like if they give the cure to AIDS, all the people who've been studying age making eighty ninety thousand a year studying AIDS now don't have a job that exists anymore, or so they gonna pluck you.
But here's my right with that theory. They don't have to kill so many people just to kill this one guy. Like keep in mind, the rest of us didn't even know about this invention until after the dude got killed. So if they just wanted to kill that guy, I mean, why not just get, you know, one guy to run up on him. How about this some guy tried to act like he's stealing somebody's store. He acosta guy, the guy blows his brains out, nobody questions anything. They know
how to kill. They know how to kill, and set it up to make it look like that was some type of disagreement. Like, especially when it comes to black people, they'll immediately try to get make it like a hood situation, like somebody just got out of pocket. They know how to do that. Why kill so many people?
Well, I think.
Historic Black people have never thrived well in chaos because we're so passionate, and the first thing we do when we really believe some shit is tear our own shit up, you know what I mean. We've been our worst enemy for a long time, in my opinion, you know, so the first thing they want to do is hand us chaos and say, yeah, get mad, y'all get mad, everybody get mad, because then we start we completely forget about
what's really happening in the situation. Because this is how I look at it, right, Like I know a few police and they wanted to be cops their entire life. They waiting on opportunities to do some heroic shit. What in any cop right mind after all of these people being shot up, that yo approach to this person who just did all of this killing and it's so sweet.
You're taking these people to get burgers and you're putting bulletproof vests on them, and you know what I mean, Like with black people, it's not like that police is beating you up.
They're killing you, they're shooting you.
So to me, that was really what I'm looking at like, wait, they why they ain't just take this opportunity to kill this dude. They just had a mass shooting out here in Texas. He was a brown guy, you know, some kind of hispanic. Guess what, when it was all said and done, he was laid out, he was on the ground, he was finished. They killed him, you know. And I can't say that, like, you know, every one of them
is part of the agenda. But I'm saying when it's the white folks who go do that, they never end up killing them and we never know what happens to him at the end of the day.
I think it's as simple as he's one of us. Example, Like you know, he did what I wanted to do, you know, right, So of course I'm going to treat him with humanity because I would want to be treated with humanity if I did that to them.
Like absolute.
They are inhumane. Main people who behave that way are inhumane. They're uncivilized mus And and let me go back to a statement you just made about us being our worst enemy. I've heard that. I've heard that many many times from black people, especially online, and assuming that they were black, you know, online. The reason why I disagree with that is because that is a tall statement to say that we're our worst enemy. Uh, and we've been our worst enemy.
We black people have never enslaved our entire population of people in any country. We we We didn't stamp unborn babies out of their mother's wounds. We didn't feed babies to alligators. We didn't take plows and snatched teeth out of the mouths of human beings who didn't want to work, and so they decided that because I don't want to work, I'm not going to work for you anymore, I'd rather stove. We forced them to eat liquids, so we snatched that te pull their teeth out of their mouth. We didn't
bomb Tussle, Oklahoma. We didn't raid Rosewood and burn it down to the ground.
We didn't.
We didn't. We didn't implement Jim Crow or the Tuskegee experiment. You know, we didn't. We didn't create mass incarceration and our welfare to purposely target black families and divide them. We didn't bring crack cocaine into the neighborhood and disseminated, disseminated an entire uh population of people. We we didn't we didn't do any of those things. Those are a major tries.
Yeah, that's fact, yes fact.
Yes we do have some uncivilized MutS in our race, Yes we do. But that is a very small group of people when you look at our entire population, when you look when you really think about our plight in America, we've only been freed legally freed just over one hundred and what sixty years or so, one hundred and seventy years. That is a very short time when you think about the overall accomplishments of black people, we think about all of our accomplishments. Let's not look at just the people
who are the Beyonces and the jay Z's. It's what they try to get us to focus on, willly D's and the Jason Mitchell's.
Right.
They try to get us to focus on people who are who are in very special categories.
Right, we have.
Produced thousands of doctors and lawyers, tens of thousands dollars, educators, inventors uh, entrepreneurs uh, just so and just every day working class people who despite the odds, put their children through school and kept them out of the long grips of Johnny law. You know, we have so many success stories. But what happens I think often to not not I think, but I know, is that they use our worst as an example of who we are collectively, and they use
and they use their worst. I mean, they use our worst as an example of who we are collectively, and they use their best as an example of who they are collectively.
And oftentimes, I look at what Jesus.
And I think. I think all the times oftentimes we get brainwashed by by that psychological war fact that they're playing on us when we get born down so much and we tend to stay just like a lot of people that aren't black go like, damn, what's wrong with the Negroes?
