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Grammy Award-winning artist Kandi Burruss, Talks New Broadway Play 'Thoughts of A Colored Man'
Sep 2, 2021
Kandi Burruss, announced that she is joining the producing team for the upcoming Broadway debut of Thoughts of a Colored Man. Burruss will join the team of producers led by Brian Moreland, Ron Simons, Diana DiMenna, Samira Wiley, Sheryl Lee Ralph, The Shubert Organization, and The Nederlander Organization.
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Exclusive interviews from Sway Calloway and the Sway In The Morning/ SwaysUniverse.com team with some of today's biggest celebrities, like Kevin Hart, Kanye West, Eminem, Usher, Jessica Alba, Steve Aoki, Torey Lanez, Julia Stiles and so much more.
Grammy Award-winning artist Kandi Burruss, Talks New Broadway Play 'Thoughts of A Colored Man'
https://youtu.be/Y7I6klVL0Jo
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0:00
yo man i'm just excited to see what she
0:03
got going on next have the beat name it
0:05
again all the different things she does
0:07
listen first and foremost she is
0:11
a wife she is a mother she is an artist
0:15
she is a writer she is a businesswoman
0:18
she is a producer she is a friend and to
0:22
me just an all-around
0:25
good vibe and good energy person like i
0:28
never
0:29
look at my television and and when i see
0:31
candy pop up i just smile always so
0:34
happy for her always rooting for her and
0:36
most importantly sway she's a citizen of
0:39
sway in the morning we got candy versus
0:42
on the line candy
0:44
what's up y'all
0:46
hey
0:47
what's poppin
0:49
everything is poppin
0:50
[Applause]
0:52
yo honestly though it just seems like
0:55
you don't stop like
0:57
you don't stop man and it's crazy
1:00
because if anybody meets you you're the
1:01
kindest person ever yeah always tell
1:04
this story one time i was in atlanta
1:06
years ago and we was at the same
1:07
restaurant
1:09
and um and you were sitting over there
1:11
and i was like oh that gold candy
1:13
and you were just so nice and kind and
1:15
sweet and i was like man she don't she
1:17
ain't got to be this way
1:20
i mean
1:21
well i mean i think none of us should
1:23
ever be acting like we don't made it
1:25
that's the thing i hate when people
1:27
start doing some something like
1:30
successful or whatever and then they
1:32
start acting around acting like they
1:34
gave them the task to you know act like
1:35
they're better than everybody else that
1:37
gets on my nerves i guess on your nerves
1:39
so you don't act like you made it like
1:41
is that part of you feel like your
1:42
business regiment because you've had so
1:44
many successful businesses we were
1:46
talking to ice cube yesterday about how
1:48
does he balance he builds companies now
1:50
he don't just build product
1:52
you do the same thing you know and he
1:54
said the moment you feel
1:56
like you made it
1:58
you know then that's a red flag do you
2:01
do you so
2:03
i didn't really think about it like that
2:04
but i agree with him i was just telling
2:06
somebody yesterday i i feel like you
2:09
know you never get too comfortable i
2:10
know i never get comfortable you know
2:12
what i'm saying because just as soon as
2:15
you do one thing people already want to
2:17
know okay well what's next it is like
2:19
sometimes people get all comfortable in
2:21
their current success and they be
2:23
thinking they don't did something but
2:25
not realizing it's like
2:28
you know at the next year people ain't
2:30
thinking about that no more like you
2:31
know what i mean so it's just like you
2:33
got to keep going constantly
2:36
you know reinvent yourself be coming up
2:39
with new ideas new you know moves or
2:42
whatever else if you get all comfortable
2:45
thinking you don't made it and that you
2:46
really did something
2:52
what happened to them
2:56
oh that was last year don't nobody care
2:58
about that no more that's the first
2:59
thing they want to say
3:00
and candy being nice she saying last
3:02
year people don't care after six months
3:05
right
3:08
one time my cousin told me long time ago
3:10
she was like used to bees don't make no
3:13
honey so don't nobody care what you used
3:15
to be
3:25
don't nobody care if you use the right
3:26
hits don't nobody care if you used to do
3:29
this i can't stand i used to be person
3:31
like they always went oh man i used to
3:34
do this
3:34
i remember when we used to blah blah man
3:36
no don't nobody care
3:38
nobody care i ride hard on what i
3:41
used to do
3:44
candy that's the point it's like people
3:47
i realize people only care about what
3:50
you used to do
3:51
is if
3:53
you are currently still doing something
3:56
you know what i mean yeah just think
3:57
about it like let's think about it you
3:59
can have the number one show
4:02
you know or the number one you know
4:05
ratings or whatever this week right
4:06
you'll go to a party they'd be like so
4:08
what else you got going on
4:10
what's next
4:12
isn't that what people say the first
4:14
question and i'll be like what do you
4:15
mean what's next it's now
4:18
hey what happened to stop and smell the
4:20
roses
4:22
but that's my point is like don't nobody
4:24
like people like what's happening now
4:26
and that makes people pay attention
4:28
but you gotta constantly be working on
4:31
the next move
