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Godfather of Harlem Creator Markuann Smith Talks Forest Whitaker, Tupac, Swizz Beatz & Full Drama!
Jun 4, 2025
We are here for for another powerful season of "Godfather of Harlem!" Hip-Hop Meets History in Season 4! 🎤 Dive into this exclusive interview with MARKUANN Smith, the creative force behind the hit series. He joins Chuck "Jigsaw" Creekmur @ChuckCreekmur and AllHipHop to break down how Hip-Hop culture intersects with Harlem's untold history. From the rise of the Black Panthers to the introduction of Frank Lucas and unforgettable soundtracks curated by Swizz Beatz, this season delivers it all. 🎬
🎯 **Highlights Include**:
- Exclusive insights into Season 4's storyline, featuring iconic figures like Malcolm X, James Baldwin, and Afeni Shakur.
- The Hip-Hop Connection: A killer soundtrack with artists like Conway the Machine, A$AP Ferg, and more!
- Behind-the-scenes stories with Forest Whitaker and Markuann's journey as an actor and producer.
- The timeless struggle for authenticity, representation, and creative excellence in Hollywood.
👉 Comment and join the conversation! Don’t forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more exclusive interviews and insights into Hip-Hop history, cultural debates, and beyond. 🎥✨
#godfatherofharlem #markuann #forestwhitaker
CHAPTERS:
00:00 - Intro
00:40 - Season 4 of Godfather of Harlem
01:28 - What Keeps Viewers Engaged
02:26 - Character Development This Season
05:22 - Relationship with Forest Whitaker
09:38 - Hip Hop Influence in Godfather of Harlem
12:22 - Life on the Road Experiences
Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:04
what's going on world it's your man Chuck Creekmer aka Jigsaw here at One World Studios Here with my man my homie
0:12
Marquan Smith the initiator of Godfather Harlem an actor producer director all
0:19
the things Maybe not a director You're not a director yet I'm shadowing a lot of directors Shadowing a lot of director
0:24
So you work taking advantage of that Seriously Yeah Yeah First of all man how are you doing man i'm good man It feels
0:30
good to be back on the couch for a season Um you know every year you know I
0:35
get a chance to sit down with my with my comrade and have a a great conversation
0:40
Definitely man Season 4 Godfather of Harlem I mean I don't want to go back and just rehash old stuff but it was all
0:48
a dream and now it's season 4 That's like hard to even believe but how how
0:55
are you processing that well it's still surreal I mean you know us coming out in
1:01
2019 we got green lit uh in 2017 late 2017 And to be where I'm at right now
1:08
there's not a lot of TV shows that can actually make it to a season 4 more
1:14
likely even get green lit pilot turned into a uh a first season or even getting
1:19
bought in a room So you know by the grace of God I'm here and I'm I'm very humbled and I'm appreciative that we
1:26
have an audience that's really receptive to us What's the magic if you can tell
1:31
us that keeps people coming back that keeps the show going i think the dynamic
1:37
of the storyline the narrative is for everybody It's not just for one
1:42
demographic I mean your aunties your uncles your grandparents you know it's
1:48
for the youth is contemporary I mean we have amazing artists like Benny the
1:53
Butcher Conway ASAP Ferg as well as listening to you know um you know music
2:00
such as uh Martha and the Vandelas you know or um Glattus Night or whatever you
2:07
know it's it's in the catalog that we're going to use you know Um Swiss is doing an amazing job We're just able to bring
2:14
a family together It's just like watching the Cosby Show from back in the days Everybody ran to that living room
2:19
to watch the Cosby show and we wanted that to be Godfather Harlem where everybody can enjoy it Yeah So can you
2:26
tell us where the where the characters are this season um for those you know
2:31
some people you know sometimes when you take a break or you know we're we're inundated with content now You know they
2:38
call it call it content which is a whole another thing but we're bombarded so
2:43
sometimes we forget where we left off Well you know season 4 is the rise of a
2:51
group called the Black Panthers So you will see it predominantly through the season The
2:57
Black Panthers Malcolm X met his demise the end of season 3 And this is the
3:02
Black and Beautiful the black and I'm proud movement You'll see characters such as James Baldwin Atheni Shakur I
3:10
mean the characters are very rich And then you're introduced to a a young gangster by the name of Frank Lucas
3:18
Yeah Now is Frank is he opposing Bumpy is that how
3:23
this is going to go down well the writers took a lot of creative liberty because um in reality Frank and uh Bumpy weren't
3:31
