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Jussie Smollett On Friendship with Taraji P. Henson, ‘B-Boy Blues’ Film & Gaining Clarity From Jail
Jun 21, 2022
Jussie Smollett is making a return to the entertainment world with his directorial debut in B-Boy Blues. The film, which originally premiered at the 2021 American Black Film Festival, is now set to debut on BET+ Thursday, June 9, per Variety.
Smollett stopped by Sway In The Morning to talk about the film and things he has learned over the last few years.
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Jussie Smollett On Friendship with Taraji P. Henson, ‘B-Boy Blues’ Film & Gaining Clarity From Jail
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0:00
that was uh
0:02
oh you can do some of that live freedom
0:05
that was the trailer from the new hit on
0:08
b-e-t plus it's called b-boy blues
0:12
citizens
0:13
is streaming crazy
0:18
sometimes man all you need is another
0:20
hit
0:22
what you doing what you do
0:25
b-boy blues
0:28
directed in
0:31
ep'd and
0:34
overwritten co-written finance financed
0:38
he carried this baby in his arms and
0:40
brought it to life
0:42
and was able to
0:44
get it placed on b-e-t plus that's not
0:46
all he's done had to be this man has
0:48
been making money since the mighty ducks
0:50
man this dude has been putting it down
0:52
since 1992 round of applause man that's
0:54
what 1992 is
0:57
30 years 30 years ago not many of us
0:59
could talk 30 years in this
1:01
entertainment that's three decades boy
1:03
boy boy boy
1:04
in 1987. but act like you know i'm out
1:08
i know you saw him on alien
1:12
i saw him on alien i don't know how he
1:14
got that role he must have needed to
1:16
check listen i don't know either i know
1:18
you saw him on empire because he was the
1:20
reason i was on the empire oh my brother
1:23
they don't talk about that part y'all
1:25
wonder why i ride with this dude so cold
1:27
i want to welcome him back in person the
1:29
one and only jesse smalling
1:31
hello love you too happy to be here so
1:34
happy to be here
1:36
in person
1:37
in person
1:38
titled
1:45
how many times i invited you right to my
1:48
place right up the street from him hey
1:49
check it out if you haven't been in my
1:51
place you've been a million times you're
1:53
oozy what happened to you sway what's up
1:56
first of all he's not in town when he
1:58
invites me
2:00
he will invite me to be like yeah come
2:02
over here i'll be like and then he shows
2:03
up right yeah i'm not there for a couple
2:06
he ain't going to be there so it got to
2:08
the point where jesse texted me i hit
2:10
him back what what you need shut up
2:11
sweetie
2:13
why are you lying though cause his
2:15
birthday y'all birthday coming up
2:17
when's your birthday
2:19
see what i mean where's my birthday
2:21
july
2:22
yeah okay june 21st
2:24
he's gonna say he's probably gonna say
2:26
that the date of my birthday is the
2:27
party date cause he just got the
2:28
invitation
2:29
he got a party oh okay
2:31
jesse smaller celebrating his 40th
2:33
birthday yeah congrats look at
2:38
man there's so much i want to talk to
2:39
you about first and foremost um how's
2:42
your spirit
2:43
my spirit is so
2:46
in such the season of gratitude okay my
2:49
spirit is
2:51
i've never felt more
2:53
more clear
2:56
i've never felt more
2:57
sober
2:58
i've never felt more um
3:01
i hope people don't take that out of
3:02
context but i'm sure they will right
3:04
right right i was already about to
3:05
follow you around
3:07
but um
3:08
i've never felt healthier uh and more
3:11
grateful and more i've never felt more
3:14
blessed than
3:15
than i feel now so my spirit is you know
3:18
is really good i'm still you know still
3:20
dealing with things still you know
3:22
having to
3:24
you know i'm not shy to say that i am in
3:26
therapy as we all should be because a
3:28
lot of
3:29
stuff that happened over the last three
3:31
years obviously but also just you know
3:34
just life stuff yeah you know you gotta
3:36
you gotta be able to
3:37
you gotta be able to train your mind and
3:39
not just train your body you know to to
3:42
be healthy and to be
3:43
to be beautiful so um i'm really really
3:47
i'm getting out of the idea of trying to
3:50
convince
3:52
or trying to um
3:54
hope that people see the truth of
3:56
something or something like that and i'm
3:58
really just
3:59
i'm going where the love is and that's
4:01
why i'm here you won't see me everywhere
4:04
i'm not doing a lot of press but it's
4:06
like i'm going where the love is and why
4:08
shouldn't i you know what i'm saying why
4:09
should we subject ourselves to
4:11
to unnecessary pain or or or
4:15
salaciousness or whatever it's like
4:16
that's why i come home to family
4:18
justice marlette um i'm curious choking
4:21
up sweating you're crying yeah i'm a
4:22
little i'm a little i'm wavery right now
4:24
jesse
4:28
right there or something um but you know
4:30
i'm always concerned i'm always
4:32
concerned with our people and
4:33
specifically i'm always concerned with
4:34
you and i notice
4:36
this um this field we work in can be uh
4:40
heartless um it could be ruthless it can
4:43
be alienated it could be alienated
4:45
people around you but it's very very
4:46
alienating
4:47
and you know when something like you
4:49
know we all know what happened well we
4:52
don't all know what happened but we all
4:53
know the the scandal around it around
4:55
the court case right yes uh
4:58
i'm i'm so
5:01
it sounds so odd
5:03
but
5:04
lord knows if i could go back and and
5:07
never go through any of this and never
5:09
have my family or my close people to me
5:12
ever have to experience what we've
5:13
experienced lord knows that i would make
5:15
sure that that you know happened
5:18
but and that they that we never went
5:20
through what we've gone through uh
5:23
but there's a part of me that
5:26
one of my good friends
5:28
said
5:28
you know you may think now and he said
5:30
this probably in like april of 2019 he
5:32
said you know you may look at everything
5:34
now and think that this is bad but at
5:36
the end of the day you needed to mow
5:37
your lawns you could see all the snakes
5:39
in your grass
5:40
and sometimes
5:43
sometimes we and again it goes back to
5:45
what i was saying when i was on the
5:46
phone with y'all about family is so