Right?
They can't get it together? And we're starting, Man, we can't get it together?
We are you know right?
Well, see what the way I look at it, right, is that, like you said, they've said, they've put these systems in place for us to fight each other. Because like even even to say something as small as we're the minority, when you ask yourself for real, like where really are we the minority?
Those numbers would change? Right Like you ever been in Hawaii?
Many I used to vacation all the time.
So you heard a Holly Day before.
I haven't, so Holly's is what they call white people, right, you know, Holly Day. They just beat up all the white people. It's like a it's like a holiday. But everybody knows, like it's it's all good. Like that goes on currently, INAII, Yeah, it's look it up. You can google it. The Hawaiians, everybody else that ain't white.
They just beat the white people up. Yeah, it's a thing, right, So imagine.
Well what days do they go out there?
I don't know, we got to google it. Fine, fine, Holly Day. I think it's h O W l e y.
Holly like that.
But I just hate the white people who hate me man, right, right, I'm the same way.
I don't.
I hate the one, and I hate the black people who hate me too. I hate an anybody who hate me. You don't like me, I don't like you. Man with me, I rock with.
You, right?
But I think you know, these systems have been put in place to, like you said, brainwash us, right, and then they set it up to where like you know, like for every fourth grader that fails the leap test, they build a jail cell. You know what I'm saying, like they they figuring it, they figuring out how to again make you a slave. They're gonna put these systems
in place. But being from such a violent city, you know, and what I see around me is it's kind of crazy because I'm like, yo, I've never seen the police actually kill somebody. You know, Like I know a lot of people who carry guns all the time, and they're not carrying guns for the white boys, you know what I mean. So like that's what I mean by times like we're our worst enemy because like we don't have no money, so it's like, oh, made the toughest guy win, or everybody want to be in charge.
Or when we do.
Decide to have a movement that we're pushing forward, we leave with violence a lot of the times, you know what I mean. And we're just so much smarter than that, And like we got to be in this world where where we pivoting, you know what I mean, And we
got to do that on a great level. Like you know, you see some guys like like nineteen Keys, who you know, they're getting huge groups of black people together and talking about things that's that's sort of like solution based, you know, they trying to make people think about it, but like that's all fun and dandy, but like, what's the plan,
you know? And I think that's what we gotta start feeling, like what's the plan, What we're gonna do, What we're gonna do for each other, what situations we're gonna set up for each other, because we still pressing these these things to our a lot of our kids and a lot of our families that like it's still putting them up top and making it seem like white is right.
And they doing this all over the world, you know what I mean.
And you see so much chaos happening in these black communities, and I just I just think it's sad that, like, you know, it's somebody job to wake up and go spin on the ops.
Every morning, Like what are you thinking about?
You know what I mean? That's crazy to me. I just I can't. I can't take that land down.
I gotta acknowledge everything that you said just now as truth. However, those black people who do behave like uncivilized mus or microcosm of society facts right overall American society. And so if you live amongst black people who behave that way, and even when you look at New Orleans as a whole. Most Black people I know from New Orleans or law abiding, hard working citizens.
Facts.
It is that small in the projects here or the projects there are the projects there. It's where all the bullshit comes from. They are not the majority of black people in New Orleans, you know. So it's easy if you come from that to see and that's all you see, to just say, Okay, maybe that's what it is. But I was. I was able to get outside of Fifth Ward and I saw a lot of that too. But I was able to get outside of Fifth Ward early on, and I saw black people living differently. I saw people
behaving differently. I was able to move overseas to Azerbaijan, and in that country at the time, I lived in Bahku. Bahku is similar to Houston in numbers in the population about four million people at the time and I lived there. Houston had about four million people. The difference about Baiku experienced about one murder a month, and typically it was domestic wife's type of situation. In Houston. Comparably, Houston was
averaging about fifteen murders a week at that time. Now, I also saw lines of men on the streets in suits, and these suits were like not really in good condition, but they were on the streets early in the morning, and they waiting on people to pick them up. You know, like in Houston and other parts, and even in Dallas you see Mexicans out in that gas stations and kind of stuff waiting on some jobs. Well, this is how
these guys would do. But it would be hundreds and hundreds and rows of guys, I mean sometimes like for a solid mile, just straight on both sides of the streets. And some people were still sleeping on dirt floors at the time. Okay, some people, right, And I'm comparing it to the US, and I'm going like, well, they're poor, They're really really poor. Why aren't they killing each other?
