Up next in 10
Netflix’s latest hit is Concrete Cowboy, a drama centering on the Black cowboys of North Philadelphia. The film features Stranger Things star Caleb McLaughlin who takes the reins in his first lead movie role alongside Idris Elba. In Concrete Cowboy, the actors play an estranged father and son who find room for their relationship by the end of the film. Elba called in to Sway In The Morning to let us know what to expect from this film.
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Idris Elba Talks New Netflix Movie 'Concrete Cowboy' | SWAY’S UNIVERSE
https://youtu.be/SJAjRv93hOw
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0:00
i work yo
0:05
this is a big moment heather b talk to
0:07
me
0:08
this is a big moment man we were talking
0:10
about afrofuturism earlier
0:13
and i said this man is the very
0:15
manifestation of what it is he
0:17
personifies
0:18
what that means in general just by the
0:20
work he's done
0:22
as a humanitarian the work he's done
0:26
in his craft this man has no limitations
0:29
there are no ceilings to what he can do
0:32
his last name in himself
0:34
possesses power his knowledge of self
0:37
is illuminating i've sat and talked with
0:40
this man on many different levels and i
0:42
decided he's not
0:43
human ladies and gentlemen he's not from
0:46
one particular place he's from
0:48
everywhere he's omnipresent i don't care
0:51
where you discovered him
0:53
it does not matter where you discovered
0:55
him whether it was pacific
0:57
rim beast of the nation molly's game
1:00
it doesn't matter if it was in the
1:01
jungle book
1:03
none of those films none of those
1:04
properties define who he is he defines
1:07
who they
1:07
are this movie's done gross 10 million
1:10
10 billion around the world
1:15
one of the most influential people that
1:17
stepped on this planet give it up for my
1:19
good friend the one and only concrete
1:21
cowboy himself
1:22
idris elba ladies and gentlemen
1:28
wow
1:33
good morning good morning
1:37
that's light work come on man
1:43
good morning good morning man what's
1:45
happening hi
1:47
man man first of all what part of the
1:48
world are you in
1:50
i'm in the uk man i'm in the uk i've
1:53
literally
1:54
been home for about 10 days i've been in
1:56
australia for a long time
1:59
i just got home man i'm just you know
2:00
readjusting to my bed you know that
2:02
yeah man man i know that bed feels
2:04
amazing i know that bad feels amazing
2:07
hey before we get into everything i
2:09
remember when the pandemic started and
2:12
and and and you you and your family
2:14
talked about
2:15
um having covet and um it was new to
2:19
people they were like what's going on
2:20
man why is idris out al
2:22
while is idris elba talking about colvin
2:24
and folks that all kind of craziness
2:26
we're going to dismiss the craziness now
2:28
we don't even have to respond to that
2:30
craziness
2:31
that had no merit how you been since
2:34
how's your health how's your family oh
2:37
thank you for asking man
2:38
you know um i feel blessed every day to
2:41
be alive you know
2:42
um and we could talk about the crazy you
2:44
know it's not even crazy i think people
2:47
you know people were scared you know
2:49
didn't know what was happening
2:51
the reaction towards me and my wife um
2:54
was
2:54
you know hostile and encouraging
2:58
um but it's okay i i i understand that
3:02
because you know it was so new
3:04
and then look what happened next you
3:05
know what happened next was scary and
3:07
and devastating and continues to be and
3:10
i feel blessed to just be alive you know
3:12
i'm here with you
3:13
and heather and and i'm just appreciated
3:15
you know
3:16
absolutely you had to go ahead and say
3:18
what up the idris i know idris
3:20
and it i feel so bad because uh first of
3:22
all thank you so much for calling into
3:24
the show
3:25
and and hanging out with us we really
3:27
appreciate it
3:28
and i know that you are way across the
3:30
pond as they say right now but i'm
3:32
curious because suede was like yo he
3:34
just gonna come up he gonna dj we're
3:36
gonna chill out
3:37
like if you win i should say this when
3:39
you have the opportunity
3:41
to come to the show and dj like what are
3:43
you listening to bro like what's what
3:45
you rocking to right now you listening
3:47
to that lemon pepper wings freestyle
3:49
you listen like what are you listening
3:51
to right now
3:52
no listen really truly right now i ain't
3:56
listening to
4:01
actually you know what i mean i'm
4:03
actually enjoying some pizza quiet but
4:06
normally man i'm i'm a household i i
4:08
make a lot of house i play a lot of
4:10
house when i dj's um
4:11