5:48
important to me so i'm always looking in
5:50
every space that i'm in to create that
5:52
sort of same feeling that i get when i'm
5:54
around my family that's safety that that
5:57
un
5:58
unapologetic love and sometimes it can
6:02
stab you in your foot you know um but uh
6:07
i'm just so i'm i i say it often and i
6:10
say it a lot and i'm just like i think
6:11
that it's best to it's better to say
6:13
thank you
6:14
to god the universe the ancestors your
6:17
friends your family
6:18
too much than to not say it enough
6:22
so and i know from the depths of my soul
6:24
the way that god has brought me through
6:27
and continues to you know so i'm just uh
6:30
y'all hear me y'all will hear me say the
6:32
words grateful a lot and i really
6:34
genuinely am jesse smallett um
6:38
what's that i love this fake audience
6:42
you're a director
6:43
nothing about the lighting and b-boy
6:45
blues
6:51
um
6:52
i would imagine as i i tried to put
6:54
myself in your shoes a couple of things
6:57
you know you you went through a lot of
6:58
public ridicule
7:00
yeah from the same people
7:02
that loved you and uplifted you are the
7:05
same folks that did not believe you
7:08
you know there were a lot of folks who
7:09
just to this day does not believe your
7:11
story
7:12
how do you rectify that how did you
7:15
um
7:16
i don't yeah i don't uh
7:20
there's a part of me that you know when
7:22
i strip my
7:23
when i strip my ego when i strip my my
7:26
personal
7:27
emotions about it
7:29
in my personal situation
7:31
i'm
7:33
the way that it was served to everybody
7:35
i absolutely understand why people felt
7:39
betrayed
7:40
you know
7:41
um and i put that in my song thank you
7:43
god where i was just like i really
7:45
overstand the reason why y'all felt
7:46
betrayed they had my own people thoughts
7:49
going off the wall that's right from l.d
7:50
to don i still got love for y'all
7:53
because
7:54
whatever they thought
7:57
they thought and whatever the way that
7:59
it was served it was served but that is
8:01
also
8:03
i didn't know what was happening then i
8:06
didn't know how i i didn't know how bad
8:08
it was getting and i also didn't think
8:11
for whatever reason i genuinely thought
8:12
that people were going to be like
8:14
there's no way that he did some [ __ ]
8:16
like that
8:17
you know i'm just like y'all know me
8:19
like y'all know that and i'm thinking oh
8:21
what people's history should mean
8:23
something so
8:25
they and and it's very interesting when
8:27
someone uses
8:29
when someone lies on you
8:32
over and over
8:33
and then they pull
8:35
and you know what is the lie
8:37
but then you're forced to acknowledge
8:39
the truths around the matter as well
8:41
and that's really painful as well
8:43
because it's easy to just be like that's
8:44
a [ __ ] lying to the [ __ ] hoax
8:46
[ __ ] that but then at the same time then
8:49
they bring out drug stuff and then they
8:51
bring then you're like
8:52
i did do that
8:55
i did do that you know what i'm saying
8:57
and it's like
8:58
and you're sitting there you're like but
8:59
this doesn't have anything to do with
9:00
what y'all are saying that i did do that
9:03
i didn't do
9:04
you know what i'm saying so
9:06
it is what it is i i don't hold
9:10
anybody
9:13
that's not entirely true okay i do hold
9:15
some people accountable for the things
9:17
that they said for the things that they
9:19
did for the ways that they reacted
9:20
because
9:21
half of those people should have picked
9:23
up the [ __ ] phone and called me
9:24
because they had my number
9:26
you know
9:28
and
9:29
they didn't
9:30
but i also understand that we sometimes
9:33
operate off of fear
9:34
and that when you're
9:38
when you're kind of you know the whole
9:40
mission is to alienate you
9:42
so that everybody so that you are such
9:45
you are so
9:46
just like
9:48
vibrating in the wrong way and like all
9:50
the [ __ ] around you is just wrong that
9:52
people just have to step back
9:54
but i don't mind i don't hold the people
9:57
to anything that step back
10:00
i hold the people that went out there
10:01
and said [ __ ] i hold them to something
10:03
and not the people that don't know me
10:05
but the people that do know me [ __ ] out
10:07
of here y'all know better than that yeah
10:08
and y'all did that that was some pr
10:10
[ __ ] and you know who you are and i
10:12
will not name names and i love everybody
10:14
but i don't like everybody i don't like
10:16
it and that's just real jesse smallett
10:18
um
10:19
there was a few entertainers um i know
10:22
dave chappelle with one of his specials
10:26
he saw it was funny you didn't take it
10:28
personal
10:31
[Music]
10:36
no i mean
10:38
you know
10:39
what's so funny is that my nickname
10:42
growing up was juicy
10:43
[Laughter]
10:51
but
10:52
you know uh
10:54
that's a
10:55
that's a special situation um
10:58
i don't know how much i should say about
11:00
that
11:01
i will say that i will say this
11:04
i have seen dave since
11:06
okay i have seen dave since okay and um
11:11
i didn't run up on the stage like that
11:13
dude at the hollywood bowl you didn't do
11:15
that yeah that wasn't you that wasn't
11:16
jessie
11:18
that was in the rumor meal that that was
11:20
just that did that tackle them
11:24
could you imagine
11:26
could you imagine look
11:28
i and look just to be clear i'm not
11:30
saying anything about the whole wheel of
11:31
things i won't make that clear before
11:32
that's right right i'm talking about the
11:34
hollywood bowl yeah i'm just like yo if
11:37
will got all that stuff imagine if i ran
11:39
up on the stage they'd be like yeah
11:51
since i've seen him since and uh that's
11:53
that's all i'm gonna say i mean there's
11:55
there's uh
11:56
that's all i'm saying yeah
11:58
shout out to dave chappelle
12:01
kendrick lamar
12:03
did a beautiful video with i heart part
12:05
five you know and um there was an
12:08
interpretation i guess that of a facial
12:11
expression your face your image was
12:14
seemed like it was fused in what was
12:15
your thoughts about how did you process
12:17
how did you interpret that i haven't
12:18
seen honestly i haven't seen the whole
12:20
video and that's the honest-to-god truth
12:21
sometimes i don't watch things just so
12:23
that i can say truthfully that i haven't
12:24