4:33
hmm damn this is interesting and we're
4:36
gonna talk about your next move on
4:38
thoughts of a colored man um which is
4:40
presented by you brian anthony moreland
4:42
ron simmons uh deanna diminished shirley
4:45
ralph uh samara wiley um that's that's
4:48
your wood snacks now correct yes yes of
4:52
a color man super excited to be a part
4:54
of this project as a producer on
4:57
broadway come on let's see history right
5:00
now come on candy's now a producer on
5:03
broadway so we gotta add it to that
5:05
resume there you go
5:07
a producer on broadway what i what i
5:10
love about this
5:12
is i was having a conversation with my
5:14
sister my big sister g life aka if you
5:17
ever want to follow her candy is nzo
5:20
khalifa the letter in the letter z the
5:22
letter o khalifa c h c a l i f a i just
5:25
put that out that you ain't got to but
5:27
that'd be great if you did
5:28
um and we were having this conversation
5:31
and she sent me this article about
5:33
black men
5:35
and
5:38
what they face what they're facing what
5:40
they've been facing
5:42
how um
5:44
black men are constantly being you know
5:46
ridiculed demonized
5:49
uh how the kind of pressures they're on
5:52
so on and so forth
5:54
black people in general we go through a
5:56
whole lot right and i thought but i
5:59
thought it was very thoughtful of my
6:01
sister because we were having a
6:02
conversation the same conversation about
6:04
black women
6:06
you know in
6:07
ways that i could
6:09
with ways that in my role i could keep
6:11
uplifting and supporting and then she
6:13
sent me something about what we need as
6:15
black men and i'm reading the premise of
6:17
thoughts of a colored man can you talk
6:19
about that and why you want to invest in
6:21
this
6:22
okay
6:23
so the show thoughts of a colored man
6:26
it's a show written by keenan scott ii
6:29
and basically it's showing you all the
6:32
different emotions of a black man
6:36
so
6:37
the thing is i feel like so many times
6:40
you know in the public eye you know
6:43
black men have been pushed into the
6:46
forefront under you know negativity you
6:49
know what i mean people always want to
6:50
bring up violence bring up you know
6:53
incarceration bring up you know whatever
6:56
you know just negative things whereas
6:59
there's so many
7:01
there's so much more
7:03
um many more positive things that black
7:06
men go through on a daily so this show
7:10
it's going to show men black men in a
7:12
different light it's the first time ever
7:15
you're gonna have seven
7:16
black men start on broadway and they're
7:20
gonna be showing all the different
7:21
emotions from you know love wisdom
7:26
you know all of these things you know
7:27
what i mean um
7:29
and that's what i think is super
7:32
dope about it not only is it an all
7:34
black cast but it's a black writer black
7:37
um director all black producing team
7:40
that has never happened in the history
7:43
of rob i mean of broadway and so
7:46
with that being said
7:48
you know i feel like people need to come
7:50
see this show just because we need to
7:52
see black men in a more positive
7:54
different light to show all the
7:55
different emotions that men go through
7:58
um that are black you know what i mean
8:01
but especially in this climate in the
8:03
past year with everything you know
8:05
happening you know dealing with you know
8:09
the race you know issues or whatever
8:12
we just we need people to really see us
8:15
you know what i mean and um and i just
8:17
feel like this is an amazing time for
8:19
this show to come back to come to
8:21
broadway when broadway is coming back
8:24
for the first time you know that's the
8:26
first time broadway even been shut down
8:27
ever ever in life yeah you know what i
8:30
mean so to come back
8:31
open up and to have a show like this
8:34
come
8:35
is is
8:36
you know it's historic and i was so
8:39
happy to be a part of it so happy that
8:41
i'm able to
8:43
push it in and let people see it a lot
8:45
of people think i'm in the show no it's
8:47
about black men
8:48
you know what i mean and um
8:51
you know some amazing black men that
8:53
that are going to be in the show so i
8:55
can't wait i cannot wait for people to
8:57
see it
8:58
hey man i'm there i'm i'm front row i'm
9:01
buying my tickets too i don't even want
9:03
the free tickets that i know candy will
9:04
hook me up with heaven
9:13
tell your friends to buy the tickets
9:16
okay that's the only way this is going
9:17
to be successful first time ever being
9:20
done citizens you could get tickets in
9:22
advance go to thoughts of a colored
9:24
man.com
9:25
opening night uh the previews start
9:28
friday october 1st opening night is
9:29
october 31st on halloween so thoughts of
9:32
a colored man.com
9:35
to purchase tickets hb you wanna
9:37
yeah i do candy i wanna i wanna um
9:40
obviously congratulations with you now
9:42
putting that producer hat on i feel like
9:44
you've always been producing anyway some
9:47
ways shape form or fashion but to go
9:49
back to your resume just a little bit
9:51
with the writing with being in front of
9:53
the camera behind the camera doing
9:56
television doing film um
9:58
what if you can share a little bit
10:00
because i know each hat is different but
10:02
which one would you say you feel
10:04
the most comfortable where you just like
10:08