friends at all But it also shows the dynamic of Frank coming up from North
3:36
Carolina while Bumpy came up from South Carolina He was from Charleston South Carolina So Bumpy's actually seeing the
3:42
same journey through his POV that Frank is going through in episode two You know
3:49
a a guy from the country that's green that comes up to Harlem sees these big lights and and wants it all He wants to
3:56
take the throne So um you'll see the the tension between Bumpy and Frank but as
4:02
the season unfolds you'll start to see are they really cool or is this a you know a just a a business arrangement or
4:10
there or are there any ulterior motives yeah Now your character Juny Bird that's
4:15
that's that's like I feel like he's my boy too Is Juny Bird in this season oh yeah
4:22
Absolutely Uh the writers have actually started building my character even more and more because at the end of Bumpy's
4:29
life the only person that was around uh was Juny Bird when he was having uh that
4:34
meal at Wells he died of congestive heart failure And that's crazy that he he died he did it his way like Frank
4:41
Sinatra was was said and he was in the middle of an uh an indictment you know with the feds and uh he died actually in
4:48
Juny's arms Juny was a loyal soldier Um younger than the other two Chance and um
4:54
and Nap Pedigrew but he was also you know he was Bumpy's heart You know Bumpy
4:59
wanted to see him grow with him you know and um the character that they're building for me is is it's very
5:05
interesting You know I it goes through their moments you know Um season two you know I was accused of stealing dope
5:12
which I didn't steal any dope That was Nap Pedigrew because of his gambling problems you know and um you know I'm
5:18
just riding the wave being a loyal soldier as possible Yeah Yeah Now I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't ask
5:26
you about your relationship with Forest Whitaker Yeah You know he's a legend without Pier I mean very few I should
5:33
say And um I've always admired him I haven't seen him since the first Black Panther movie if
5:41
I'm not mistaken Yeah very very kind gentleman Yeah Um how's that uh
5:48
relationship evolved for you no when I first met Forest man he was amazing He took me under his wing as his uh little
5:55
brother I mean when we were pitching the show initially you know Forest was in every pitch meeting He wasn't He tied up
6:02
his boots and got his hands dirty with everybody else And this is not including a big shout out to Nina Yang Bon Joy his
6:08
producing partner Um Tracy Underwood who was over at ABC and executive Pat Moran
6:15
who was the president of ABC Chris Broncado RP Paul Xeen my business
6:20
partner Jim Aterson even professor James Smalls it was a tribe that actually went
6:25
out there to support this project and Forest is definitely a champion of mine Um I remember uh when we first uh were
6:32
about to start shooting we were running lines together You know to see um an individual who just came off an Academy
6:39
Award for doing The Last King of Scotland and his uh his acting techniques his method it's it's amazing
6:45
how he just transforms and morphs into these characters you know Big shout out to John Carlo Espazito and Vincent Dafio
6:51
as well But Forest is you know he becomes a character People sometimes
6:57
just feel that Forest automatically decided to become Bumpy Johnson and it wasn't like that Forest agreed to
7:03
produce it You know as an actor as myself you know you just don't jump into characters until it jumps off the pages
7:10
and you understand that you can absorb and become these characters right that's where Chris Brinkado came in with his
7:16
amazing writing and Paul Xeen and they penned a great script You know we went through like 17 uh 17 scripts before
7:25
Forest actually agreed and said "You know what this script is amazing I could become this character." Wow That's you
7:32
know when I hear that it just sounds like a testimony of you know resilience and endurance even you know and not
7:38
giving up on yourself and others believing as well You know it takes a lot of belief it seems for for this to
7:47
even come to life Yeah I mean I tell people all the time it's just like um
7:53
we're in a society right now where everybody wants this microwave success I mean would you put a steak in a
7:58
microwave and put salt and pepper and aluminum foil and press 2 minutes nah man You don't do that right you want
8:04
your steak to marinate overnight you got the cold cooking You got the grill at a at a certain level before you put the
8:11
steak on So you know and you blow it up with um with aluminum foil Absolutely
8:16
This is what I'm This is what I This is what I meant by that because people they want this this this instant success and
8:22
um it annoys me at times when people say hook me up and I'm like hook you up