seen it okay but i certainly have
12:26
obviously i know about it and i've seen
12:28
it i mean he's brilliant so i don't i
12:30
don't entirely know how to interpret it
12:32
and interpret it
12:34
i don't know how exactly to interpret it
12:36
but i think that he's a phenomenal
12:38
artist so i just you know i don't i
12:41
don't really have any personal
12:44
thoughts about it as much as i think
12:46
that he's a brilliant artist and you
12:48
know he's he's uh
12:50
that's really all i can say about that
12:51
that's all you could say about that this
12:53
guy's been in training man jesse
12:55
smalling to myself
12:59
like
12:59
like discipline that it's taken
13:02
to
13:03
how many videos i have in my phone from
13:07
february of 2019 where i'm just going
13:09
off and i'm just like this is [ __ ]
13:11
and y'all know what this is why are
13:13
y'all [ __ ] falling for the banana and
13:15
the tailpipe in this way i know that
13:17
it's like why now
13:19
why is this so easy to believe and but
13:21
then of course then you send it to your
13:23
people and they're like don't don't put
13:24
that out don't you
13:26
you're too angry you're too defensive
13:28
you do this
13:29
but
13:30
looking back there's a part of me that
13:31
wishes that i had done what i wanted to
13:34
do of going out there i didn't want to
13:36
do an interview
13:38
you know what i'm saying and
13:39
i don't want to get too deep you know
13:41
because i i love and respect robin
13:44
roberts you know what i'm saying but i
13:45
did not want to do that interview that
13:47
interview wasn't for me that was for my
13:49
character
13:50
you know what do you mean just meaning
13:52
that
13:54
oh god how deep do i get if i'm gonna
13:56
get deep i might as well get deep with
13:57
my family um
14:00
uh
14:02
yeah i have to be very very honest here
14:04
and that
14:05
i wanted to i found myself you know i
14:07
hadn't watched the interview
14:09
at all
14:11
uh
14:12
i hadn't watched the interview at all
14:13
until we were on trial and i had to
14:15
watch it because they were trying to use
14:16
the interview
14:18
as evidence of lies or whatever
14:22
um so i had to watch and i watched it i
14:23
was mortified
14:25
i mean i was mortified i mean i cringed
14:28
at just the every single word that i
14:31
said in that interview was the truth
14:34
but there was a certain level of
14:35
performative
14:37
nature that came from it because i
14:39
didn't want to be there
14:40
and i was so angry and so offended that
14:43
i had to go on national television and
14:45
explain something that happened to me
14:49
and
14:50
it was so political and it was all of
14:52
those things and i found myself
14:57
i found myself
14:59
dealing with my own internalized
15:00
homophobia
15:02
okay as an openly gay black man who
15:05
leads with his blackness i found myself
15:07
dealing with that and i'm embarrassed
15:09
and i'm a little bit ashamed to say that
15:12
meaning that
15:14
i wanted to
15:16
i wanted to represent
15:18
all of us that had been
15:21
assaulted based on who we are
15:24
um but for the people that didn't have
15:27
the platform that i had i wanted to say
15:30
all of the things that people
15:33
should hear from people who have been
15:36
through this
15:37
um
15:38
but i also didn't want to be associated
15:39
with people who had been attacked
15:42
i felt like somehow
15:47
like i want to i want to i want to play
15:49
roles i want to play boxer i want to
15:50
play you know you know superheroes and
15:52
all that type of [ __ ] and and and then i
15:55
felt like
15:56
i'm so
15:57
i'm i'm i'm genuinely sorry to say this
16:00
but this is the way that i felt i don't
16:01
feel that way anymore but i know that
16:03
that's the way that i felt i felt like
16:06
i felt like i just became a [ __ ] that
16:07
got his ass beat
16:09
um
16:10
so
16:11
or at least i felt like that's what
16:12
people saw me as
16:14
and so i was trying so hard to like the
16:16
posturing of he hit me and then i hit
16:18
his ass back i was just like oh my god
16:20
[ __ ] what are you doing you look
16:22
[ __ ] ridiculous
16:24
but everything that i said was the god
16:26
to honest honest to god truth
16:28
but it's just
16:30
the way that it was
16:33
yeah i mean i again i'm i'm i'm sorry
16:37
to
16:38
my people that i felt that way
16:40
but that is so that is a part of a
16:42
bigger conversation that we should
16:44
probably have at some point yeah
16:46
about the internalized homophobia that
16:48
we're kind of conditioned with from the
16:49
moment that we get on this earth
16:52
whether you end up being gay or not
16:54
and
16:56
it's something that i feel like
16:58
a lot of us fight with and grapple with
17:01
and
17:03
in order to explain certain things
17:06
and explain certain whys you kind of
17:09
have to be fully honest with yourself
17:10
about all of that and that's just me
17:12
being honest so um am i ashamed of that
17:15
that i felt that way absolutely do i
17:17
feel like
17:19
i'm
17:20
i'm better than anyone else that has
17:23
been assaulted
17:24
abso-fucking-lutely not
17:27
but at that time i was just so
17:28
embarrassed that it happened i did not
17:31
want anybody so that's why when people
17:32
were just like oh he he did this so that
17:34
he could he did this so that he could
17:36
get attention i'm just like first of all
17:38
i've never been a person that looked for
17:39
attention but if i was like i'm an actor
17:42
a director a writer it was on mighty
17:44
ducks in 92. like quack [ __ ]
17:47
if i were to do something
17:51
it would not be to look like a victim
17:53
it would be to look like if anything
17:56
someone's strong and i found myself
17:59
being like yo but i'm strong but i
18:01
fought back and all of that type of
18:03
stuff and it was like it actually
18:05
doesn't make you more or less of a human
18:08
being
18:09
regardless of what happened
18:11
and so
18:12
we just didn't know what to expect we
18:14
didn't know what was coming we didn't
18:15
know who was gonna lie we didn't there
18:17
was just nothing to point us to that
18:19
until it happened and we were just
18:21
dumbfounded and looking back there were
18:23
so many things that we could have done
18:25
to intercept it but we just didn't know
18:27
what was coming
18:28
so that's that
18:30
i know we're going we're going to move
