00:00I work like a dog, day and night.
00:04Let me get away.
00:05Who thought that was good?
00:06-♪♪
00:15All right.
00:17I got to put me first. I got to put me first.
00:19Well, that was a very popular meme,
00:21and that was Cookie on Empire.
00:24I got to put me first.
00:26I got to put me first.
00:27I got to put me first, Lucius!
00:29You know, I'm not on TikTok, so that's where it took off.
00:32And I'm always getting told,
00:35like, girl, do you know you're trending on TikTok?
00:37And I'm like, guess I wouldn't know if I was on TikTok.
00:40But, yeah, that's how I found out.
00:43And someone sent it to me in my DM.
00:46Then I reposted it. I just thought it was hilarious.
00:48I was like, out of all the things to pick out
00:52and make viral, it was that.
00:53But you just never know. That's the thing.
00:55You never know.
00:56Here we go.
00:58You know it's hard out. That was a song.
01:00You know it's hard out here for a pimp
01:02when you're trying to get this money for the rent.
01:04That's Hustle and Flow.
01:05Suge from Hustle and Flow.
01:08You know it's hard out here for a pimp
01:12when you're trying to get this money for the rent.
01:15Terrence Howard is an amazing artist on Empire.
01:18He used to battle me.
01:19I wasn't aware of his battle that we were in,
01:22and it was hair.
01:23He would come in, and Lucius, you know,
01:25that explains all those crazy hairstyles he would have.
01:28Because, you know, he was competing with Cookie.
01:31But he could never win.
01:32But apparently, he didn't let that go away,
01:35because you see the wig that he picked for this movie.
01:41So, yeah, I guess we're still in this competition.
01:44But I have orange hair today. Terrence beat that.
01:48Let's see.
01:54Give Me My Shake.
01:56That is from Baby Boy. That's he bad.
01:58I can't believe I'm remembering all of this.
02:00Give Me My Shake!
02:02You know what's crazy?
02:04That was ad-libbed.
02:05That wasn't even in the script.
02:08I ad-libbed that, and John capped it.
02:11Rest in peace, John. I miss you.
02:12Everybody was telling me, oh, my God,
02:14you know what John Singleton does for careers.
02:17And I don't know, discernment told me that.
02:21I guess I started to see simultaneously
02:23how things happen in the business for men versus women,
02:26and I just knew Tyrese would take off, which he did.
02:28He booked two franchise movies.
02:30I still have yet to book a franchise movie.
02:33So there's that.
02:36So I knew that, and I was ready.
02:41I prepared myself.
02:44You are as ugly as an old pot,
02:48but you're still a child of God.
02:50Queenie from The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
02:55You are as ugly as an old pot,
03:00but you're still a child of God.
03:02A lot of times we start at the beginning
03:03and we move through the end.
03:04You know, we do flashbacks or whatever,
03:06but to start the way that they told it,
03:09in reverse, I just thought it was beautiful.
03:11It was a beautiful story, two people doing this.
03:14Isn't that life, though?
03:16It's just a beautiful way to tell a love story.
03:20There's no such thing as a perfect man.
03:22There's no such thing as a perfect man.
03:24Well, that's true.
03:25There's no such thing as a perfect man.
03:29Is that from Think Like a Man?
03:32Okay.
03:34That was a guess.
03:37Oh, wait a minute.
03:38There's no such thing as a perfect man, right?
03:40Being a strong woman who has got her own money,
03:44it can be intimidating to a lot of guys,
03:46and that's my story.
03:51Why, I'm single.
03:52This ring means nothing.
03:54Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!
03:58Okay.
04:00I work like a dog day and night,
04:04living off a coffee from a pot,
04:06none of you know that!
04:07Yes.
04:08Hidden Figures, Katherine Johnson.
04:10That is a very still viral video.
04:13Ha ha.
04:15And I work like a dog day and night,
04:19living off a coffee from a pot,
04:21none of you wanna touch!
04:24No one knew about these women.
04:25I didn't know Hidden Figures.
04:27Like, I had no idea.
04:29I remember when Ted Melfi sent me the script, the director,
04:31and I read it, and of course, it's a beautiful story,
04:35and I just thought, this is not real.
04:36And I asked him, I said, is this a true story?
04:38He said, absolutely, and I almost fell out.
04:41I was like, it's a true story?
04:42And I was like, well, are any of these women alive?
04:45I said, is Katherine still alive?
04:46And he was like, yes.
04:47I said, I have to go meet her.
04:48I have to go meet her.
04:50So I went and spent time with her and her family.
04:52You know, if you're playing a real person
04:54who's still alive, you wanna get it right.
04:55So it was important that I go meet,
04:57talk to her and the family,
04:59and just, wow, what an extraordinary story
05:01that we had no clue about these incredible women.
05:05But now we do.
05:06For me, it was her mannerisms, and it was her messaging.
05:09Something about her was very regal.
05:11When you're that brilliant,
05:13you kinda levitate above it all.
05:14Not in a pompous, conceited way,
05:17but your brainwave is just different, you know?
05:21And her love of math.
05:23For me, it wasn't about her smarts.
05:25It was about how she can share her smarts
05:27with someone else and get you to have that aha moment.
