If a show is good, it doesn’t matter who makes it. When you have good food and good ingredients, you will eat it because it is made well. – Russell Hornsby

By Konnect

Friday nights at 8pm are a little more intense and suspenseful with Russell Hornsby, the lead star of NBC’s top drama Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector. Are you tuned in?

Last week, AllHipHop stopped by Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector official press run at The Federal restaurant in Atlanta, Georgia to catch up on the hit shows’ current season. The space was packed with media influencers looking for all drama that surrounds the hottest procedural series on television.

Inspired by the best-selling book, The Bone Collector, which focuses on a slick serial killer that had New York City shook, NBC’s Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector dives a bit deeper into the mind and movements of a true psychopath who just can’t get enough of playing chess with the city and his victims. Determined to catch him, retired NYPD detective and forensic expert, Lincoln Rhyme, who was injured by the ‘path’ himself is on a mission to silence the killer.

Take a peek at the roundtable discussion exclusively between AllHipHop and one Russell Hornsby. Find out why he thinks Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector is good for television and his thoughts on representing for the culture in Hollywood.

AllHipHop: When fans see your work – what do they think?

Russell Hornsby: When people see me and see my work, they know that this is a man of integrity and stature. They think – he represents us well. He represents the culture well, but also has work of distinction. I’m from the rhythm section. You see that in the work. People will sit back and say I like that brother because he represents us well. So, my work – black people can enjoy and white people can say “that’s a talented brother.” It is not because I am a talented Black man, it is because I am a talented actor.

AllHipHop: Blacks are dominating the acting scene right now. Can you speak to that?

Russell Hornsby: We are getting into a different wave when it comes to our performance capabilities. As a Black man, we are showing that we have different qualities and different capabilities. We can speak at an elevated level and still show you Blackness. We represent this in our everyday life. Look at a Cornel West or a Michael Eric Dyson, these are brothers who get down, but you still know that they are from the rhythm section. I think that is important. Don’t lose your cultural integrity. Don’t lose your cultural specificity. I like Blackness and the diversity of it.

AllHipHop: What should Allhiphop.com fans take away from this season of Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector?

Russell Hornsby: We are looking at a different type of a procedure that we have never seen before. I think it’s more engaging than what you see on other procedural dramas. We are not just doing plot-driven shows. We are doing plot and character-driven. You are getting an opportunity to know who the Bone Collector really is as a man, as a human being, as a father, and as a husband. You are getting all those things – who was he in the past and what got him to this point? I think that is interesting. You’ll learn a lot about the backstory.

AllHipHop: Why did you take on this role considering other acting opportunities out there?

Russell Hornsby: The beauty of it is – they chose me. NBC called my representatives and said we want to offer this to Russell. I was very much aware of the project because other peers of mine had auditioned, read, and tested for it. However, what that said to me was “Russell you have something special to offer.’ I had to live up to that. I’m ready for a challenge at any level. The work speaks. It is not necessarily about the roles you choose – it is about the roles that people offer you. It is the roles [offered] that dictate how they think about you and what they think about you. This speaks to the high-level of how I am perceived in the industry.

Tune into Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector, Fridays 8/7c

Images approved by NBC.