8:28
Nobody hooked me up Nobody gave me an opportunity I had to go out there and get mines and had to get people to
8:33
believe in me You know um I don't ask you to hook me up when I got to pay my SAG dues and they're like "Yo Marco
8:39
Smith we need $3,500 before you can get on get on set." So you know we work in a
8:44
world of you know influencers and you know uh algorithms and metrics If you
8:50
have 4 million followers that means you're the man And it's not it's not true at all you know So um Forest was
8:57
just amazing just keeping me grounded and letting me know just to be you Even on set like when we're in the sandbox
9:03
playing he's like you know he gives me compliments He he's like "Yo the you're doing good Uh if I do something wrong he
9:10
said maybe we should try it this way." And um even as an actor I was told by the likes of Michael Wright from the
9:17
Five Heartbeats and John Carpazito it's not about how many words that you have You could steal a scene by just just the
9:24
emotion your the looks that you bring into the song You could just steal a whole scene that way And um you know
9:31
learning the different tricks of the trade dealing with Whoopy Goldberg and uh who's such an amazing person It's
9:36
it's it's it's been a ride Yeah that's what's up uh you have a a strong there's
9:43
a strong connective tissue to hiphop in in in the show as well as the the
9:48
amazing soundtracks Yeah Um and the artists Can you speak on that a little bit yeah man I mean I I found myself
9:56
getting back on the stage with my older brother recently Um we just did a show in Sacramento
10:02
California with Invogue and Jody my older brother's father MC And um it's been amazing I mean I started off in
10:09
music Um you know uh music was what really inspired me to become creative Um
10:17
now he's doing a lot of it on shows right now We're about to do uh uh May 14th He's doing Club Quarantine in
10:23
Baltimore He's about to do Rock the Bells uh in Jersey Um and you know it's
10:28
just being on that uh stage and just seeing how the crowd reacts you know while helping my brother backing him up
10:34
with songs that he's done and he's had a bunch of hits You know he's he's been blessed to be able to have a uh a career
10:42
that you could talk about because there's some artists that I know and you may know they might have one hit and
10:48
they can't get booked to do any shows but when you come out and you have five six seven singles and you have two gold
10:55
albums or a platinum album it's it's an amazing it's an amazing thing Yeah Wow
11:00
Now what are you doing on stage oh man I started off as a roadie man like back in the days But now you know as a roadie I
11:08
grew into becoming a hype man So I'm a hype man you know it's myself uh friend
11:13
of mine Jay Black and uh his original dancer by the name of uh Tone we call him Tricky Um you know and as a roadie
11:21
when I was young when I first got on the road I was I was carrying 1200s right in the coffins right so if you a DJ you
11:28
know 1200s go in the coffin So I was the first one off the bus last one on And um
11:34
I met a lot is like this big huge like it's like this felt box right so you
11:39
know if it falls your records don't skip or your needles don't get scratched and
11:45
on the road I met you know another roadie that's you know RIP Tupac Shakur
11:51
who was uh he was a roadie for Digital Underground and um Tre was a roadie for Latifah So those memories you know those
11:58
memories you can't just uh you can't erase You know I was talking to a good friend of mine my uncle Bernard
12:05
Alexander you know he was a dancer for uh EPMD He also is one of the key people
12:11
that helped me get this uh Godfather Harlem project off as well too Okay You
12:18
just said a whole lot right there I did Right Now I I did know I did know some of that but let's talk a little bit more
12:24
about Tupac Tre and you as roies I did not know that Tre was a roadie for
12:30
Latifah I didn't know that Yeah he was T was a roadie for Latif I didn't realize that Yeah How How was life on the road
12:36
with you guys i mean you got to think about it right craig Mack wasn't always Craig Mack He was a roadie for EPMD K
12:43
Solo was uh doing some of those duties We were all We all all kids just trying
12:49
to make it man And being on the road and being able to travel Being on that tour
12:54
bus looking out the window and seeing the countryside pass you by sitting on a tour bus and listening to the Delonics
13:00
the Manhattans the Stylistics you know Blue Magic you know just just imagining
13:07
like damn I don't even have to go back to Far Rockway I don't have to go back to Harlem I could see different cultures
13:12
I could go to Chicago I'm in Detroit I'm in Boston you know I'm in Nebraska I'm
