00:00A man loves boba tea to the point where he got other people addicted to boba tea.
00:03We have a boba problem on set and his name is Isaiah.
00:07There is no perfect boba.
00:10Mm-hmm.
00:10There are several perfect bobas.
00:13Might I have a tissue because every time I'm next to this gentleman I start to cry.
00:17I don't cry because I'm a thug, you know what I'm saying?
00:19I shed my thug tears internal, inside.
00:22We're like 12, bro.
00:23We ain't never.
00:23I ain't grown now.
00:24This is why they don't put us together on press tours.
00:27We'll be there forever.
00:35Creating Black Brotherhood, I think for us, it's not something we thought about creating.
00:38It was just stepping into what the true nature of our brotherhood was.
00:42And I think we felt the pride and responsibility, but also privilege to be able to show that
00:47and execute that represented on TV.
00:49And it also reflects the real relationship, the real brotherhood we have behind the scenes.
00:54We were just kind of like giving each other shots right from the beginning.
00:58It wasn't as much about the acting chops, but it was more about the relationship and
01:02the connection, the natural connection that kind of landed between us.
01:06It felt effortless.
01:07It was cool.
01:07We had this kind of meeting at our showrunner's office.
01:11We just all sat there vibing out, talking about life and really connected.
01:15And that's where I think the friendship started.
01:17It really started to build.
01:18I'm a tequila connoisseur.
01:20How this showed up was this bottle of tequila that I had never seen before.
01:23We knew we had a cool brother and we knew what this ride was about to be.
01:28I don't know if he was trying to, you know, get me to open up with tequila, but it worked.
01:31You can't push nothing into work if you have nothing to pull from.
01:35You've got to have some life experience.
01:36And that's the thing that keeps the work balance in play, is that we're not always in a work
01:41mind state.
01:42We just get down to just being humane.
01:44So when it comes time to shoot, we're just having fun.
01:47Usually we're clowning on somebody, you know, either one of our co-stars out there doing something
01:53funny or somebody in the crew that we know and love.
01:55We're using clowning, man.
01:56We like to keep it light.
02:00Isaiah has a problem that we need to address.
02:03The man is addicted to boba, boba tea, so we had to have an intervention.
02:07It didn't work.
02:08He's still addicted.
02:08If I don't get my boba tea, heads will roll.
02:12You know we're bringing in a counselor for next season.
02:15You can bring in whoever you want as long as they bring the boba tea.
02:19What do I most admire about Isaiah?
02:21His hairline.
02:22He's got a strong hairline.
02:23I don't see no recession.
02:25Anybody pushed it back yet.
02:27Mine, you know, kind of is a little uneven naturally.
02:30So actually what I do, he do have a strong hairline.
02:33But what I do admire his professionalism, his candor.
02:37He also gives a lot, you know, when it comes to our cast, when it comes to our crew.
02:41He's always in a good mood, never throwing around weight, never being a diva.
02:44We're lockstep on the mindset.
02:46So now we can run the show smoothly, easily, and we're good to go.
02:50I have the utmost respect for this gentleman over here.
02:52It allows me to relax and to actually like do the job that I was hired to do.
02:57You want to have your level be high so that you could have your partner's level be just as high.
03:01So for anybody who hasn't seen the show, Cross is based on the amazing iconic book series,
03:07Alex Cross by James Patterson.
03:09It follows a detective who also happens to be a forensic psychologist.
03:12So he understands how to get into the mindset of killers and serial killers.
03:15He also handles these cases with his partner, his man, his boy, John Sampson.
03:23Oh, we did it again?
03:24Look, first of all, if you haven't seen Cross, just what are you doing?
03:28Yeah, if you haven't seen it.
03:29What are you doing?
03:30Like, like, we got questions for you.
03:32So they grew up basically like brothers and they joined the academy together.
03:35Then they got put on cases, became cops, became detectives, and they're partners.
03:39The relationship that we have artist to artist as we work together comes from our own personal
03:44relationships and experiences.
03:45We have to maintain our respect, our candor for who and what we are, for the people around us.
03:50And when we deal with each other, because there is no ego, it all comes from a place of admiration
03:55and respect with what we want from ourselves, but from each other's performance as well.
03:59I need him to be his absolute best in order to push me to be better than where I'm at
04:06and,
04:06you know, vice versa.
04:08We're trying to one-up each other, but like, in a very like team-oriented way.
04:11Like, we'll do a scene, we'll shoot it one time, and then, you know, as we're preparing to go again,
04:17we're behind the scenes talking about, all right, man, I'm going to push you.
04:19I'm going to do this, that, that, and then you're going to push me, boom, so we can keep elevating.
04:23That's what makes it so fun.
04:24But the thing is, though, the crew will be watching the takes thinking that we beefing for real,
04:29but we sitting there, we just laughing on the butts off.
04:31We're going to watch people behind the scenes.
04:33They'll be like, oh, no, crying and stuff.
04:34Like, no, the fellas, the guys, and we just sitting there like,
04:36and then we got them.
04:38Yeah, we stressing them the hell out, boy.
04:41Yeah, that's how we know we did our job.
04:44This is a very exciting season because, okay, I don't want to spoil it for you,
04:48but we get to deal with vigilantes.
04:50It gives us a bit of time to reflect on ourselves in situations where we're dealing with oppression,
04:55and our last resort to deal with it may, to become the monster that we are fighting.
05:00You know, is it worth it?
05:01This season two drags the viewer in.
05:05You know, I shed a tear.
05:08I feel like, yeah, it's an honor to be able to step into these shoes and
05:14represent the other truthful side of who we are as a culture in black men.
05:20And it's not something that you see all the time.
05:22When we can show that and have conversations with other brothers about it, there's a relief.
05:26There's a sense of, like, being able to breathe after holding your breath for a long time.
05:30Sounds dramatic, but it feels like that.
05:32It's not just the brotherhood, but it's us holding each other down with mental health
05:35through grief.
05:36It's through fatherhood, through self-awareness, holding each other accountable.
05:41Great group, brothers on set from producers to writers to other co-stars.
05:45We all hold each other down.
05:47So, you know, what you see is what's reflected in truth and how we walk and carry ourselves
05:52in life and at work every day.
05:54Make sure to watch Cross season two on Prime Video.
05:57When?
05:58February 11th.
06:00This old man's birthday.
06:01Mm-hmm.
06:02Are you just going to put that in there?
06:03I mean, you're just going to throw in your birthday hat with the sprinkles and the cupcakes and all that.
06:07I'm just trying to get some people to throw some likes out.
06:09Okay, watch the show and say happy birthday.
06:12Watch the show and say happy birthday.
06:13Watch the show and say happy birthday.
06:15This is, this is, you asked about the conversations off camera, this is, this is what, this is all it
06:21is.