i'm in that space that that you know
4:13
that that just
4:15
just gets me going but at the same time
4:17
man the music's crazy at the moment so
4:19
many good
4:20
good artists coming out um you know i
4:22
mean lots of new music
4:24
uh like like i'm glad to see my guy um
4:28
actually now i'm going to just forget
4:29
everyone's names um
4:32
i'm glad to see silk sonic come together
4:34
first of all
4:37
[Applause]
4:39
yeah bruno anderson and bruno that
4:42
record
4:43
that had my son who's six he's six he's
4:46
talking about i'm gonna leave the door
4:47
open i was like okay
4:51
he's sick yo idris
4:54
and i have have so many moments um one
4:57
moment i don't know if you remember this
4:59
we went to
5:00
i feel like you me angie martinez and
5:04
a few others were hanging out one night
5:06
in new york yo heather
5:08
remember the famous derek jeter 40th i
5:10
think it was birthday party
5:12
yeah that mean horse went to you know
5:15
um i feel like one time
5:18
you remember that idris we all went to
5:21
that same party
5:24
and ll cool j was there
5:27
and all these different michael strahan
5:30
was there
5:31
and we had a really good time and he
5:32
just was bragging about big
5:34
w what's your dj name big
5:37
well you know i had to i had to let go
5:39
of the big part you know what i'm saying
5:43
okay dj dries okay we
5:46
yeah and you was just on me like yo sway
5:49
i want to come up i want to rock your
5:50
show and i'm looking at you like okay
5:53
okay swear i'm gonna rock your show i'm
5:54
like okay and it never happened
5:57
right so we saw each other in um in
6:00
london i want to say after the
6:02
european music awards and we were
6:04
partying that night yeah we were
6:06
partying that night too and you were
6:07
real slim and lean
6:09
and you were telling me about the doc
6:12
that you did the fighter
6:14
doc that you did where you were learning
6:16
more about kickboxing and mma
6:18
and you were going to go into your first
6:20
y'all would just y'all was still working
6:22
on that
6:22
i actually saw it on a plane and said
6:26
why
6:27
i saw it like right after you know i saw
6:30
it on the plane and
6:31
i you know this has nothing to do with
6:33
what we're here to talk about but
6:35
man what was what was the purpose of
6:37
going through that process for you
6:39
learning how to um you know what if i'm
6:42
really honest man i'm going to tell you
6:43
that
6:44
it probably was some version of a
6:46
midlife crisis i ain't gonna lie
6:48
just be real you know i was going for
6:51
this time where you know when your body
6:52
don't move like it used to and you're
6:54
kind of like wait i've got
6:55
back issues i'm like huh so i just
6:57
wanted to put myself through the
6:58
ultimate test i've always
7:00
always been a fighter i've always you
7:02
know been in the gym boxing or
7:03
kickboxing
7:05
and i never took it to that pro level
7:07
i'm not crazy you know what i mean i
7:08
just like i'm always
7:10
over here making money um on my face so
7:13
but i don't know i was like 43 years old
7:16
gone through some life
7:17
life stuff and just needed to step away
7:20
from acting for a little bit just to
7:22
just
7:22
readdress myself and there's nothing
7:25
better than to
7:26
to look at yourself through through the
7:28
eyes of fear you know what i mean like
7:29
like
7:30
really that's what you really get to
7:31
understand what you're made of when
7:33
you're sort of
7:33
looking at something that scares you and
7:35
stepping in the ring
7:37
was definitely something i feared even
7:39
though i love the sport and i love the
7:41
the
7:42
you know the um the fitness of it all
7:45
you know mentally and physically
7:46
so i did that man and it was the most
7:48
life-changing thing for me you know
7:50
because it really just made me really
7:52
value
7:52
what what i can do what i can't do it
7:54
made me appreciate
7:56
my body and you know look after myself a
7:59
little bit better
8:00
and i won the fight man i kicked that
8:02
dude's arse i don't care what anyone has
8:03
to say yeah i want that bad boy
8:05
you won that fight man uh okay man that
8:08
that made sense
8:09
because i could after i watched it i was
8:11
like i thought it was incredible
8:12
i wonder what he walked away from it
8:15
with and and so
8:16
that explains you face the fear and um
8:19
and now you got that out your system and
8:22
um and and i started watching concrete
8:24
cowboy i'm a fast forward
8:26
i thought it was an amazing amazing film
8:29
shout out to the fletcher street stables
8:31
north philadelphia stand up um
8:34
i'm gonna tell you something my
8:37
grandfather clyde waters grew up
8:40