13:18
in places that people never heard of Being introduced to different different sounds of hip-hop MC Breed you know Kid
13:25
Sensation uh DJ Quick Second to None AMG you know it was just an amazing thing It
13:31
just gave your u musical pallet a a much broader taste Do you keep in touch with
13:36
uh Tre these days no I see Tre We we chop it up But um you know I definitely
13:42
keep in contact with Money B and Cletus Mack and um RP the Shock G You know the
13:48
Digital Underground is my second family Yeah Wow That's that's what's up Shout out to them They
13:54
um they they man both of those th those gentlemen were in Digital Underground
14:00
Like people forget Pac started out there Yeah he did He started out there before
14:05
he became um the this amazing Tupac Shakur solo artist and actor Yeah the
14:12
soundtrack's pretty dope Do you have a favorite song um I'm going to tell you mine before you think about that My
14:18
favorite song so far So far because there there's a lot of good songs on there but I think my favorite song right
14:25
now is Crown Don't Make You King by Conway the Machine which is a short
14:31
record Really he It's only one verse Yeah but it's a it's a message and it's it's a crazy message Yeah I like Danger
14:38
Danger with uh Scarlet Yeah that D with with Jada and Push A T Okay
14:46
Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah You know why I said Rizza because it's from a a record back
14:52
in the day with Rizza Um Gravediggers they kind of pulled from that So Jada
14:57
and Push A T and then we have Scarlet We have uh we got um my man Cross is on
15:03
there from Harlem You know I mean Swiss is one of these producers He's like a
15:08
math scientist right he knows who's good at algebra He knows who's good at
15:13
history He's he knows who's good at uh you know English and he puts them all in in different studios you know when we up
15:20
in Jungle City Mhm And um he and we do our thing up there man And and it's
15:26
family you know Shout out to Mo and and Grady It's just like a family and and Swiss is just there just doing this
15:33
whole mad scientist thing you know zah zaza all day you know Definitely Definitely Now do you feel um you know
15:42
you're getting into the rare waters with season 4 is this is this you know you
15:48
know we looking at another season like what what what's Well from your mouth to the film god's ears And as far as we
15:54
know creative wise we can go for quite a while cuz we're in 1966 and Bumpy actually um passes away in 1968 Our you
16:03
know initial goal was to have six seasons right you know when we first uh
16:08
shot our first season we were like let's get the second season third season So we take our time I know a lot of the um the
16:17
fans and the audience are like you take a lot you take a hella long but we were caught up in uh right between co and a a
16:24
sag strike and a writer strike So it really wasn't the production team or the writer's fault It was just because of
16:31
that was the elements that were presented to us So we couldn't do anything when uh when when when SAG was
16:37
striking My union wouldn't let us do anything And the writers guild you know they were negotiating And so we got you
16:43
know the the production got caught up between those uh those elements Yeah So yeah So we basically we basically going
16:49
to see season five and six That's what we basically you know bringing in Frank
16:54
Lucas was bringing in a a skew into a younger demographic where you can open it up even a little bit wider than what
17:01
it is And um because after Frank Lucas came you know the Nicki Barnes and and
17:07
the list go on right but uh Frank just brought a a different dynamic because he was from North Carolina And I remember
17:14
doing uh a call with an individual by the name of Professor James Smalls who
17:20
um has these wonderful uh uh uh uh
17:25
programs called Hidden Colors right and um he said that when African-Americans
17:32
migrated from the South coming up to Harlem it was a lot of tribalism So
17:37
there were bars in Harlem right um so I'm saying hypothetically 135th Street
17:44
cats from Alabama be over there 128th Street cats from North Carolina be
17:49
over there right 110th cats from South Carolina might be over there Mhm Cats might be in Florida on 115th you know
17:57
right uh the numbers aren't correct but I'm just saying that just shows the tribalism So if a cat from North
18:03
Carolina walked into a South Carolina bar they would know this dude ain't from South Carolina From the way he presented
18:09
himself the way he dressed you know they said uh cats from South Carolina were really lowkey They wore dark colors
18:16
black white shirt black tie kept a razor blade while cats from North Carolina
18:21