Why aren't they robbing? Because because we like we often say, well we're killing each other and were hurting and we're fighting and we robbing because we ain't got nothing. But they ain't got nothing either. They really ain't got nothing, and they're not robbing, they're not killing. And what I surmise is how the government communicates with his people. Leadership starts at the top, and these people have put a premium on life. They put a premium on family. They
put a premium on community. We don't. I was with my family on our way home and we saw a fight. We looked off the left. I saw this a fight. It was like old women, children, men beating up this one guy. They were whooping his ass. They were serving or they were serving them all kinds of pieces.
Bro.
The dudes was punching them, killing them. Little kids was kicking them. Old lady, A couple old ladies had broomstick and they were hitting them in slow motion with the broomstick. So I turned the drive and I asked my drive. I say, say, man, what's going on? He said, I don't know. I find out. So he dropped us off and he went back to see what was up. He comes back and he said, yeah, that guy beat up his girlfriend, and so they beat him up. The whole
neighborhood whooped his ass. They don't play that in Houston and America. We see something. Mind your own bitiness, your own bitness. And that's why our women and children are.
Unsafe right because possible.
That's why our boys are walking around at thirteen years old, ten years old with guns in their waistband. Because the people that are in this country and the people, even in their neighborhoods, instead of the men in the neighborhoods protecting the neighborhood and keeping them safe. They look at the boys as competition, right, you know, they're trying to high at you fifteen years old. You got a grown man twenty thirty some years old trying to get at
the same girl you're trying to get at. So they see you as competition. And in many cases, the women see the girls, the younger girls, as competition, right, right, right. But I surmised that the reason, the fundamental reason is values. Brother, It comes down to values. At one point, I was a source of a lot of the pain in my community. You know, I was very violent, and so I made I contributed to some of.
That, right right.
It wasn't until I learned to love myself that I learned to love of other people. And I said, you know what, that ain't right now. I started actually taking up for people, and I became a protector, you know, instead of an agitator, you know, instead of provocator, I became a protector. And once I did that, I decided, ain't nobody coming in this neighborhood and bullying nobody and nobody pushing nobody around. You ain't coming to beat up
nobody right this neighborhood. And once I put my foot down, the other guys around me did the same thing and it was peace. And so the men, it really starts with the men. They got to step up because the men are the ones who are and the boys are really the ones who are doing all the killing. So everybody like to talk about leadership. I'm a leader, I'm a man, I'm this whatever, right, But.
You're right, yeah, I totally get it. And see that's why me and and everybody around us we realized how much influence film and television has on a lot of this music, all of that. It has a huge influence. Like look at you know what's going on with Jomrad.
You can't.
I mean, I mean he's a young guy twenty three years old, which you can't tell me that that influence ain't coming from TV and film and the music.
And because you're not living that way.
It's it's just but it's the culture putting so much pressure on people that the first thing you do when you get money is try to go and get some holes and try to do this in the holes like I want a real nigga. I want a nigga do this and do that, and do this and do that, and you're like, well shit, nigga g herbo out the hood. You know what I'm saying, Let me so I won't
be flying were a push heisty mass too. And I'm but that ain't that ain't your life though, you know what I mean, because anybody who knows that life for real ain't got nothing. They're not glorifying it at all. They really just rapping by this so they can get some money and never got.
To go back.
You know.
So I created a foundation called Dream Seeker that ultimately is a film education platform that's allowing people to you know, we training people in every department behind the camera. They can come on set, get trained, work for union hours, and pretty much gearing them to work anywhere in the world. We already got this projected to be a global situation because a thing that's not happening is that we don't
have no direct contact with Africa for real. They not teaching Africans about slavery, so they looking at us, we looking at them. It ain't no unity and none of this, you know what I mean, and then when they do show us Africa, it's motherfuckers with pot bellies and you know what I mean, everybody starving, flies in their eyes. They ain't got no shoes on their feet, whatever it may be. And they ain't gonna tell you. Oh, some
of these people, it's convoying and race. You know, some of these people got so much money that is crazy. It's all kind of billionaires and all kind of people that we never even heard of. And they don't want to shed light on that because it'll start to give us this different picture of ourselves, you know what I mean, And you know, just go way back, like they've been trying to break our mind since White Jesus, you know. But like I think, through all this chaos, like you said,
where does the leadership start? So I know, okay, I got my little piece of film television. All right, let's do it like this, and we can make movies about whatever we want to make the movies about. But the education process and the jobs that we give people and all of these different things I believe will change something.
And I'm like, I might not even live to see that.
But if this go all the way around the world, I know, for sure, I ain't gonna leave it like I can. And I think if we have that mindset to not leave the world the same way we found it, and we're starting with ourself, it's gonna be a beautiful place, you know what I mean, because it ain't about us being divided. Like I don't want to live in the world with just black folks, you know what I mean.