18:31
on but you say something really
18:33
interesting because i i used to i used
18:35
to get on the radio i i had to tell you
18:37
i was perplexed of why so much attention
18:40
is being paid let's mention i minimize
18:43
it to this actor
18:45
right you're more than that but why why
18:48
you know i'm just you know
18:49
why is the whole world you used to say i
18:52
said whole world is coming down on this
18:54
guy
18:55
on this actor
18:56
when we got so much other things we
18:58
could be concerned about you know what
18:59
bothers me more than
19:01
it's interesting what bothers me more
19:04
than someone that says
19:06
that [ __ ] guilty he's a liar he
19:09
he did this what bothers me more than
19:11
that those people are relevant to me at
19:12
this point [ __ ] them they don't believe
19:14
what they don't believe
19:15
what bothers me more of the people that
19:17
are saying that will say something like
19:19
well even if he did do it
19:21
xyz
19:23
i think what you have to realize is that
19:24
for someone like me
19:26
that represented his entire my entire
19:29
career my but my more importantly my
19:30
entire life along with my family
19:33
represented
19:34
social justice represented equity and
19:37
equality and all of these types of
19:39
things and we we're fighters and we're
19:41
we fight with love so deeply and this is
19:43
what we preach because it's what we
19:45
believe
19:47
it's like finding out that
19:49
someone is
19:51
exactly the opposite of who
19:53
they claim to be
19:54
and so
19:56
i'm afraid if i had done this
20:00
i'd be a piece of [ __ ] yeah
20:02
and i don't think that that is
20:04
i don't think that that is kind of
20:06
that's not really questionable so when
20:08
people like yes there's a lot of other
20:10
stuff happening
20:11
but
20:12
that would be really
20:14
and again it's something that i wanted
20:15
to say
20:16
if i had done something like this
20:18
it would mean that i stuck my fist in
20:20
the pain of black americans in this
20:22
country for over 400 years we're not
20:24
even talking about in africa because
20:25
that's an old that's an even deeper
20:27
larger conversation it would mean that i
20:29
stuck my fist in the fears of the lgbtq
20:32
community all over the world
20:34
i'm not that [ __ ]
20:36
never have been don't need to be
20:39
didn't need to have a
20:41
some sort of
20:43
rise in his career i was on the up and
20:45
up i was coming from new york from doing
20:47
a table read from my dream role in a
20:49
broadway show
20:50
i had just optioned the rights to the
20:52
autobiography the authorized
20:53
autobiography of alvin ailey i had just
20:56
all of these things that i was creating
20:59
there would be no reason for me to do
21:00
some dumb corny [ __ ] like that
21:03
but people are going to believe what
21:05
they believe and what i have to do is i
21:07
have to keep working you have to keep
21:09
working and what i know for sure is
21:12
every single thing that i auditioned for
21:15
during that period i lost
21:18
they took it from me
21:19
but every single thing that i created
21:21
myself
21:22
that's being created has been created
21:25
never again will anybody be able to pull
21:27
my life from under me like a rug there
21:28
you go just you small left
21:31
come on man onward
21:32
onward
21:34
uh and
21:35
and so right now you've we play freedom
21:38
because you're free right now
21:40
why you say right now right now i mean
21:42
you know that was good because last time
21:44
i saw you weren't
21:46
and now you are
21:47
uh your stint behind bars how did you
21:50
make it through that what was your
21:52
saving grace god
21:54
yeah and my family
21:57
um
21:58
i fasted i was there for six and a half
22:00
days i fasted for six and a half days
22:02
uh
22:03
my lawyer shout out to ninier but he was
22:06
lying when he said that i was fasting
22:08
for lent
22:09
i wasn't fasting for lent i was fasting
22:11
because that's what we do
22:13
in my family like we fast
22:15
for
22:17
for clarity
22:18
for
22:19
i have never in my life at least in my
22:22
adult life
22:23
been as clear of mine as i was
22:26
for those six and a half days and it was
22:27
almost like when they told me that i was
22:29
getting out what i was doing is i was
22:30
fasting until i found out whether or not
22:33
i was going to be in there for those
22:35
five and a half months yeah
22:37
i just wanted to know what my life was
22:38
about to look like so i was fast and
22:40
getting and i had been prepping you know
22:41
my my family most wonderful human beings
22:44
i live and die for them you've got an
22:45
amazing family say that for the record
22:48
you got it amazing
22:49
i got an amazing family
22:51
the mom when i see the mom i'm at
22:53
attention like waiting for my mom to
22:55
show you something mommy don't go
22:56
nowhere mommy is a house cat okay
22:59
but she was like
23:02
watch me stay in la and my baby is in
23:04
chicago like she
23:06
she did not play and um
23:10
um
23:11
sorry uh yeah
23:13
so
23:15
being um
23:16
being
23:17
being behind bars uh
23:20
i fasted for six and a half days and
23:22
there was a part where they told me that
23:24
i was getting out
23:26
i lord knows i wanted to get out
23:29
i'm in the [ __ ] psych ward on you
23:31
know and they have you in a jacket no no
23:33
no they didn't have me in a jacket but
23:35
they had me i was sleeping on her on
23:36
like a like a restraint bed i wasn't
23:39
restrained
23:40
and i have to keep it real everybody you
23:42
know
23:43
um
23:44
uh
23:47
was inside was very kind and when i left
23:50
i thanked them all i said i don't know
23:52
what y'all think
23:53
either way but the fact that you didn't
23:55
let me know what you think either way
23:57
and you just showed me respect i'm
23:59
grateful for
24:00
you know um but
24:04
but yeah i was there in six and a half
24:05
days and it was a part of me when i was
24:07
coming out when they told me that i was
24:08
coming out i was so grateful and so glad
24:09
to get out
24:11
but there was a part of me that was like
24:14
i don't want to lose
24:16
how i feel right now like i don't want
24:18
to lose
24:19
i don't want to lose clarity the clarity
24:22
i don't want to go back out there and
24:23
pick up this
24:25
and pick up this
24:26
pick up this you know what i'm saying