um came up he was raised in the in the
8:43
south in louisiana
8:45
he was a young man when he had to kind
8:47
of take over the property and assume the
8:50
role of an older man so at a young age
8:52
you know he was you know tending to the
8:54
fields and
8:56
um he was a horse rider you know he was
8:58
a cowboy
9:00
and when they migrated to the west coast
9:03
uh
9:03
into the oakland bay area and i grew up
9:05
where i grew up in oakland
9:07
he took me at a young age i didn't
9:09
understand why
9:10
didn't tell me where he was going to
9:11
take me he took me to a place called
9:13
oakland city stables
9:15
is in the mountains of oakland and it
9:17
was a staple
9:19
and he made me get on the horse bro and
9:22
it was a huge
9:23
horse and i don't know when i look at
9:26
the story
9:28
of caleb and his dad you know that of
9:30
you and caleb
9:31
and the characters that y'all play in
9:33
this it reminded me of
9:35
why is my grandfather making me ride
9:37
this horse
9:38
and i was impressed he jumped on it and
9:41
was just swi
9:42
you know he was swinging that horse a
9:43
huge horse he was swinging the horse
9:45
i jumped on it and the horse not i
9:47
initially got knocked off
9:49
at one point the horse stopped in the
9:51
state in the puddle was about to spin on
9:53
me he was about to turn on me and i had
9:54
to
9:55
do whatever i could to keep it prevented
9:57
from turning
9:58
and i walked away after that with some
10:00
valuable lessons i also learned the
10:03
history
10:04
of of us in riding horses my daughter
10:07
grew up
10:08
and she went to grand view farms in la
10:11
and she was taught by a woman by the
10:12
name of karen perlow
10:14
and she became an equestrian and she
10:16
started competing
10:17
at a young age reading winning ribbons
10:20
in the whole nine
10:21
and we learned even more about our
10:23
history what was it that appealed to you
10:25
about
10:26
doing this film and what about our
10:28
history because i know even in africa
10:30
the fulani people west
10:32
africans are known as herds and and it
10:34
goes deep-rooted that people don't think
10:36
that our people
10:37
are cowboys what was it about this that
10:40
appealed to you
10:41
and what have you learned or what can
10:42
you teach us
10:44
man look you know it's a beautiful story
10:47
by the way
10:48
um about your grandfather and your
10:50
experience because
10:52
you know when i read this thing first of
10:55
all
10:55
you know i'm allergic to horses right so
10:59
i'm like okay this isn't this isn't for
11:01
me but you know this is something that i
11:03
would love to see come alive because
11:05
it it was a story about a community all
11:08
right
11:08
at the heart of it is a community at the
11:11
heart of it is the father-son story
11:14
and then there are these beautiful
11:16
animals called horses
11:17
and their place in that community that's
11:19
what the story is about
11:21
and it's you know i come from east
11:23
london i'm
11:24
you know i'm born and raised in hackney
11:26
we didn't have horses
11:28
all right we had you know equivalent to
11:31
projects what we call council
11:32
council estates what we had was urban
11:35
farms though
11:36
and those little urban farms were the
11:38
chance to see these animals in
11:39
your own environment man and what i
11:42
could tell immediately is that
11:44
there was a common truth between
11:46
fletcher street stables
11:48
and where i'm from in east london there
11:50
was a common truth
11:51
it was the fact that my community and i
11:53
you know what i mean we
11:55
we we we needed each other we relied on
11:58
each other our neighborhoods
11:59
even whatever the beefs were within the
12:01
neighborhoods it was part of our
12:02
community
12:03
and to have these these urban farms with
12:06
pigs and chickens and goats and that
12:08
for the kids it was kind of like wow
12:09
there's something else out there
12:11
you know there's there's something else
12:13
out there outside of the the concrete
12:14
jungle we're living in and that that to
12:16
me was the common truth
12:18
outside of the fact that i'm a father
12:20
you know and i'm i'm dedicated and you
12:22
know
12:22
you know we're adults right so we've all
12:24
been through some
12:26
i've been through some with with my
12:28
kids and i just know that that story
12:30
really touched
12:32
touched me it it um it resonated
12:35
with me in terms of you know fatherhood
12:38
and what it means to be a father
12:40
and uh and also what it means to be a
12:41
man of your community which
12:43
i i consider myself you know so i just
12:46
knew that an audience
12:48
would find a commentary but then no