I don't even want to live my life like that. So, you know, like you said, like when we get to the point where we could just start loving on ourselves a little bit more, you know, you could love on your kids better, you could love on your family a little bit better. You could love what you do, you know, because we're all wired to love. And you know, on the other end of that, it's the hate, that's that's what you know, And people end up hating because they
want to be loved, you know what I'm saying. So it's it's it's interesting, man, But I think that I'm very optimistic about the situation, to say the least, you know, because I feel like, if if you're close to me, I know I could have a little love for you at least, you know what I mean, And it just have to start there.
You know.
I hope I'm radiant, and I hope that people like when they see me, they see God in me. They like, damn, that's what's up, you know what I mean? And it's you know, a lot of us ain't got no guidance. But it take a village, you know. It takes people like yourself for me to get around people and be like, you know what, this is a good thing, you know, because I feel like it's such a it's such a block between young people in the older generation, you know.
Like I was talking to you about my grandfather.
Him and I used to get into it a lot because he used to always want to pay his bills in the envelope that it come in and fill out the paper, and I'm like, you know, it's the twentieth century, Like people don't you don't have to do it this way? No more, like why do you want to do it like this? He always used to be peeking over my shoulder. I'm like, you know, and I.
Would get agitated by it because.
I'm like, damn, I'm trying to do something else. You want me to come phill these bills out? But I didn't know until maybe six or seven years ago that the only thing that my grandfather knows how to write is his name, and he could write it in cursive, so he hell a proud of it. That's all he knew how to write. So he was always very impressed with my penmanship. And you know what I mean, the fruit of his labor. Look how it's turning out. Damn,
look what we're doing. And it would agitate me because I'm like, you know, but it was the block and he has so much pride that he was afraid to tell me like, oh I can't write this. This is why I need you to do it, like you know. So I feel like we need to listen to each other, young generation, old generation, whatever it may be, you know, And like you said, like we've we've all had our our slip ups, you know, and been part of the
bullshit in our communities. You know, so we got to step up and start doing something great, you know what I mean, and show people that you can change and that we can change this world if we change ourselves.
Yeah, that was profound, It was you know.
You know.
The trip part about it is that a lot of the answers are in those characters that you've played. I'm telling you, man, thank you. You have done a remarkable job at at picking good characters.
Thank you, Little boys. Reloaded podcasts will be right back after.
The spots, going back to the easy movie movie Straight out of Compton and where you played uh easy when when they told you that, uh did you have did did you have to take any type of special uh courses or whatever to find out, you know, uh, how an age patient would respond to the treatment or to the news that they had gotten age. Did you have to go around any type of clinics or anything like that.
No, No, I just thought of it like because I had an uncle that died from age, right, And I I got my own conspiracy thoughts on that too, because I ain't gonna lie. He was healthy as an ox, but he was a gay man, right, and when everybody was getting tested and people was finding out and all of this kind of stuff, like the whole family suggested that he go get tested because they knew he was gay.
Lo and behold, he got AIDS.
Four months later, he dies, but he paid like eighty thousand or something crazy number for the medicine. So you know, it was like to me, it was it came through and just swept a lot of people. But I personally feel like it came from the medicine, right, So aside from that, I'm looking at easy situation like he went to the hospital and never left, you know what I'm.
Saying, Like he went in, they never leave. So the shock to him was more like, no, I'm you know, I ain't gay? What you mean I got aids?
Like that's for gay people because that's what the media is saying. And then they're like, no, well your T sale account is thirteen sir. You know you got a few days. You about to get out of here that whole like, cause, I mean, we don't survived shoot out, so we didn't survive this and that it survived the police all of that, and I'm about to die from a sickness? Are you kidding me? Like I know his
heart was broke, you know what I mean? Because he never, ever, I don't think, wanted He wanted the best for Qube. He wanted the best for Dre, wanted the best for Yellow Wren, even Jerry Helen. He wanted the best for people like he had a good heart about himself. He gave each of his kids twenty thousand dollars a month. You know, he was taking care of what he had to take care of.
He gave each one of his kids twenty RECs a month.
Twenty bands.
Ain't your cue that money? C was asking about you want some money man?
Well, you know, Cuban wrote a lot of that music.
Man you wanted that money?
Well, you know.