24:28
and somehow
24:29
forget how i feel right now
24:33
because right now i am as grounded in me
24:36
as possible and it's just there's
24:39
something about being in there and
24:42
having no choice but to surrender
24:45
surrender not to
24:47
the system
24:49
not to
24:50
a judge
24:51
or
24:53
a bunch of
24:55
old white men
24:56
ironically explaining to you about the
24:58
history of hate crimes and and lynching
25:01
and you're sitting there being like
25:03
what
25:04
who the [ __ ] are you
25:06
and
25:08
but you're surrendering to
25:10
yourself and you're surrendering to
25:12
you're just left there with you
25:14
your thoughts
25:16
and these walls
25:18
i believe that the prison system needs
25:20
to be dismantled
25:22
i believe that there is
25:24
as i'm sitting in there i'm like i know
25:26
that i didn't do this but
25:30
you'd have to be you have to be a a
25:33
different kind of person to really
25:35
search and
25:37
try to find the redemption in this
25:39
that place is not meant for redemption
25:41
that place is not meant to make you come
25:43
out better than when you went in
25:46
and
25:47
the prison system needs to be dismantled
25:50
and i will say that
25:51
and somehow i feel like maybe that's
25:53
one of the reasons why but then i look
25:55
at it i'm just like i'm not one of those
25:57
dudes that needed something like this to
25:58
happen to understand the plight of my
25:59
people you know what i'm saying before
26:01
you went in there i knew yeah i'm saying
26:03
i'm not some ignorant fool that that
26:05
doesn't understand the history of all of
26:08
these things that these people somehow
26:10
tried to flip and act like they needed
26:12
to explain to me
26:13
um but what i do know is for myself
26:19
i needed a moment of clarity yeah
26:22
and i have a moment of clarity and i am
26:25
holding on to that that which i have
26:27
found jesse's small left man i'm a i
26:30
didn't i didn't anticipate talking this
26:32
much about it
26:34
i'm glad we did though so i got
26:44
um
26:47
you said you understand you didn't
26:49
understand then what was happening now
26:51
you have a better understanding of what
26:53
happened to you what do you believe it
26:54
is
26:55
what do you mean you said when you when
26:57
you you couldn't see how big this would
26:59
become right because i was shut off from
27:02
when i say i was shut off from the world
27:04
i was shut off from the world i mean
27:06
like my family
27:09
my family took my phone
27:11
i did not have my phone they took i was
27:14
not allowed to get on social media so
27:16
you couldn't see the swell that was
27:18
happening
27:20
they protected me from it okay in a
27:22
really beautiful way and then i and then
27:24
probably about a year later
27:27
i was somewhere with my family for my
27:29
older sister jazz's birthday
27:31
and i just
27:33
for the first time
27:35
decided to google myself oh gosh
27:38
worst idea ever
27:41
yeah and there's my baby
27:43
and
27:44
and uh i really saw what it was and it
27:47
was so painful because i was like oh he
27:50
said that about me
27:52
oh my god oh she said that
27:54
what you know you had people hi baby
27:58
[Music]
27:59
brandy evans just walked in brandy evans
28:02
just walked in
28:04
the star p valley
28:06
and the star b-boy blues now streaming
28:09
on b-e-t plus look your hair attached to
28:11
his hat you won't get that there you go
28:13
brandi how you been brandy good we did
28:16
this on the phone before we didn't do
28:17
this in person
28:19
damn you look great in person
28:21
that woman is beautiful
28:24
coming up in here
28:26
uh jesse we'll continue this another
28:28
time continue this another time i'm so
28:29
glad girl you came in right at the right
28:31
time
28:32
we was getting real deep
28:35
but what i'm loving is the rise and the
28:37
rise and the truth the phoenix
28:40
jesse is the phoenix
28:42
yeah but i'm tired of being burned so
28:44
okay
28:47
hey but you you somehow somebody was
28:50
just saying something um
28:53
oh [ __ ] somebody somebody just said
28:55
something to me the reason why you what
28:57
do you say
28:59
if you can't deal with it you got to go
29:01
through it or something something let me
29:02
tell you something i swear i'm not
29:03
trying to name drop yeah reverend jesse
29:05
jackson told me just like this he said
29:08
he said
29:09
don't ask god to get you over this ask
29:13
god to get you through it
29:15
come on man look at you now you lost
29:18
some weight you leaned out yeah come on
29:19
man yeah i'm working out you got it you
29:21
got one brandy evans party
29:24
that's six and a half day fast that was
29:26
like the fact that
29:27
big boy blues
29:29
b-boy blues one of the highest streaming
29:31
uh shows on b-e-t
29:34
let's play that trailer we played the
29:36
trailer already yes we played it we
29:37
played the trailer we got uh one of the
29:39
star two of the stars here that's right
29:42
damn right vince and the one and only
29:46
ain't that crazy
29:48
we sat next to each well behind each
29:50
other at the first new york premiere and
29:52
i was like hi
29:53
we interviewed jordan swedenborg's show
29:55
she's like oh my gosh i was like but it
29:57
was over the phone yeah it was over the
29:59
phone yeah
30:00
how did you get on board with this
30:02
project this project did jesse just
30:04
approach you or yeah you know what this
30:06
is my friend for you yes like i don't
30:08
know that they don't know like
30:10
literally back in the day poison hearts
30:14
just i was the only girl in the video
30:16
and i was like who is this cute boy
30:19
i love jesse jesse has been my ride or
30:21
dive when my my ex-husband left me i was
30:24
literally at jesse's house having taco
30:26
night he was cooking for me he was like
30:28
you got one second to cry it out get it
30:30
out and get back up so i love my friend
30:32
he has been there through everything
30:34
with me yes that's him i slept on this
30:36
floor i think twice
30:39
on the hardwood you slip on jesse's
30:41
floor wait let me tell you this is a
30:42
story when everything was going down
30:45
people didn't realize that you know
30:48
i had to sell my house
30:50
that was that's
30:52
and of course you know you can think to
30:53
yourself okay [ __ ] you had a
30:55
house right
30:56