12:49
matter where you came from
12:52
but also when i in the journey of
12:53
building this film concrete cowboy
12:55
taught me about philadelphia but it also
12:57
taught me about
12:58
delaware and new york and and all these
13:01
other
13:02
urban cities that had black folk in them
13:05
and when you trace back the history you
13:07
know
13:08
you know horses were always part of our
13:11
community
13:12
so you know it was utilitarian you know
13:14
horses were being used to plow land
13:15
horses were being used to
13:17
to uh deliver on horse and cart
13:20
you know horses were a part of the
13:22
fabric especially when
13:23
you know the the you know you had the
13:27
industrial revolution and black folk
13:29
couldn't
13:30
afford to move with the times in terms
13:32
of you know
13:33
our cars and you know delivery vans and
13:37
and you know um you know automated you
13:41
know
13:41
farming equipment we still use horses
13:45
and so it really taught me that this
13:47
history of philadelphia isn't just about
13:49
philadelphia actually there's a common
13:51
truth for other cities
13:52
when you really look back into history
13:54
so i i really felt to myself listen this
13:57
is a story
13:58
that the director ricky straub who was a
14:01
kid that
14:01
lived in philadelphia about three three
14:03
or four years and he observed and lived
14:05
at the community he said he needed to
14:07
tell the story
14:09
and he came to me him and lee daniels
14:11
and like look man
14:13
would you like to produce would you like
14:14
to be in this i was like look man
14:16
i'm allergic to horses but uh i will
14:19
definitely produce it
14:21
and then eventually man you know i found
14:23
myself you know
14:24
in philadelphia on the back of a horse
14:26
and the first time i got on the horse
14:28
you know apart from sneezing and sobbing
14:31
and i didn't look cool
14:32
at all i i i definitely felt
14:36
appreciation for this animal the first
14:38
thing i learned is that an animal don't
14:39
let you get on its back unless
14:41
it feels you unless it understands you
14:43
and this horse
14:44
you know there's a film trained horse
14:47
got me on this back
14:48
and you know i'm thinking i just want to
14:50
show everyone i'm good i nearly fell up
14:52
fell off a few times i smacked my nuts
14:54
about 18 times i was like oh this is
14:56
really bad for
14:57
but the um the horse was like okay bro
15:00
i got you i got you relax and the horse
15:03
showed me how to ride that horse
15:05
you know so it was a real beautiful
15:07
experience for me man
15:08
making that film in its entirety we
15:12
we actually it's a it's a even the story
15:14
of gentrification you see that's
15:16
happening
15:16
in philadelphia it i don't want to tell
15:19
the story if folks haven't seen it uh
15:21
you should definitely watch it but
15:23
it's also metaphoric in many ways of
15:26
what we're seeing and happen in our
15:27
community i actually have someone from
15:29
philly
15:30
uh a citizen of the show that just
15:32
called in named sheree
15:33
sharif how you doing what's up good
15:36
morning
15:37
how are you how are you
15:42
i'm so happy to get through um because i
15:45
actually got disconnected
15:47
uh when i first called but um yeah i'm
15:49
sorry from silly i'm currently in baton
15:51
rouge i'm a film student at dillard
15:54
but um mr eager is like thank you guys
15:57
for putting this story out there because
16:00
when i was i grew up in philly and i
16:02
used to always wonder why do we have
16:04
horses walking through north philly
16:06
you know like it was you see a bus and
16:09
then you see a horse and it's like it
16:11
was so confusing
16:13
and i never thought to research it you
16:15
know like
16:16
it was just like all right i'm just
16:17
gonna go about my day and now being down
16:20
here in louisiana
16:22
and going to dillard i'm learning about
16:24
how much
16:26
horses and cowboys is a part of our
16:28
history i attended like a
16:30
a black trail ride in lake charles
16:34
a couple semesters ago and i learned so
16:37
much so for you guys to put this movie
16:39
together it's so
16:40
phenomenal and it's so real and it's so
16:42
raw
16:43
and all of the silly people that i still
16:45
have as friends we're like oh my
16:46
goodness
16:47
our minds are blonde you that guys did
16:49
an amazing job that's coming from a fan
16:52
that's coming from a film but
16:55
thank you that's really all i can really
16:57
say right now thank you oh
16:58
my my question so there you go
17:12
well that's amazing uh sheree how do you
17:14
feel about that when you hear that
17:15
when p you people respond to your work
17:17