But to be honest, I think Easy was also afraid to uh. I mean, he know that there was things that that Jerry could do that he couldn't. You know, Like when they went to go visit the White House, they made us take that out the movie. It was in the original script. They made us take that out the movie. And it wasn't even that's a simple shot to say, hey, you know, we just got off the airplane or whatever and we and they just simply turned us back around and say, now get your lass back
on there. That's all they needed to put in the movie to let us know that it happened, you know. But they was like, no, check it out. I believe Universal wanted us to take it out. But f Gary Gray, he's so smart, you know that. Like at the end of the film, that's why Cube says to Easy, how you go from selling rocks in the Dope House to eating dinner with the president in the White House and he you know. Easy responds by saying, they still trying
to figure that out because that was the truth. All they knew was Eric Lynn Wright donated X amount of dollars to the state of California. He should be a Republican. They didn't think he was going to show up and be the same nigga from the police.
It was like, hell no, they turned him around, you know what I mean? But yeah, that's the truth.
And they didn't want to see it, like they didn't want us to be that powerful, you know, like when you look at it, they knocked off him, Biggie and Pop in a very short amount of time. If you go from the first that to the last, it's like, I don't even think it's two four years.
Who was in office when Easy went to the to the to the White House?
Mm? Is it Reagan? I do who was it?
See? I think that I think I don't even I don't even think Easy went to the White House.
Uh, he was the presidential luncheon that they were supposed to be, So whatever it was, it might have been Big Bush.
Whatever he went to uh was supposed to go to I think easy went there like justice to give him a big middle finger.
Like absolutely, that's what it was always was.
And yeah, he wasn't trying to go toga.
Like I can just see that letter when he got the letter, you know what, and somebody probably was one of the secretary something probably has probably read the letter and say they want you to and he was like, what what you're gonna do?
I'm going right, I'm head, I'm headed, you know, because they probably had no idea who Eric Lynn Wright was. They definitely didn't put that together and think it was easy.
You know. You know, Eric, you were a very smart guy, right, but man, I think you overplayed your hand by not paying Cube and Drake. I mean, you overplayed your hand.
He definitely, I think he definitely did that bad. He definitely did that bad.
You got the guy, you got your most prolific writer in the group, and you got your beat maker. If you got your guy who's making the music, you gotta take care of those guys. You got to make them happy. They gotta be happy. Absolutely, it seemed like that they were asking for anything unreasonable.
No, I mean I think at the end of the day he he was so stuck on what Jerry Heller was telling him and trusting in that situation so much that between everything that's going on in his life, he was just so blinded to it. I think he after a while just put on blinders and was like, Jerry got it. I don't want to talk to you all about the money because I mean, it is what it is. But you know, by that time, he was he was
on a rapid downfall, you know what I mean. Like Jerry really got all of the asks, you know what I mean, like they easy was an exempt from the situation. Like he he definitely lost money too. And I think if he would have just paid more attention to the situation in its entirety, you know, because he really didn't believe that they couldn't do it without Jerry, and Dre was preaching that to him the whole time, you know.
But I mean we see where Dre at now billionaih, you know what I mean, We see where a cube at now like leading it, you.
Know what I mean.
So it's I don't know, man, you know, it's it was sad to watch. It was sad to watch, but you know, I am glad that I got to humanize him in a way that didn't tarnish the legacy or brother.
You killed that role. If you was made for that role, I think you killed it. I mean, not talking about it out the park. You said a distant record with that ship. Hey man, I'm glad I was not there trying to audition. Stopped playing, man, stop playing. They would have called me back. I'm like Jason Road, I mean, you knocked that thing out. The part is that any role that they could ask of you that you would not play, you absolutely would just say no, I'm not playing that type of character.
I'm not homophobic at all, don't have no homophobic bones in my body, but I just I don't. I don't want to play any of these rolls, you know that, you know. I mean I feel like they got they got gay people out here that act, they got transgenders out here that act, and they could portray those stories very well, you know, and they fit in that box very well. So you know, I could sort of leave
that for them. That and maybe like I'm not too big on the woman nos this either, I don't really want to play that, you know, maybe a hot boy, but like as far as like on some Ike Turner type shit like nah, you know what I mean, Like they still got people who be looking at Blair Underwood like I don't like his ass, but he you know, he probably don't beat his wife at home, but people just look at it like, you know what I mean, Lawrence Fishburn had to shake that, you know what I'm saying,
because for a long time people just looking at him like I don't like his motherfucking ass, you know. So it's just like when you see Hannibal. Like when I first met Anthony Hopkins in real life, he was That was the first time I ever froze when I was like meeting a star because I'm I always I'll give myself enough to like, you know, you got some people you meet them and you're like, damn, I just been
a huge fan my whole life or whatever. But as far as like being struck or you do some stupid shit like that only happened to me when I met him and the dude who played Candy Man, and they don't even know about it because I ain't speak to him. I feel like the dude who playing Candy Man fucked up my whole childhood, Like he don't even know, like you know, but I seen him and stop, like you know, and I kind of let them go their own way because I'm like, damn, But you know, it's powerful being
an actor, you know what I'm saying. You never know how you affecting people lives. So you know, they got a couple of things that I wouldn't like to do. But I personally feel like, you know, because I had a bud all of these tattoos before I started acting, So in my mind, I always thought I was gonna get pigeonholed, you know, or be type cast as the guy with the tattoos stuck number three and shit right.