Alabama they wore loud colors right so you can see that in Frank Lucas you know even him wearing the chinchilla right to
18:29
um to the uh to the to the basketball game right or to the fight To the fight
18:34
excuse me to the fight right you know it was it was just like he was more loud Yeah You know and um if you watched
18:41
American Gangster when Denzel said the what the loudest one in the room is what usually the weakest Weakest Yeah So you
18:47
know and he was upset that his his wife had purchased that chinchilla coat and he threw it in the fireplace you know So
18:53
we wanted to showcase the different elements of the tribalism that was happening back then as well That's dope
18:59
And I think it's also interesting to see the uh rise of the Black Panthers the New York Black Panthers because uh we've
19:07
I don't believe we've ever seen that documented in uh you know scripted
19:15
situation have we no I don't think you have You know you've seen it definitely in uh in books I remember Aenie
19:22
mentioning how when she was pregnant with Tupac she you know kept herself healthy with a a boiled egg and a and a
19:28
a cup of milk when she was locked up in the tombs Um so we're showing that you
19:34
know how time has changed you know when people just had enough People went from
19:40
peacefully protesting like Martin Luther King having these sitdowns in the diners
19:45
to Malcolm X saying "Nah we noting around We ain't taking this." to the Black Panthers were like whatever we
19:51
gonna get you know handle our business too So um we wanted to showcase and give the audience that type of uh that
19:58
narrative That's awesome So you know do you have any other projects you're
20:03
working on or or or things that you want to make happen oh absolutely man I just
20:08
uh can't really speak about it but I I sold the show recently I'm very excited about it I can tell you it's going to be
20:15
in the 80s 85 to 90 Um I'm working on another project Uh you know it's it
20:21
shows a relationship of a uh an athletic team something like a Friday Night
20:26
Lights Um you know I've been talking to C Murder um via Zoom and he wants me to
20:33
commit to do his documentary and his documentary is really dope man I really like to make history cool I like to show
20:40
the just the position of what's happening now and what's happening then you know Um if you look at the Ferguson
20:47
riots that's the Harlem riots right if you look at uh Muhammad Ali that's Colin Kaepernick all over again you know Mhm
20:53
Um you know I just want to like when people watch my programs I'm no different than Issa Ray you know when
21:00
she came out with the awkward black girl and then turned it into turned and became developed insecure or even uh
21:07
Lena White you know I like to be on the creative side being able to tell stories to make people laugh make people cry you
21:14
know H how do you feel about the way you know things have developed in Hollywood
21:20
we've you know seen a lot of changes Like for example last night I was talk I
21:25
had a deep discussion about the new movie centers and Ryan Cougler as a
21:31
director and and somebody said uh well Spike you know is Spike Lee the goat now
21:36
is he still the goat and I'm like you know I'm not going to debate who's the goat or anything like that Um that's
21:43
extremely subjective but a lot has changed since those days The
21:48
representation has changed You just mentioned Issa Ray and Lena Wait obviously
21:54
women Um and creatively I feel like we've just seen expansion You know we
22:01
got horror black people in horror movies now Like everything feels so different
22:07
but also liberating in a lot of ways No I I agree with you Um but to compare
22:14
Spike Lee and Ryan Cougler I just I'm like why does everybody have to compete or I mean it seems like in our community
22:22
it's always these conversations these barbershop conversations who has more money and that's the person with only
22:28
running around with a a Rush card in his pocket or a first premier card in his pocket talking about who got money They
22:34
always say the loudest boos come from the cheapest seats meaning you're in the nosebleleeds talking about LeBron James
22:41
ain't but the peanut man don't even want to walk up there to give you any peanuts or beer look where you sitting at So
22:46
when somebody says that I'm like there's room and room for everybody You could have your Ryan Couglas there You could
22:52
have your uh your Steve McQueen's You could have your uh uh your your Spike
22:59
Lees you know uh your your Jenkins It doesn't matter like you know there's different type of
23:06
genres I'm not trying to compete with 50 Cent at all You know 50 is doing his thing I just want to do my thing and
23:12
stay in my lane and and and create good content And you know I think that's where we get lost in the source because