like that oh man it touches my heart man
17:20
it touches my heart especially a fellow
17:22
filmmaker you know
17:23
i hope she really like takes the idea of
17:27
telling common truths telling real
17:29
stories even
17:30
you know how however obscure or strange
17:33
they may be
17:34
you know we need to tell these stories
17:36
man we need to tell the stories you know
17:38
um and you know especially look
17:41
philadelphia is
17:43
is known for a few things musicians he's
17:46
known for crime obviously he's known for
17:49
you know
17:49
uh uh it's gentrification or people are
17:53
learning about that
17:54
and and it's also known for having a you
17:57
know
17:58
quite a mixed community right and
18:01
um it's known for adam allen of course
18:05
um but you know from my perspective this
18:09
story
18:10
nobody under nobody knows that like
18:12
fletcher street's been there for i want
18:14
to say a good part of the century
18:16
and and that's that's a long time where
18:19
you know
18:20
those riders have been bringing young
18:22
kids and putting them on horses
18:24
and say hi this this you now you need to
18:26
look after this horse and
18:28
you know and the same similar story to
18:29
you you and your granddad you know ways
18:32
like
18:33
they've been doing this for a long time
18:35
and they can literally
18:37
show you how it's affected the community
18:39
they their stories the writers stories
18:41
themselves you know they say listen man
18:43
if it wasn't for this horse i'd be
18:44
i'd be gangbanging somewhere i'll be
18:46
doing something else you know what i
18:47
mean i'll probably be
18:48
in jail and they'll tell you that story
18:50
like open-hearted and it's
18:51
i'm telling you man it's so moving you
18:53
know just to sit
18:55
that's what we did all day we you know
18:57
it wasn't like a film set it was like a
18:58
documentary
18:59
we sat all day told each other stories
19:02
they joined on me all day because of how
19:04
my writing skills was but that's cool i
19:06
got them back
19:07
and we just had a good time telling you
19:08
know telling each other
19:10
our truths so i learned a lot you know
19:14
i i didn't realize this but you know
19:16
even the word cowboy
19:18
and maybe this is you know a lot of
19:19
people understand it but you know
19:21
when you know black folk were working on
19:23
white owned farms
19:25
you know the cow hands the guys go out
19:27
there and handle that cow but when it
19:29
was the black guys they called them
19:30
cowboys they just called him boy and
19:32
you're a cowboy not a cow hand
19:34
and so even the term cowboy
19:37
you know sitting there hearing this
19:38
story from one of the older generations
19:41
he said yeah man that's that's that's
19:42
how they used to do us and
19:44
the terms stuck but they you didn't see
19:46
any black cowboys in movies
19:49
ever and you know it really was like
19:52
wow that's so true you know they called
19:55
us cowboys which is derogatory
19:57
but then took the term and made a
19:59
million bucks from it in cowboy movies
20:00
so it's crazy
20:02
oh damn that's game right there man that
20:05
idris elba said i didn't know that story
20:06
either a concrete cowboy streaming on
20:08
netflix
20:09
right now mike muse you want to jump in
20:11
on this mike muse is here
20:13
mike you muse usually do the political
20:14
news but i told him you was coming
20:16
so mike muse is here mike news
20:21
what's going on what's going on everyone
20:23
um
20:24
i just wanted to say really quickly
20:26
thank you so much i actually did
20:28
a a story for the mike mew show on the
20:31
cowboys that are
20:32
uh incompetent the compton cowboys um
20:34
and talked about the impact that they
20:36
have on the city of compton
20:37
uh and what it means for the community
20:39
but just really quickly i just want to
20:41
say that
20:41
to the last point that you just raised
20:43
injuries and what the caller cherise
20:44
mentioned
20:46
there is erasure in our history that is
20:48
always a constant
20:49
um and there is this constant erasure
20:51
that black folks in response to whether
20:53
it's country music
20:55
whether it's farming whether it's rural
20:57
whether it's rural political identity
20:59
um whether it's city um that black
21:01
people have always
21:02
been erased from that and so andresa
21:04
salutes you for being a producer and
21:05
being willing to take on this narrative
21:07
to put black people back in the history
21:10
books
21:10
and back into the story that way
21:16
as if we had nothing to do with this
21:19
culture and genre
21:20
um when we have always been a culture
21:22
and we've always been the genre but