yo i could just be the most free and the
10:10
most creative which which one of those
10:11
roles is it
10:13
oh well that's kind of i mean i guess um
10:16
the writing producing hat and music is
10:18
easy because you know i just get to be
10:20
in a studio
10:22
mama you know come up with ideas be
10:24
creative i can mess them up y'all never
10:27
hear them
10:28
right right you know
10:31
i could take people that people think
10:32
wasn't going to be that dope on the
10:34
record and make them sound dope i can do
10:36
all kind of stuff as you know as a
10:38
writer producer and music so i think
10:40
that's easy for me and that's more
10:42
comfortable
10:45
candy burris is with us i want to say
10:47
thank you for thoughts of a colored man
10:49
you know um
10:50
i used to not like the word colored
10:53
because i felt like it didn't properly
10:55
distinguish anyone right and then the
10:59
word didn't tell our history or didn't
11:01
it didn't encompass our legacy as who we
11:03
are as a people
11:05
uh but this
11:06
word is purposely being used in the
11:08
title and it's an interesting
11:10
perspective can you can you speak to
11:12
that well i mean um to me that's more so
11:16
of something for the writer keenan scott
11:19
who is okay man to speak to but at the
11:21
end of the day what i say about
11:23
we are the only race i don't know if you
11:25
noticed this that we are the only race
11:27
whose name has changed multiple times in
11:31
just the last
11:32
you know 50 years or whatever we've been
11:36
colored we've been black we've been
11:38
african-american we've been negro you
11:40
know what i mean whereas you know
11:43
italian americans are just italian
11:45
americans you know um
11:48
hispanics you know americans they're
11:50
just expanding you know their name does
11:52
not continuously change and i never
11:54
understood why when it comes to black
11:56
people or african americans or whatever
11:58
people feel comfortable
12:00
labeling it
12:01
um we always have to have a name change
12:04
and i'm not sure if it's us that's doing
12:07
that or if people are doing it to us
12:09
me i'm comfortable with people just
12:11
saying black you know what i mean i'm
12:13
black and i'm proud i'm sticking with it
12:15
okay that's your thing okay all right
12:17
but i noticed also it's like now it's
12:20
people of color you know it's being used
12:23
a lot when you know it's it's not just
12:26
necessarily saying black people that
12:27
they say anybody of
12:29
you know uh people of color which
12:31
meaning the minorities i guess
12:33
but
12:34
for it
12:35
at the end of the day thoughts of a
12:37
colored man i think it just provokes
12:40
um
12:41
you know
12:43
people it gets your grabs your attention
12:45
exactly not a man to say
12:47
okay well what does that mean exactly
12:49
and why are they
12:50
saying colored man like why is it not
12:52
just thoughts of a black man or thoughts
12:54
of an african-american man you know
12:56
thoughts of a colored man it it makes
12:59
you stop
13:00
and listen and pay attention and like
13:02
okay
13:02
let me see what they talking about
13:04
you know what i mean i like it okay now
13:07
i definitely made me that's why i asked
13:09
you know it made me go home that's
13:10
curious colored man i wonder what the
13:12
thought process was behind it but i
13:13
think you're
13:14
absolutely right you know um in terms of
13:18
how we identify ourselves and what we
13:20
identify ourselves as my mother told me
13:23
she was in high school when i'm black
13:25
and i'm proud came out and that's when
13:27
she's been rolling with it ever since
13:29
when james brown put i'm black and i'm
13:30
proud
13:32
yeah you know she she's been rolling
13:34
with it ever since um candy you are
13:36
truly an inspiration i love it talking
13:39
with you having you on the show soon
13:40
we'll be back in our studios and come
13:42
hang out with us in person and man what
13:44
i would love to do too is in our next
13:47
conversation just really
13:48
you know tap into your business regime
13:50
you know your business acumen and and
13:52
some of the decisions you made
13:54
to become the success that you are that
13:56
you'll be willing to share with our
13:57
audience so hopefully we can jump into
13:59
that next time
14:00
oh i would love to
14:02
you know i always love it i truly enjoy
14:05
talking to y'all i hate that we couldn't
14:07
be
14:08
at the same place at the same time today
14:10
you know i always like to actually come
14:12
in and sit with y'all but
14:14
you
14:15
and we had to make it do what it do i
14:16
guess yeah but we got it done and you
14:19
know what the same way about you we love
14:21
having you in the studio as well yeah
14:23
we'll get it done we're getting it
14:25
together on this side don't worry candy
14:26
we do you know we just want to make sure
14:28
everybody's safe you know what i mean
14:30
right right
14:32
all right love to you okay
14:34
congratulations on everything
14:36
congratulations thoughts of a color man
14:38
we promoting it now i say we because
14:40
this is all our project so make sure you
14:42
go to thoughts of
14:42
thoughtsofacoloredman.com
14:44
get them tickets now man let's make this
14:46
a success all right candy take care all
14:49
right
15:04
you
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