23:18
you don't see Copela talking about Scorsesei or Brian the Palmer talking about Oliver Stone Everybody is focused
23:25
and create your own content You know Ryan Cooler is doing an amazing job I remember when Fruitville Station came
23:31
out Forest is part of that for Nina Yang Bonjovi and their company you know significant Um so you know big shout out
23:38
to Ryan Cougler I hope he murders the box office you know and I hope Spike Lee his next project murders the box office
23:44
I just want to see everybody win but it seems like amongst us is just like this ill crazy competition you know Yeah it
23:51
it seems like it's always that way But you know and that's why Billboard will always do a rap list every so often sort
23:58
of we'll fight and argue about it and just get mad about it To me that's like you know where we at right now Like it's
24:04
just crazy Like you know I watch you know I watch a lot of YouTube sometimes and it takes me down this alley I had to
24:10
just kind of like I had to sober up and get out of there You know I'm looking at Rico Charges and checking in and I'm
24:17
like this right does MC Jagger ask um Axel Rose to check in you know what I'm
24:23
saying like did the temptation ask the Four Tops to check in like I'm like "Yo this is really this is really crazy to
24:31
work to do We got some work to do man." Yeah Yeah we definitely got What's your dream i know you're creating your dreams
24:38
but is there something that you would just love to do that that is almost like
24:46
impossible to to consider well nothing is impossible to me because I never had
24:52
a plan B I always believed if you had a plan B you was planning for your plan A to fail I mean what I'm doing right now
24:58
people thought would be impossible You can't just walk into a studio and sell a TV series It doesn't happen like that
25:04
You know you asking somebody to commit to $100 million or commit to $5 million per episode or $6 million per episode
25:11
The only thing these creators think about is selling projects and the only thing the executives think about is the
25:17
ROI What's their return on investment so to answer your question I mean I think anything is possible when you put your
25:23
mind to it I mean I was watching this uh this interview with Marlon Wes and it it
25:28
was really deep and it touched my soul how he said we have more years behind us
25:34
than we have in front of us right so nothing is impossible And I tell people all the time I tell kids even adults who
25:41
have just given up in life and said you know this is it for me You know why do that because you only get one
25:46
opportunity in life This is not a video game where you get three men Oops I got another man Oh no you get one chance one
25:53
opportunity go for yours You know people look at me and look at the glory before knowing my story Yeah And um you know
26:00
I'm I'm famous for saying if you knock on opportunities door and it doesn't open go to Home Depot get some lumber
26:06
build your own door create your own lane create your own pathway So there's nothing impossible you know it's just
26:12
about having the passion going about doing it Who would think that you would have allhip hop.com right right and it
26:18
lasts this long But it started it didn't start off as allhip hop.com right it might have started off in your bedroom
26:23
You know you falling in love with the source and rap pages and word up and uh the vibe magazines and you're like you
26:29
know what i can do this I can set my own platform up That's a fact And that's exactly that's exactly how it happened
26:36
In fact my dream was to be the editor-in chief of the Source And I used to have I had a sticker They I don't know how I
26:42
got the Source magazine sticker and I stuck it cuz I used to work at the local radio station M I stuck the source
26:48
magazine over the radio station Oh yeah And I got that picture and I got to pull that out sometime or another Uh and you
26:55
know remind myself Yeah Remind myself Sometimes the hardest thing is starting
27:00
starting like I mean look you set a blueprint up that a lot of people are following You have all these blogs right
27:06
now but you guys were blogs before the blogs I mean look you got the shade room you know you got baller alert Big shout
27:12
out to Robin Um you got a whole bunch of different platforms out there but all
27:17
hip-hop was a staple I mean that was a community you know that was the place to go for information you know uh and news
27:24
you know So you guys are are are trendsetters you know and led the path
27:30
with the with with with your flashlight in a cave Um thank you Yeah And by the
27:35
way you know it's funny and I give you a lot of respect because quality in
27:40