and i'm grateful for it but i busted my
30:57
ass for that house you know what i'm
30:59
saying and and and and
31:02
my mom lived in that house
31:04
so
31:05
to have to sell it was really painful
31:08
heather came over
31:10
heather came over to my house and it was
31:12
completely empty
31:14
because we had emptied out the whole
31:15
house because we were selling it
31:17
and she literally slept on the floor
31:19
with me
31:20
and just
31:21
we just we just like i have
31:24
such good
31:26
wonderful
31:28
friends around me anytime that i could
31:30
possibly i'm never going to be able to
31:32
pay my friends and family back for the
31:34
love
31:35
and the the the unwavering support
31:38
that's never straddling of defense
31:40
because i know [ __ ] came after
31:42
y'all
31:43
for support i know that they did and
31:45
y'all stood by it anyway because you
31:47
knew the truth
31:48
and
31:49
i'm just so grateful so i try my best
31:52
just to
31:53
tell these stories not to
31:55
have people have a cool story to know
31:57
but just because there are people in the
32:00
world that are shitty people
32:02
but there are mostly people and i
32:05
started bending a little bit over these
32:06
last years i started i used to think
32:09
that every most people are really good
32:11
and they're fighting against the evil in
32:14
the world and then i started to think no
32:16
most people are [ __ ] evil and they're
32:18
fighting to appear to be good
32:22
i still kind of feel that way
32:25
god let that breathe that might be a gym
32:28
that's a gymnos
32:29
say that again
32:31
most people are like
32:33
people
32:35
well i used to think that most people
32:36
were
32:37
good fighting against evil now and then
32:40
i started to feel like most people were
32:43
bad
32:44
fighting to simply appear
32:46
to be good
32:48
and
32:49
the i'm so blessed because the people
32:51
that are no longer around
32:54
are not needed
32:56
in my life
32:57
amen and so
33:00
i recognize things for what they are
33:02
i'm not the type of person that like i'm
33:04
not the type of person where if i don't
33:05
mess with you no more then i gotta go
33:07
and you know do you dirty and be
33:09
malicious and try to make it where you
33:10
can't work you can't get a bag you can't
33:12
i'm not going to be that type of person
33:14
but i'm not [ __ ] with you
33:22
yes so but brandy
33:24
we have been
33:25
brandy was
33:27
my dancer
33:29
for my very first ep the poison hearts
33:32
club the very first music video that i
33:34
ever did
33:34
and that was like
33:36
12 13 years ago crazy and we have been
33:40
friends ever
33:41
since i have watched her
33:43
go through it she has watched me go
33:45
through it we have been with each other
33:47
through relationships good relationships
33:49
bad relationships good breakups bad
33:52
breakups because there are such thing as
33:53
good breakups too early um
33:56
career highs career lows she was she was
34:00
just starting to rise really rise as a
34:02
known actor when my whole thing happened
34:05
and the way that this child went so hard
34:08
there were times where i saw it and i
34:09
was like beat i'm like
34:11
you might want to chill a little bit
34:13
she's like [ __ ] that
34:16
ain't coming from my friend i'm like
34:18
baby like i need you to keep on getting
34:20
rolls and you're like you're adding
34:22
people that you don't need to actually
34:24
like [ __ ] that
34:25
so it's just that
34:27
that
34:28
but i i always keep telling everybody
34:30
like i hope that y'all know
34:32
that i would be there exactly the same
34:34
way for you if you if you needed it in a
34:37
heartbeat so
34:39
because of you i got to meet dr angela
34:41
davis so to have them on the show and
34:43
you got to understand who they are right
34:45
sitting here speaking on your
34:46
perspective and respected
34:48
you know to have them come out and be on
34:51
this show and talk out like that was
34:53
amazing yes and here's the thing
34:58
they are not fools
35:01
they
35:02
are not silly frivolous people
35:05
they don't care about numbers on
35:07
instagram
35:09
they don't care about ratings
35:11
they don't care about any of those
35:13
things they are here for the truth
35:16
they are here for the right thing so
35:20
that also should be proof of
35:25
i don't have idiots around me they don't
35:27
just show up
35:28
it's
35:29
yeah yeah just you know and and and so
35:32
many yeah yeah i i i am so grateful for
35:35
angela and aside from my family of
35:38
course angela and fagna and and and
35:40
patrice and and gina belafonte and all
35:42
of these incredible
35:45
black women y'all
35:48
i say this this is not my first time
35:49
saying this i'm not saying this because
35:51
i got into some trouble and black women
35:53
saved me i have always said
35:55
black women have always been my savior
35:58
have always been
36:00
have always made me feel like i was
36:02
theirs
36:02
never made me feel less than
36:04
and so
36:07
now to then be like when the whole world
36:10
turns against you and the people that
36:12
rally around you
36:14
are black women
36:15
and it means the world to me and it it
36:18
means the world to me so i'm grateful
36:20
and again i will say thank you as until
36:22
i am blue in the face absolutely jesse's
36:24
small that is happening
36:26
right now
36:27
all right
36:28
brandi evans has joined us too yup b-boy
36:31
blues available on b-e-t plus i i did
36:33
mention p valley because it's back and i
36:35
yeah and i enjoy the show but let's talk
36:37
b-boy blues
36:38
okay b-boy blues why was it important to
36:41
make this project in your opinion first
36:44
of all i'm gonna be there for my friend
36:46
so i started there and i knew how how
36:48
important it was
36:50
to have this story told
36:52
me michi
36:54
is that black girl that i love
36:57
thank you thank you i love that she was
37:00
so different from mercedes and she she
37:03
rocks all these natural hairstyles if
37:04
you know brandy michi is more like
37:06
brandy okay because natural hair my my
37:09
hair stylist sasha is gonna always put
37:11
this hair together now that's right
37:13
sasha what black girl do you not know
37:15
that switching it up yes that's my
37:17
friend and so i really love that jesse
37:19
was just so open like boom let's do this
37:22