So I always would press this this issue that I needed to show different faces at Jason Mitchell every time. I need to do something completely different, Like they called me to be easy in every other movie that had a glimpse of easy e in it, Like, bro.
No, you know what I mean, I'm not doing that no more. I play easy.
That's fine, Like you're not gonna get me to be easy in nine more movies, Like we could do this as a series and you know, we can keep going and then what you know what I mean? People be like went straight out of Compton too, come out Nigga. Hopefully never I died in the first one, you know what I mean?
Fuck yeah, you know. So, I just I never wanted to.
Let that be the thing that held me back, you know what I mean, because I definitely don't look at none of my tattoos as a mistake.
I don't feel like I would take it back. I feel like it's.
Part of my individuality and who I am as a person, you know. So it's good to know that it ain't holding me back, But it's it's always kind of like in the back of my mind, like can you really that show me?
You know?
And I just I'm always in this battle with myself, Like I feel like it's just me against me. You know, if you stand in front of the goal, I'm gonna dunk on your ass. I'm definitely the little bron of this ship. I feel like they got actors out here that had opportunities to work with me and don't because they know I'm gonna go up on their ass, you know what I mean. It just is what it is like,
and I love this craft. It is what it is, you know what I'm saying, But like it's it's just like you know, you see Lebron and Steph Curry got this love for each other, you know, but like on the court, ain't no love, you know what I'm saying, Like I'm not gonna disrespect you or do nothing like that. But I'm here to win. And that's how I feel when it comes to my craft, Like I'm here to win.
You stand in front of the goal, prepare to get dunk though Vince Carter style, going with my arm and all of that in the rim, you know what I mean, I'm gonna highlight posted your ass.
I believe I'm ready for it. With your relationship, like with lean.
Await, mainly not cool, mainly not cool.
We like when I first met Leani, I met her at a SAG event and they had a stepping repeat right, and she had on like this fly ass suit and I actually asked to take a picture with her because I just thought she was fly as hell.
You know, I ain't know who she was.
And she was like, you know, I'm a writer, you know, I've I've done a couple of things, but like, I really want to work.
With you one day.
And I was like, let's touch and agree on it right now, Like all my friends that tell you like I pray in a minute, like I'm all about it, you know. So we literally stopped on the on the on the step and repeat and prayed, you know, and uh then I ended up getting this offer come in saying hey, yeah for the shot, and I was just like, damn,
we really spoke that shit into existence. So by us having that that introduction, and you know, by us adding God into the into the mix early on, I don't feel like nothing could really break that, you know what I mean. I mean it was like, you know, when the whole little situation happened and shit kind of came rolling down on me or whatever, I understood why she got out the way, because you got the whole brand to protect, you got the whole show to protect.
You know what I'm saying. I just I took a bullet and it was what it was.
Did she support you silently? I mean, well, let me put it like this. Did she support you privately?
Absolutely? She did, absolutely.
But you know, to be honest, I wasn't really trying to hear that shit at the time, like you know, cause I was I was like, why would you just flash out and be like I got to stand with the woman like you don't even know what the fuck happened yet, you know what I'm saying, she actually did that, I mean I think she did. I think at one point in time she called the Breakfast Club and was like,
I never worked with Jason Mitchell again. But then she retracted those words when she found out that the situation wasn't what she thought it was. But I just think that's some bullshit, Like you know what I mean, Like as much as you know somebody, you know, I feel like.
I feel like people who really know me, when when.
They hear shit in the media, they'll be like, uh, that's not really him, you know what I mean.
And I feel like.
She was one of the people who could have spoke up and said something that could.
Have changed the situation. But yeah, yeah, exactly.
But I also realized that, you know, if she did stand behind me, and you know, I did do some bullshit, it could have been bad for both of us, you know what I mean. I understand that too, So you know that's I don't I don't. I don't judge nobody for their situation, you know what I mean. And you never know what people are gonna do under pressure. I mean, nigga snitch every day, you know what I'm saying, So I don't. I don't be judging people.
I really don't.