Godfather is amazing you know and um sometimes I feel like they're giving us
27:46
mush you know jail food or or just Yeah stuff that's just and just seeing who
27:52
will eat it and how many people will eat this and and keeping that you know that cost low ROI high And you guys seem
28:02
truly committed to quality And I I know for a fact all hip hop is truly
28:07
committed to quality even though you might see the quality of content come down You know what I mean so I mean I
28:14
just applaud you for that Well you know thank you Chuck And but it's also you know big shout out to um the rest of the
28:22
team uh you know Jim Aerson and Chris Broncado um especially Professor James
28:29
Smalls you know Paul Xing when he was alive you know they wanted to make sure the authenticity was there And that's
28:36
why I brought in Professor Smalls because you know I wasn't born in the 60s I'm a 77 baby So um watching
28:43
Professor Smalls who was there he happened to be Malcolm X's bodyguard when Malcolm X met his demise He would
28:50
tell us and school users on set saying "They're doing this the wrong way They're doing this the right way." You
28:55
know we wanted to make sure we can be as authentic as possible Even to the set dresses the telephone booth had to be a
29:02
1960s telephone booth The cigarettes had to be 1960 cigarettes You know the cars
29:07
had to be you know in contingent with the time So yeah it's to make something
29:12
believable and sell it to someone it has to be believable right so let me run
29:18
down a couple quick things What's your favorite movie once Upon a Time in America by Sergio Leon Thought I was
29:24
Noodles Maxillion and Noodles That's one of my favorite favorite movies You got to be patient to watch it It's three
29:30
hours It could be a slow burn but it just shows you so much about life and uh playing chess I love that movie Okay
29:37
Favorite album um I think it's um if I had to choose
29:43
one it would be Off the Wall Off the Wall Okay Off the Wall Michael Jackson You know I mean there's so many great
29:50
albums I mean I like Earth Windsor and Fires uh album I like that uh what's that isaac Hayes Hot Butter something
29:57
like that Yeah But I definitely like Off the Wall Off the-Wall gave you an emotional roller coaster You know it had
30:02
a blend of uh you know uptempos down to the ballads It was just amazing Yeah Favorite rap album favorite rap
30:10
album man I'll keep it real with you
30:15
Like my favorite rap album I think I was really into like when u Mob Deep came
30:21
out Yeah that's a good one That was like the infamous That was crazy because that was
30:28
my time That was my era That's what I saw in front of me you know Um I also liked Me Against the World That was one
30:35
of my favorite rap albums too Tupac's Me Against the World That was before All Eyes on Me This is when he was you know
30:41
everybody said Tupac hated New York He didn't hate New York If you listen to the old school when he was dedicating
30:47
every every bar to old school rappers and and to and to break dancing and taking a train that was that was a dope
30:54
album as well too Okay Um do you have a favorite show series
31:01
godfather Harlem I know you But other than that you know uh one of my shows
31:07
that I did like uh was Topboy That was a that was a great great great and I liked
31:13
how raw was It was gorilla organic and it became I was just mad man I don't
31:19
even want to give any surprises cuz people didn't see Top Boy but I didn't catch Summer House yet but the the and
31:27
you know big shout out to Buck Buck um is one of the uh directed I think the
31:32
last last season You know I spoke to him That's my across the pond homie You know
31:37
what I'm saying brethren Um but yeah Top Boy I'm I'm going to have to go with The Wire but it it's the same It's a similar
31:45
Yeah type show Similar type show Definitely Definitely Well Mark Juan man
31:50
I want to say thank you for coming through man Appreciate you as always man You're a friend of the site and the
31:56
platform You know we go way back I ain't even going to get into it We go back like we go back like car seats right
32:02
right Yeah Absolutely N though I respect you And also you didn't you you you
32:07
flexed a little bit but no furs this time I guess it's it's too late Why cuz it's like 75° outside I'm kind of hot
32:14
with this jumpsuit on but um that's your on stage It's your on stage attire Yeah
32:20
man Yeah No that's what's up So thanks for going easy on us Yeah I I had to go I had to go easy man Peter was looking
32:26
for me last time Oh yeah I said I'm gonna wear all black You know what i'm not even gonna do this with him Yeah we
32:32
militant today right all black you know Salute Thank you man Thank you brother for having me man
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