let's do that he let us just be
37:24
who we are authentically and then it was
37:26
just fun and beautiful i call it
37:28
honestly the um the black gay love jones
37:31
i love it i thought it was beautiful it
37:34
was beautifully shot i just i just felt
37:36
beautiful in it shout out to jody
37:40
rdp yes gorgeous yes i love it i loved
37:43
it and it's just that that friend that
37:44
you can see that that relationship
37:47
between
37:48
her and mitchell
37:51
uh
37:51
just and that they need each other yes
37:53
she's gonna she and jean
37:55
are the ones that's gonna tell it like
37:56
it is they're the voice of reason
37:58
because when you're in love there is no
38:00
voice of reason
38:01
so we have just a phenomenal cast shout
38:04
out to james earl hardy yeah who wrote
38:06
the book series b boy blues who allowed
38:08
us to
38:09
you know take this on and bring it bring
38:11
it to the people
38:13
samson mccormick who's one of the
38:15
just an iconic
38:17
you know stan still young in his i think
38:20
samson is like in his late 30s but he is
38:22
real samson has been doing it one of the
38:24
the first gay man to sell out howard
38:26
theater
38:27
um and he's been a part of the project
38:29
forever marie hill scott and like marie
38:32
hill scott i mean this black woman was
38:35
eight months pregnant about to deliver
38:38
running around yes on the set yes people
38:41
were dedicated
38:42
what kind of response have you received
38:44
from the lgbtq
38:46
plus community very good sway yes they
38:49
clapped to that
38:51
oh man i lost sleep over there last
38:53
night
38:55
lgbtqia element on big qis
38:59
very good
39:00
um
39:01
it's been wonderful okay it's been
39:04
wonderful i've seen people
39:08
come to me and just be like thank you
39:10
thank you for representing thank you for
39:13
giving us such a beautiful
39:15
timeless my favorite word that i've been
39:17
hearing is timeless yeah yeah you know
39:19
and
39:20
and i wanted to
39:22
we all did i wanted to create a
39:25
a
39:26
film
39:27
that could be up there with my favorite
39:29
films you know like i love love jones
39:32
and i love i love boomerang and i love
39:34
pretty woman and and and all of those
39:37
great
39:38
uh uh claudine
39:40
yeah great love stories that mahogany oh
39:44
my god oh my god come on
39:48
and so
39:49
so so
39:50
that you know we wanted to create a
39:52
timeless love story i remember talking
39:55
to uh talking to jody williams
39:58
who is one of the greatest dps of all
40:01
time cinematographers he worked on
40:04
that little show i used to be on
40:06
he i was on it too you were thank you
40:09
i've never really didn't know that
40:11
yes he was on it a couple times
40:13
more than twice thrice jesse got me on
40:16
it
40:17
now you hear that
40:19
um uh
40:21
uh uh
40:22
and and i've never worked with any other
40:25
cinematographer on all of my music
40:26
videos hurt people freedom catch your
40:29
eye like they were all done by jody
40:32
oh wow yeah so so the next film that i'm
40:35
doing in november that i'm directing is
40:36
also like we're doing it in november
40:38
because that's when jody is available
40:40
because that is my brother
40:42
and
40:43
also we're starting to see more and more
40:46
black cinematographers in the industry
40:48
which is really important jody is
40:50
is such a phenomenal
40:52
cinematographer but also my brother
40:55
what's jody's last name jody williams
40:57
joe jodie williams he texts you one
40:59
night he said he met you and he
41:01
shot you he shot he you know him he um
41:05
uh uh he was working when we did empire
41:08
oh okay yeah
41:10
yes
41:11
but i think that jody was was camera
41:13
operator back then back then and then he
41:15
became but i shook hands whatever you
41:17
wanted like i do that
41:25
well i wanted to ask jesse a question
41:27
because you specifically said blacks and
41:29
cinematographers why is that important
41:31
and does the director have the i hate
41:34
this work the power to hire a blacks and
41:37
how do i don't know if directors have
41:39
the power if all directors have the
41:41
power i had the power i don't mean that
41:42
with all the humility in my heart right
41:44
a little bit a little bit you know
41:48
just a little bit of bragg right right i
41:51
had the power to do that because it was
41:53
my film like meaning and i don't mean
41:55
that it was you know it was all of our
41:56
film but i just mean that i before we
41:59
licensed this to be t plus we i was the
42:02
studio
42:03
the financier with my business partner i
42:05
was
42:06
i was the co-writer with james earl
42:07
hardy i was the director
42:09
and producer so i was able to absolutely
42:12
pick the crew of who i wanted that's why
42:15
it's like i had a black cinematographer
42:17
my first ad is a black woman my second
42:19
ad is a black woman the um the the our
42:22
sound engineer is a same gender loving
42:26
italian woman you know what i'm saying
42:28
it we had
42:30
my script supervisor is an asian man you
42:32
know what i'm saying we had all of
42:35
us represented in a really beautiful way
42:39
and no shade to you know white men all
42:41
over the world but there was one that
42:43
was working with us and it was
42:44
interesting to see that
42:48
he was the minority in the group which
42:50
is something that i don't usually see
42:52
but it was all love you know what i'm
42:54
saying like we were all in there
42:56
together and we were all working for the
42:58
common good of making a great film yeah
43:01
and
43:02
i do want to see
43:05
lord knows i just want to see black
43:06
people in positions that that we need
43:09
more of we need more black investigative
43:11
journalists
43:12
you know what i'm saying like these
43:14
bloggers are really amazing now i need
43:16
for you to go and become investigative
43:17
journalists you know because you're not
43:19
gonna
43:20
some people are not gonna investigate
43:21
these stories the way that we might
43:22
investigate it on our own they don't
43:24
understand the layers and the all of
43:26
those the the complications of it all
43:28
right you know so and again that ain't
43:30
no shade to nobody else that ain't no
43:32
shade 4-5 but what i'm saying is
43:37
what i'm saying is is that
43:39
we
43:41
i know
43:42
people that
43:44