I tell you this, Bro, one of the quickest ways to find out who for you is to go through some heavy ship. Oh yeah, for sure, go through something. For sure, do something, and I'm gonna tell you know. Like when I when I had my situation with the thied, Bro, it was one of them situations that if you could talk to God and you'd be like, say, God, no, you ain't got to do all that to God. Like, nah, I'm gonna sit you down for a while. Bro, you
kind of moving a little bit too fast. I would have been like, now you ain't really got too many I'm talking to you right now. I'm gonna sit you down for a minute. But I'm gonna tell you something, Bro. It was a blessing in disguise. It's not something I would have wished for, but it was a blessing in disguise because when I say them niggas was dropping like flies all around me. When I say they were scatting,
and it tightened my circle. It's strengthen it. My circle became so strong only the real was around me, and it stood out clearly. Including when I say the real, I mean even the women in my circle. The women got tight, super tight. The women in my circle. Shit, I take I go to wat any day. I'll pick them over some some of these dudes out here in a day because they sold as I mean, they like all the way, like oh they crying, they't going crazy, egg, well, we gotta do something.
They want a twin power activate like we gonna It was like that. They were like that, I respect us so much and you want.
To you want to know. It's not something that you wish, but if you know, if you gotta go through something, if you're going through it, that's when you're gonna really really know.
Bro, absolutely absolutely, like because you know, we were just talking about your quavers, like.
Listen. He helped me really start.
To look at myself for who I was, because I've always been me.
You understand, I'm with myself every day.
I'm not going home and saying nigga, you a superstar, nigga you this you that I'm just Jason.
That's it.
I'm just Jason, Bro, and I don't everybody know. I come with a very humble energy. I got a humble spirit, and just because I fucked around and did something great, I don't think that makes me no better than the next person, right, So it was hard for me to really start looking at it. He was like, Bro, when the last time you seen somebody on the street and they said, when you see showtime, tell them tell them we love we appreciate them for putting you on that show.
Anybody ever stopped you and said, hey, man, tell you universal that we appreciate them for letting you play easy And You're like.
Nah, nigga, they love you. Invest in yourself. You ain't doing shit but making somebody else rich.
Even if you is getting a little a little bag, it could be a whole different type of bag. If you say, fuck it, I'm a bet on me, you know what I mean. But when I did that, a lot of people because the handouts stopped, because a lot of motherfuckers call me and give me a sad story. Say brother, look man, I'm going through and I'll shoot you something. You come stay at the crib. You know a lot of motherfuckers. They know they know I ain't lying,
They know I done held so many people down. But as soon as I said, ah, I can't do that, or I was going through some shit. You know, motherfuckers, if the phone stopped ringing as much, you think you know what I'm saying, and I really I'm talking about my circle that went to a dot. Family members then dropped out it and everything, and it just is what it is, because I feel like, you know, if I ain't got nothing else, I got guard and God is gonna direct me to the right people at all times.
And the people who really really love me gonna be one hundred percent down with that walk that I'm on.
Period.
And that's just it. That's the short and long of it. It ain't no miraculous, glamorous story. Now, either you gonna love me and you're gonna be here through the entire thing, or it's gonna be over, you know what I mean. Jamie Fox, you know, blessings to him, you know what I mean, because he was one of them people like I went through some shit.
He was like, man, come to the house, let me talk to you. Shit you down and talk to you. You know, really shoot some shit.
If you ever really need something, brother, I got you. You know, they got very few people in the world who liked that dog like when things was going great I'm talking about it wasn't a movie star in the business that didn't want to work with me, or that I couldn't call personally. I could literally call my agent and be like, I need such and such a number. They texting it to me in the next five minutes. And I remember I was in Vietnam. Russell Simmons called
my phone. They was like, can you hold for Russell Simmons. I was like, I ain't never had nobody call my phone and put me on hold immediately, you know what I mean. But this was the type of shit that was happening. You think when I went through the bullshit, these people was calling my phone. Hell no, you know. But now I just feel different because I'm like, you know what, if nothing else, I know, I got a direct pipeline to the fans, and you know, I acting
as my happy place. So if I could make movies to the day I die, That's what I'm gonna do. And if the fans continue to watch my ship, that's gonna be great. But I know for a fact, and nobody else got to give me another opportunity in the world. Don't get me wrong, I would love it. I would love to be in a Marvel movie. I would love to be a superhero. But if them opportunities never roll back around, my bag is still gonna look the same as theirs.
I believe that, you know, I believe that.