21:24
we've been erased for that so
21:25
thank you so much what you do man and
21:27
for bringing that to the forefront
21:29
ah thank you mike appreciate that
21:30
appreciating the saying that thank you
21:33
uh db's our movie junkie man i know he
21:36
he on there to
21:37
ask you a question we trying to throw
21:39
everything in and a quick interview to
21:41
set up for when you come to the studio
21:43
and you can hang
21:44
out and we could join on youtube all
21:46
right i'm
21:47
coming to the studio i'm djing my friend
21:50
and i freestyle as well man i'm just
21:52
gonna tell you now
21:53
i already know you gotta all that
21:55
bolster you was talking we gonna put it
21:56
to the test we'll
21:58
we'll see hey hey db you got a question
22:02
yeah really quickly um idris um i have
22:05
to shout out
22:06
greg charles from caroline's because he
22:08
was the one who let me know
22:09
that you started uh one of your earlier
22:11
jobs before your acting career took off
22:14
working the door at caroline's uh right
22:16
by where sirius is
22:17
and i know there's a lot of people who
22:20
uh
22:20
are are facing a lot of hardship right
22:22
now that are aspiring actors because
22:24
they can't
22:25
do these face-to-face auditions you know
22:27
they can't really uh
22:28
excel in their career the way they used
22:30
to so what would you say to people right
22:32
now because you worked a lot of
22:33
odd ends in in in you know low-level
22:35
jobs to get to where you are
22:37
what kind of advice or encouragement can
22:39
you give to those uh actors out there
22:41
who are just kind of stuck right now
22:42
with everything going on
22:44
man um well first of all greg charles i
22:47
haven't heard that
22:48
that name in 30 years so
22:52
shout out to caroline's comedy club look
22:54
you know um
22:56
you know i i'll answer that question by
22:59
telling you a story you know what i mean
23:00
i left
23:00
the uk in sort of like early 90s
23:04
and i had like saved up a bit of money i
23:06
was working as an actor i saved up a
23:08
bit of money and i came to new york my
23:11
wife at the time i was young was 25
23:13
years old
23:14
and i didn't work as an actor for about
23:19
three to four years straight up i
23:22
didn't have my savings got depleted real
23:25
quick
23:25
and i found myself in a situation where
23:28
it was either
23:29
i give up on my dreams i'll go home give
23:31
up on my dreams and just fly back to
23:33
england
23:34
right and and you know the hard truth is
23:36
that
23:37
you know it's a hard pill to swallow
23:39
when you know you've got the chops
23:41
you know you can do it you're right
23:42
there you're knocking on the door
23:45
but you can't get in and then you have
23:47
to go and do something else
23:49
that is off your skill set that just to
23:52
make some
23:53
ends meet that that little cusp right
23:56
there is the difference between those
23:58
who make it and those who don't and
24:00
that's bottom line
24:01
i would not have the career i have if i
24:04
if i
24:04
if i packed up my stuff and went back to
24:06
england i wouldn't
24:08
and so i just i just got stuck in man i
24:10
worked
24:12
a few jobs man and you know the you know
24:15
um uh dlc tell you uh
24:18
you know i mean dave chappelle will tell
24:19
you all those guys you know i was
24:21
working the door and all those guys were
24:22
doing the circuit
24:24
i used to hustle i had to hustle there
24:26
was no
24:28
no getting about it it was either a
24:29
hustle or i got home
24:31
and so i worked caroline's you know i
24:34
finally talked i've told people i used
24:35
to
24:36
dish out wheat bags here and there you
24:38
know i mean i i
24:39
dj um i had all sorts of sort of
24:42
gigs that just give me a little bit of
24:44
money so that i could keep my dreams
24:46
alive
24:47
it's demoralizing but at the same time
24:49
it was character building for me
24:51
like in that time period i became
24:54
the actor i was you know gonna be
24:57
because i was practicing i had my eyes
24:59
on the prize even though i was doing
25:01
these other jobs
25:02
i was practicing so i would say to
25:04
anyone that's out there that's listening
25:05
right now and you're like
25:06
damn i don't know what to do i might
25:08
have to go and get another job i might
25:09
have to do something else i don't really
25:11
want to do that
25:12
do it get your money up get your
25:15
confidence back and get your focus right
25:16
because what happens is when you're
25:18
sitting still just
25:19
just thinking i'm going to give up you
25:21
you just
25:22
you know you're not shocked you're not
25:24
as sharp you're not focused you're not