find the crews that they are comfortable
43:46
with
43:47
i am comfortable with certain people
43:49
that just so happen to
43:51
be yeah
44:00
really we were put together and and run
44:02
by black women and
44:04
mostly black women and gay black men
44:08
and jody
44:11
okay
44:11
brandi uh it's great to have you on the
44:13
show you are so excellent and
44:15
congratulations congratulations
44:22
i can't believe that man left
44:24
listen
44:26
thank you
44:26
i would thank you so much what camera
44:29
can we look what camera can i look don't
44:30
tell what camera
44:32
thank you with your dumb ass
44:36
silly hoe tricks are for kids
44:40
all right man do you do you talk to
44:42
anybody from that little show we used to
44:44
do anymore of course i was just with
44:45
taraji day before yesterday in atlanta
44:47
hey torreira that is my heart my heart
44:50
we had the best time we went to brunch
44:52
with the some of the we went to brunch
44:54
with tim and uh who plays mitchell and
44:56
landon well that's a shampoo in there
44:58
too
44:59
listen
45:00
that's what you all should know too
45:01
thank you for reminding me of that
45:03
taraji supported the film you know
45:05
taraji taraji gave i i mean i can say
45:08
this she's in the thank yous taraji gave
45:10
me gave me money for the film
45:12
you know and and so i put in i put in
45:15
her tph project so products so you'll
45:18
see like mitchell washing raheem's hair
45:20
with the tta shampoo or him spraying the
45:23
the the curl moisturizer on him she is
45:28
oh
45:30
i love that woman
45:33
it is unexplainable
45:35
how much i love that woman and
45:38
she is literally one of my best
45:40
friends in the whole world and i love
45:43
her and i'm always just i just
45:47
i just i love her and yes i talk to her
45:50
i talk to her at i mean we talk all the
45:52
time
45:54
um i still talk to yaz i still you know
45:56
i i
45:58
talked to him just the other day i still
46:00
talk to a lot of my my family from there
46:02
some i don't some um and but
46:05
the the ones that i was really close to
46:07
i still stay still absolutely absolutely
46:10
and shout out to mona scott too and
46:12
shout out to mona lisa as well and i and
46:14
i listen i just posted a tribute to
46:16
money yesterday i was feeling i was just
46:17
feeling really emotional yesterday and i
46:19
was just gemini hey wait listen gemini
46:22
cancers are even worse
46:23
so damn so right
46:25
so heather you got to go to urban view i
46:27
got to go to work y'all okay thank y'all
46:29
wait love y'all before you go anywhere
46:32
we have to give you a shout mm-hmm
46:34
heather b
46:36
is an actor yes thank you heather b will
46:41
give me a lot of credit
46:43
for her performance i do not deserve
46:45
that credit
46:47
i only
46:49
made you
46:50
be you
46:52
you are a phenomenal actor
46:54
people are not ready for it for for you
46:57
as aunt ruth they're not ready for all
46:59
of the other things that you are about
47:00
to do but you are an actor and i need
47:03
for you to step into that and i need you
47:05
and i've been telling everybody but i
47:06
get a chance to say this to you on air
47:08
i've been saying this to everybody i
47:09
need for you all to step back and take a
47:12
moment
47:13
and remember
47:14
what you did and where you are and the
47:17
fact that you are so such a wonderful
47:19
human being
47:21
but you are also a phenomenal artist
47:25
and and i just want you to embrace that
47:28
and live in that race
47:31
because you are just you it is
47:38
real quick though too and all it is
47:39
literally not just from being family and
47:41
friends is he literally caught me to do
47:43
a voiceover he needed a new york radio
47:45
voice and said i want you to do a
47:47
voiceover and i was like sure just send
47:49
it to me he said do it by your phone
47:50
we're not even in contact with each
47:52
other you know doing contact do it on
47:54
your phone and send it to me and that's
47:55
how that conversation and god bless and
47:58
opportunity came from you never know
48:01
how god is gonna allow you to step into
48:03
it because god is the only one that's in
48:05
control amen
48:06
yes i think that's a great way to go
48:08
about our day right on this high
48:10
frequency of this great vibration my
48:12
brother my brother i hope you enjoyed
48:15
coming home today i yeah it's good to be
48:18
home it's
48:22
yeah we're gonna end with freedom we're
48:23
gonna play freedom as our last song
48:25
shout out to all of the the young people
48:27
on the soundtrack duran bernard curated
48:29
an amazing soundtrack we got tehran
48:31
austin we got ashley we just got
48:33
phenomenal phenomenal artists we're
48:35
trying to get the soundtrack together
48:36
trying to release it for y'all because
48:37
it's amazing so just check out the music
48:39
also and i got some [ __ ] coming too soon
48:42
okay can't wait to hear it tell your
48:43
family i love them i will start your
48:45
mother
48:46
all right and journey's here tomorrow
48:48
journey's supposed to come tomorrow we
48:49
ain't got the confirmation so depend on
48:51
what johnny decides to do so if journey
48:54
decides to come tomorrow then we'll have
48:56
journey tomorrow you know how that goes
48:57
right brandi evans thanks randy evans
49:00
thank y'all so
49:02
congratulations on all your success
49:04
thank you awesome thespian thank you
49:07
you're awesome okay uh we'll be back
49:09
tomorrow hopefully journey smaller be on
49:11
the show with us uh we all have other uh
49:13
special guests hit up have to be at the
49:15
happy hour whp tracy g is at it's tracy
49:19
g i'm at real sway across the board we
49:21
will have this interview up on swayze
49:23
universe youtube channel you can go on
49:24
demand and siriusxm just if they want to
49:26
hit you how can they hit you uh justice
49:28
marlette i love y'all very very much
49:31
thank you so so much brandie evans
49:34
what's up y'all at the real brandy with
49:36
two easy job my mama was extra there it
49:38
is shout out to nolan kelly by barbara
49:39
and bobby and john cotton barbara and
49:41
nolan who did the hair on the thing he
49:43
said shout them out you know chicago all
49:44
the way it is shy town on that no
49:46
citizens we have nothing
49:49
damn
49:50
left to say
49:53
[Music]
50:05
you
#Arts & Entertainment