That's that's why I am. See my my bounce back, you know, boy, my bounce back is very similar, bro, Like I just got one of those type of mentalities like I don't make it no matter what. So even if I got to do it all by myself, all along, everybody dropped off, But it's beautiful to have some support, even if it's a small circle. In fact, I actually prefer my smaller circle anyway, because that's less. Less birthday parties I gotta go through gift you know, that's less
less anniversaries. I got to a ten. You know, that's less people I gotta talk to taking up my time. You know, like, hey man, you know, like everything that I do, man, it's all quality. Like I'm dealing with quality people. Yeah, super tight circle, quality people, and I'm cool with that. So blessing in disguise, man, And you know how it go, Bro, What don't kill us make us stronger?
Facts, Facts and a lot of times, like you said, well, be willing to hear that, you know, you be like, God.
You got it. You're like, yeah, I got you.
But you're gonna have to sit this one out, you know. And I feel like so blessed that I got to get close enough to the fire to really know that it was hot, but not really get burned, you know what I mean, Because I feel like a lot of times, you know, when you get to celebrity status, you got to make sure that you're not self inflicting wounds, you know, and for whatever God has you know, set for me to do, because it's far from over, you know what
I mean. I'm still a very young guy, and I feel like, you know, it's a lot that's gonna be on my path. But one thing I can't do is put myself in the line of fire or self inflict pain. I just I can't do that. If I do that, I'm gonna lose off the rip. So he put that in front of my face, like, Okay, this is what happened. If you do some dumb shit and then the process of that, all of these people who claiming they're your
friends and all of this shit. Look, we're gonna wipe all of that situation out and then make it even better for you to feel secure.
You're gonna go home with all of their secrets.
So nobody gotta feel no kind of way about nothing, because I'm telling you, every time I get in front of a fucking microphone, I guarantee you they got people who cringe like, oh God, this nigga, don't bring this up. And I hope he don't say this, and I hope he don't say that. But nah, I don't care. I don't care that you don't that you didn't stick up
for me. I don't give a fuck about that. I'm just happy that you out the way and that that that's not gonna affect my life, and no negative ways, you know what I mean, Because we could potentially be in a situation where this could it really fucked me up, you know what I mean. Look at Young Thug. All these niggas never turned on the game. I would never snitch, and as soon as they get in there, it was him, DeAndre did it. You're on it, you know what I mean.
They doing it to each other and it's crazy, you know what I mean. And I'm talking about instantly, So for me I just feel like I'm just so happy that like the people that's around me love me as much as I love them. You know, if anything would have happened to me, I feel safe with them being around my daughters, and you know, I can't ask for much more, you know, more life.
Yeah, them boys over there and that young thug trial pointed like the Jackson five, I don't got no.
Fucked up man.
I'm so sad for that dude, bro, because to be honest, man, like you know, I mean, I can't speak on their business. I don't really know what really be going on, but I've always seen them be all about their business. That's what the whole world is englfed with rap music, you know what I'm saying. They either on tour or in the studio, they're trying to do some shit with theirself.
So you know, it's it's just fucked up, man, to see these these reco cases and these conspiracy shits that be happening, and you know, just tearing down these things that get built. You know, when half of it don't even be like that. It'd be a bunch of handshakes and DAPs and shit. These niggas made up and you know what I mean. And then you got somebody fucking off in the background who ruined it for everybody, and it's just it's really sad to watch, man, it's really sad to watch.
That there be a lesson boys and girls. You resemble who you assemble real top Absolutely, Jason Mitchell, you wanted the realists, bro. This has been a this is what what we would call on Halloween, a treat.
I heard that it has been a treat. I heard that. I appreciate you.
Coming on the podcast, And is there anything that you want to leave with the audience.
First and foremost, everything is both June second, Apple TV. If you ain't got Apple TV, you might be able to watch it on Amazon Prime, but you do got to go check that out. Me and JaQuavis called me and we produce that part time. Fitzpatrick is in it. We found because we like to give opportunities, you know what I mean. So we we got some sensations that you're gonna see in this movie that you have not seen yet, and it's just gonna be a lovely, lovely,
lovely treat for y'all. So I want you to check that out. And for those who do want to be in the film business. Go to our dreamseek dot org and sign up, and we're gonna send you all the information you need to find out how we could get.
You in this business.
You know.
So not only are we making movies, but we're giving opportunities, you know what I mean?
Yes and yeah, speaking of opportunities, let me put your he was on the spot right now, the Quavens coming is in the house, Ladies and gentlemen, the family. I'm gonna let y'all know right now, I'm gonna tell the whole world the Quaves already said. The very next movie that he do, y'all gonna see me in it. Now, that's what he said. Let's see what happened. No more talking.
This episode was produced by a King and brought to you by the Black Effect Podcast Network at iHeart Radio.