25:25
hungry
25:26
when you go out there and do a job that
25:27
is off what you want to do
25:29
it helps you just hey just be focused be
25:32
good at something it's like it's like if
25:34
you can't get into the gym right
25:36
and you know you need to pick up
25:38
something heavy in your house to just
25:40
work out
25:41
bottom line otherwise you lose your
25:42
muscle so it's that kind of mentality
25:44
you know and i really feel that
25:46
people you know we're so used to the
25:48
idea of you know giving up
25:50
you know because everything's so fast
25:52
now we want everything so quickly
25:54
and you know so when you don't get it
25:56
quickly you lose your attention span you
25:58
just
25:59
you know give up don't do that you know
26:01
i mean like
26:02
stay at it it's a long game anyone
26:05
that's good that's ever done it sways
26:07
been doing this for a long time right
26:08
sway and yeah
26:09
you you you know that even when you're
26:12
on the top you still have to work hard
26:13
and you still have to focus
26:14
and you still have to do other things
26:16
that are outside your skill set i do
26:18
that's why i got 19 jobs right now but i
26:20
still do it because it keeps me sharp
26:22
keeps me focused keeps you hungry too db
26:25
great question and
26:26
i'm i'm in the interview because i know
26:28
you got to go you got a lot of work to
26:29
do kate from ohio actually watched a
26:31
movie with her mom
26:32
last week and she wanted to comment on
26:35
it kate grand rises how you doing
26:38
i'm good i'm good i wanted to say that
26:40
um
26:41
when i found out that idris got covered
26:45
i prayed for him and his family
26:46
my mom is severely compromised with
26:48
severe copd
26:50
so she's been on lockdown in her
26:51
apartment for over a year i do her
26:53
groceries and laundry i'm on her way my
26:55
way to take care of her now but
26:57
something we do enjoy together is
27:00
watching
27:01
especially british movies we love idris
27:03
we watched the movie together last week
27:05
and
27:05
she was talking to me about how they
27:07
never mentioned black cowboys and
27:09
i said no they don't mention black a lot
27:12
of things that black people have done in
27:15
every aspect except for high power
27:17
positions because
27:19
that's just the way our world is
27:20
completely skewed but um
27:22
and i love that he mentioned dave
27:23
chappelle because i struggled with
27:25
depression which covet has made worse
27:27
and
27:27
i watched dave chappelle on netflix to
27:30
help me
27:30
get my spirits up so the fact that he
27:33
mentioned that
27:34
just blew my mind but concrete cowboy
27:37
just it really is just a
27:40
it's it's huge in the fact that not only
27:42
is it the father and son story
27:44
but it also shines the light on the fact
27:46
that it's just one
27:48
area of american culture and what
27:51
world culture that is not expressed
27:54
because
27:54
representation matters and
27:56
representation has not been happening
27:58
for 400 plus years
28:02
so i'm glad that idris and so many
28:05
other intelligent extremely
28:08
talented actors directors producers are
28:12
working to push these stories through
28:14
because it matters i
28:16
recognize i'm white i recognize my
28:17
privilege i did grow up for many years
28:20
as
28:21
my brother and i are the only white kids
28:23
in a school so
28:24
that was a switch up but i do recognize
28:27
my privilege
28:29
i just i'm just so i'm so happy
28:33
to see these stories finally starting to
28:36
come out
28:37
and uh all we can do is change one mind
28:40
at a time and some people are goners
28:42
you're never gonna change their mind but
28:44
if we can't change one mind
28:46
at a time then we can make things better
28:48
and uh
28:49
i'm just i'm so grateful for people like
28:52
you
28:53
people like idris people who are working
28:56
hard
28:57
to get these stories out there because
28:59
they're
29:00
vital for the future of
29:03
the world not just this country but the
29:05
world
29:06
wow that's real talk there kate thank
29:09
you so much and listen you know
29:10
shout out to your mom i hope she uh
29:13
recovers and
29:14
and and you're doing good by her right
29:15
now so you know i appreciate you for
29:17
that too but
29:18
thank you for saying that you know that
29:20
um that means a lot
29:22
you know when you know um you know
29:26
people recognize that these stories are
29:29
seeds
29:30
that allow allow the truth to grow you
29:32
know what i mean they
29:33
they allow the truth to grow they allow
29:35
the history to regrow
29:37
and and and to be recognized you know um
29:40