05:31And that's what I remember the most
05:33about that conversation with her
05:35and how she kept saying we, we, we, not I, I, I,
05:39when she could have,
05:40because she's the one that produced the numbers
05:43to get him to space.
05:44So those are the things that I really picked up on.
05:47She was very soft and demure.
05:50I know that's the saying now,
05:52but I mean that in all seriousness.
05:54She was just, you know, women in that era
05:57just carried themselves in a different way.
06:01Okay, got a lot of cards over here.
06:04Ask him, go ahead, ask him, what's your name?
06:06And how are you?
06:10Do it now.
06:12Ask him.
06:18Ooh, you got me.
06:21Ask him.
06:27Ask him, go ahead, ask him, what's your name?
06:30And how are you?
06:32I don't know.
06:33I am at a loss.
06:34You wouldn't do the pick up your jacket?
06:38Cause I would have guessed it.
06:40Ask him, go ahead.
06:42Ask him, what's your name?
06:45And how are you?
06:46Do it now.
06:47Oh, such a, just a little star.
06:51A little star, very professional.
06:53And I loved how his parents handled it.
06:55Cause you know, kids don't understand.
06:56Sometimes they show up to work and they think it's a play
06:59and you know, and they're like, no, this is a job.
07:02You know, the way they held his hand all the way through
07:04and explained, it was just beautiful to watch.
07:07You know, you always wonder if your kid was in the industry,
07:11how would you move about it?
07:13Or would you even want your kid in the industry?
07:14But yeah, they were, they're incredible parents
07:17to these incredible children who can't live in private.
07:22You know, I enjoyed three months in China with the Smiths.
07:26It was great.
07:27It was a good time.
07:30Every time a black woman gets mad, she's a stereotype.
07:33That is from acrimony.
07:38Every time a black woman gets mad, she's a stereotype.
07:42Well, it's kind of true.
07:44And you've heard black women say that.
07:45If we speak up for ourselves, it's known as complaining
07:48or being bitter or angry, or it's like, no,
07:51I have a right to say this is not comfortable
07:53or this doesn't make me happy.
07:55Every human has that right.
07:57You know, there's a cult following that is pushing us
08:01to do an acrimony too.
08:03And they make these really incredible AI posters
08:06for the sequel and they send them to me and Tyler.
08:11Some have written scripts.
08:13It's a whole cult.
08:14It's really interesting.
08:15It's a whole cult following and they're like,
08:17she's still alive.
08:22Shut up, you old toothless goat.
08:24Please rest in peace.
08:27Luke Gossett.
08:29Rest in peace, rest in peace.
08:30I'm so happy I got to work with him.
08:33Anyway, that's from Color Purple.
08:34Suge said that too.
08:37Oh, Mr. Suge.
08:40Oh, Mr.
08:42Shut up, you old toothless goat.
08:44The book was just, and I was in college
08:49and we did a lot of the scenes from the movie.
08:51And I just remember going to see the movie
08:53and while studying the arts, you know, as a black kid,
08:58you don't know, will I be able to make a career out of this?
09:02Cause it's literally a crapshoot.
09:03My mother was like, oh, you're gonna starve.
09:07But then when she came to see my play
09:10and she was like, I don't know, kids,
09:11you might have what it takes.
09:11So yeah, I just remember going to the theater
09:13and seeing all of these people that look like me
09:16on this big screen and it made,
09:19it just reassured that I was on the right path
09:22and that there is a future in what I was studying in college.
09:26So that's what that did to me.
09:29All right, puppies, playtime's over.
09:32Paw Patrol.
09:35All right, puppies, playtime's over.
09:38It's the perfect work for a creative person who,
09:42I was an only child.
09:44So as an only child, I lived and played a lot in here.
09:47So I can act opposite a rock, a wall.
09:50That's why I did so good in my auditions
09:52because I didn't need the reader.
09:54I had already made up in my mind
09:55how the other person was gonna say it.
09:57You know what I mean?
09:58So I can, I could play both people.
10:00I talk to myself a lot.
10:04A hustler is a hustler, don't be no fool.
10:09A hustler is a hustler, don't be no fool.
10:15I don't know.
10:16I'm lost.
10:18Smokin' Aces?
10:20Was that Smokin' Aces?
10:21Oh, Rich, something I did before I blew up?
10:2624-7.
10:28So when I first did it, it was called 24-7
10:30and then they changed it.
10:32I got it right.
10:35Yes, I couldn't think of the name they changed it to.
10:39A hustler is a hustler, don't be no fool.
10:41Oh, I overacted in that.
10:42It was so bad.
10:44Some things are very hard for me to watch
10:46because I'm like, who let me get away?
10:47Who thought that was good?
10:49But you know, we were all green
10:50and trying to figure it out.
10:51Yeah, I can definitely see the growth for sure.
10:54Yeah.
10:55Yeah.
10:56Yeah.
10:57Yeah.
10:58Yeah.
10:59Yeah.
10:59Yeah.
11:00Yeah.
11:01Yeah.
11:02Yeah.
11:03Yeah.
11:04Yeah.
11:04Yeah.
11:05Yeah.
11:06Yeah.
11:07Yeah.
11:08Yeah.
Comments