as a filmmaker with an audience member
29:43
like that
29:43
is is very meaningful so i appreciate
29:45
you for that okay
29:47
and you could play this back for your
29:48
mom you should let her
29:50
hear idris um wish her well so uh will
29:53
you go out use our on demand
29:55
function siriusxm.com forward slash on
29:58
demand
29:58
and let her hear idris reference her
30:01
kate and thank you for your call okay
30:02
your citizen kate
30:04
you're a citizen i all right yes i've
30:06
been voting
30:07
i've been voting democratic and pushing
30:09
for
30:11
more representation uh i did not protest
30:14
because i was protecting my mom
30:16
but uh i prayed a lot and uh every time
30:20
that my husband and i actually had an
30:21
argument last night about
30:24
rioting and whatever and i said you know
30:25
what if
30:27
somebody if a cop hadn't killed a black
30:29
man there wouldn't have been a riot
30:31
so i'm sorry but i don't think
30:32
destruction of property
30:34
is worse than taking a life so i i fight
30:37
in my own little ways
30:39
every single day to try to change minds
30:40
even if it's the ones that i live with
30:43
but um my mom and i have always my mom
30:46
in fact uh my first crush was on a black
30:48
boy mom said
30:49
that'll be a hard life and i looked at
30:51
it and i said i said that's okay
30:54
heart is all right as long as you make
30:56
it so i just
30:57
thank you for putting it out there okay
30:59
okay thank you for having a
31:01
free mind all right uh you keep up the
31:03
fight kate you're a citizen to sway in
31:05
the morning uh hey idris thank you for
31:07
calling in brother i can't wait to see
31:08
you in person in the flesh
31:10
send my love and regard to your family
31:12
brother
31:13
i appreciate you man sweet i i really
31:16
appreciate you and heather and the team
31:18
for having me on and shining the light
31:20
before i go real quick man
31:21
just to shed this little real quick you
31:23
know this the fletcher street
31:25
stables are being uh moved on
31:28
gentrification has definitely taken
31:30
its toll and those very stables where we
31:33
shot
31:34
uh are are going to get knocked down so
31:37
we
31:37
we've put together a gofundme um if
31:40
anyone feels like throwing a couple
31:41
dollars for the
31:42
the relocation of those stables um
31:45
there's a gofundme raising dollars for
31:47
the permanent stable
31:49
it's the philadelphia urban riding
31:51
academy golf on me
31:53
do what you can or do nothing but just
31:55
you know spread the word
31:57
because um you know i mean we would love
31:59
to see
32:00
uh these stables and this history not
32:02
get eroded
32:03
from from this point on you know what i
32:04
mean okay the philadelphia writing
32:07
what what is it what's the goal for me
32:09
again military
32:10
urban riding academy and the gofundme is
32:15
raising dollars for a permanent stable
32:19
raising dollars for a permanent stable
32:22
okay uh man absolutely our citizens will
32:25
definitely respond shout out to method
32:27
man too
32:28
man method killed his role
32:31
he killed it he absolutely killed it
32:32
he's such a nice guy he's a good actor
32:35
humble you know i mean great man
32:38
did y'all get in the studio well
32:41
actually we did yeah
32:43
we we uh we did this little freestyle
32:45
that um i we haven't released um
32:47
we might put it out there man it's you
32:48
know it's a little back and forth
32:50
listen you don't go up to method cow and
32:53
say can i make a record but he actually
32:54
is like yo i heard you do a little
32:56
something
32:57
i was like uh okay and then we was on
32:59
set
33:00
and you know meth i don't know if you've
33:02
been around meth right yeah
33:03
he can freestyle for days so he started
33:07
yawning on everyone
33:08
off the top of the head so i had to
33:10
battle him i had to
33:13
i lost that battle but i had to do it
33:15
wow
33:16
so idris elba battled method man in a
33:19
freestyle competition
33:20
am i hearing this correctly i i
33:23
i listened it was it was improvisation
33:25
you know what i mean
33:27
[Laughter]
33:29
i wasn't bringing the bars as much as i
33:31
was bringing the character but he was
33:32
just bringing the bars and burying all
33:34
of us but
33:35
you know whatever hey man that's the
33:37
heart of an emcee we got a hyena right
33:39
here we got a hyena ladies and gentlemen
33:42
hey okay can't wait to get you in the
33:45
studio aegis
33:46
hey bless you brother we'll talk soon
33:48
okay yeah love man
33:51
love love most love man eat just elba
33:53
man come on man y'all give him a round
33:55
of applause
34:08
[Music]
34:10
you
#Arts & Entertainment